English and Linguistics, University of Otago

04/06/2026

Great news: Otago English Masters of Creative Writing candidate Carolijn Guytonbeck has had her digital fiction piece, "Where Scorpions Fear to Tread," accepted for this year's Media Arts Exhibition at the 2026 Electronic Literature Organization conference. You can access the live version below. Congratulations Carolijn!

A literary advanture. Face fear, save souls and have some fun!

03/06/2026

Applications are invited for the 2027 Robert Burns Fellowship– Aotearoa New Zealand’s premier creative writers residency! The residency is open to creative writers normally resident in Aotearoa New Zealand. Early‑ and mid‑career writers are encouraged to apply. Applications close Monday 15 June. Follow the link below for further details!

Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

01/06/2026

First semester classes wrapped up on Friday. Today is a study day; exams begin tomorrow and continue for two weeks. We wish everyone the best for their exams!

29/05/2026

Congratulations to Lesley den Toom, who today submitted her PhD thesis, “'To live and lie reclined': The Influence of Epicureanism on British Nineteenth-Century Literature.“ By closely examining works by Tennyson, Bulwer-Lytton, Oscar Wilde, and others, Lesley argues that Epicureanism "offered an alternative model of the good life amid industrial acceleration, religious doubt, and shifting ideals of morality and masculinity." She has been supervised by Professor Thomas McLean and Associate Professor Grace Moore. Well done Lesley!

27/05/2026

Yesterday, students in ENGL354 Monsters and Monstrosity in Medieval Literature presented their research in the Humanities Common Room. The day included a medieval-themed afternoon tea, some spontaneous dressing-up, and a lot of really fantastic posters produced by the 50 students in the paper.

26/05/2026

Our final seminar for Semester 1 will be held on Friday 29 May at 4pm in Burns 4 and online via zoom. Linguistics PhD student Sukma Septian Nasution will present on his research into incorporating translanguaging practices into the English teaching classroom – title and details are below. Please do come along and support student research in the English & Linguistics Programme!

22/05/2026

The English & Linguistics Programme at Otago invites applications for a limited number of fixed-term tutoring positions in Semester 2, 2026. Applicants typically will have completed at least a 4-year degree in English or Linguistics or a related field. Papers that may require tutors are:

ENGL128: Essentials of Communication (Michael Cop)
ENGL131: Controversial Classics (Jacob Edmond)
ENGL219/391: Poetry and Music (Jacob Edmond)
ENGL220: Creative Writing: Reading for Writers (Liz Breslin)
ENGL228: Writing for the Professions (Josie Carter)
ENGL230: Creative Writing for Games and Interactive Media (Lisa Blakie)
ENGL335: Romantics, Revolutionaries, and the Imagination (Thomas McLean)
ENGL353: Reading Minds: Literature and Psychology (Simone Drichel)

LING140: Language, Brain and Being Human (Hunter Hatfield)
LING230/330: Interaction and Identity in Context (Minh Nguyen)

Please send a brief email cover letter stating which papers you would consider tutoring to [email protected]
*Applicants who have not tutored in the last 12 months must include a CV along with your cover letter.

Applications should be received by Monday 22 June 2026 at 5PM.

We hope to have most positions confirmed by Monday 29 June. The availability of tutoring positions for any paper is dependent on confirmed student enrolment numbers for that paper.

19/05/2026

One of our current PhD candidates in the English and Linguistics programme, John Prins, has had some major success. At last week's Ockham Books Awards, John’s book of short stories, Pastoral Care (Otago University Press, 2025), was awarded the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction Best First Book. John’s book is the second title in OUP’s newly established Landfall Tauraka Short Story series.

The Ockham judges wrote, ‘Funny, assured, thoughtful, of the moment and of this place, Pastoral Care is a grand debut.’ The collection follows characters navigating work, family, identity and contemporary life in Aotearoa – from a youth group leader seeking solace from an AI chatbot to brothers divided over the future of the family bach. Congratulations John and Otago University Press! https://oup.nz/library/pastoral-care/

18/05/2026

The 2026 Otago English and Linguistics Seminar continues Wednesday with a presentation from Professor Simone Marshall titled "The Life of Chaucer in New Zealand." See below for a description of the talk. The seminar meets Wednesday 20 May at 1pm in Burns 4 and online via Zoom. Please contact [email protected] for the Zoom link. All are welcome!

11/05/2026

Congratulations to our own Lisa Blakie who, as co-director of Atawhai Interactive, received a Pavs Game Award for Toroa: Skycall, which won the Diverse Delight award for excellence in representation. The game allows players to soar and glide as an albatross across islands and ocean as they find their way home to Pukekura/Taiaroa Head. Toroa: Skycall is available on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2003490/Toroa_Skycall/