Ken Seigneurie

Ken Seigneurie is a Professor in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. His work bridges comparative literature, world literature, and Eastern Mediterranean cultures, with a focus on English, Arabic, and French literary traditions in postcolonial and wartime contexts. He has held leadership roles such as Chair (ad interim) at SFU (2021–2022) and Director of the World Literature Program (2009–2015).

• PhD in Comparative Literature (University of Michigan, 1995)
• MA in Comparative Literature (University of Michigan, 1991)
• BSc and BA (Michigan State University, 1982)

His research examines elegiac humanism in wartime and postwar Lebanon, mid-20th-century novelistic responses to liberal thought crises, and the role of Arabic literature in global contexts. He co-edited How My Days Passed: An Armenian Picaresque (2024) and served as Editor-in-Chief of the six-volume Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Literature (2020), which was shortlisted for a PROSE award. Current projects include A Concise Companion to World Literature (2025) and a monograph on liberal nihilism in global novels (2026).

His scholarly work spans comparative literature theory, postwar memory, and trans-Mediterranean cultural intersections, reflecting publications in journals like Middle Eastern Literatures and Public Culture. Awards include SFU research fellowships, a Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title (2012), and grants from SSHRC and Lebanese American University.

• Key themes: Cultural mediation, war narratives, liberal thought, and postcolonial humanism
• Language expertise: Near-native French, advanced Modern Standard and Levantine Arabic
• Professional affiliations: American Comparative Literature Association, Modern Language Association, Lebanese Studies Association