Luke Hathaway
Faculty of Arts
English Language & Literature
Assistant Professor
Office: MN 320
Phone: 902-420-5860
Email: luke.hathaway@smu.ca
I am a trans professor, poet, and librettist, who teaches courses in creative writing, Classical/ancient literature, poetry, and the poetics of the archives, within the English department — though many of my courses are cross-listed with other departments/programs (Ancient Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Atlantic Canada Studies). Beyond the university, I mentor poets through the Amadeus Choir's Choral Composition Lab, and collaborate with countertenor Daniel Cabena as part of the metamorphosing ensemble ANIMA, creating and commissioning new works inspired by early music sources.
I am interested in poetry and liturgy, in the transitional spaces that open up to us through art, in writing for the embodied voice, in the emergent properties of collaboration. I love working with students on hybrid projects — scholarly and makerly, creative and critical, etc.
Related Links
Writers' Union Profile Page →I am the author of four books of poems, one of which (Years, Months, and Days, published under my former name, Amanda Jernigan) was named a best book of the year in the New York Times. Other current/recent projects include:
- The Sign of Jonas, a folk opera / miracle play (with Benton Roark)
- Eurydice Fragments, an opera (with Roark, Debi Wong/re:naissance opera, and Michael Mori)
- Ghosts, an audio-visual album (with the art collective Thirtyminutes)
- This Is Not Safe, a masque (with GaRRy Williams / DaPoPo Theatre and Alexa Bella Katya)
- Seet Psalms, a song cycle (with Daniel Cabena and Colleen Collins)
- A Passion Retold, a queer, bardic retelling of Bach’s Johannes-Passion (with Daniel Cabena)