BA, MA, PhD
Instructor
jpenbert@capilanou.ca
Education
PhD, University of British Columbia, 1985.
MA, University of British Columbia, 1978.
BA, University of Natal, 1973.
Bio
Jenny Penberthy (PhD, University of British Columbia, 1985), faculty emeritus, taught for 24 years in the English department at Capilano University.
A widely-published and renowned scholar in the field of modern poetry and poetics, she has made crucial editorial and critical contributions to the recognition and study of American poet Lorine Niedecker while remaining deeply engaged in every facet of life at the university.
Penberthy served on numerous committees, directed the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation Lecture Series from 2000-06 bringing international and Canadian luminaires to campus, and expanded the operations of the Writing Centre, introducing its peer-mentoring project.
She was founder and editor of CUE Books from 2008-09 and edited The Capilano Review (TCR) for six years, maintaining its national reputation as a venturesome magazine of experimental literary and visual arts and, in 2015, ensuring that the magazine survived in its transition to off-campus production.
In her capacity as TCR editor, she brought a succession of accomplished Writers-in-Residence to campus for readings, workshops and student writing consultations. One of her editorial successes was "The Capilano College Issue" in 2007, a celebration of 100 issues of TCR that published 37 past and present CapU faculty writers and 10 faculty artists.
She also pioneered "Sacred Space: The Tom Cone Festival of New Plays," a collaboration between the English and Theatre programs and an ongoing annual festival of innovative short plays.
Since retiring in 2016, Penberthy has remained dedicated to both her scholarship and the continued vitality of The Capilano Review. In the year of her retirement, Flood Editions in Chicago published her book The Art of Language: Selected Essays of Kenneth Cox, and the collection Poetry and Praxis 'After' Objectivism from the University of Iowa Press featured her essay on Lorine Niedecker and Lisa Robertson. She is working on a collection of letters by Lorine Niedecker and a history of Fulcrum Press.
Still tirelessly committed to funding and programming initiatives as Board Chair of the Capilano Review Contemporary Arts Society, Penberthy's presence and imprint on our local arts communities remains profoundly felt.