TMU Professor Ruth Panofsky has been awarded the prestigious Royal Society of Canada medal
TMU professor Ruth Panofsky recognized with biennial Royal Society of Canada medal.
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) English professor Ruth Panofsky has been awarded the prestigious Lorne Pierce Medal, a biennial prize recognizing achievement in critical or imaginative literature from the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
Professor Panofsky’s leading academic expertise spans the history of Canadian publishing and authorship as well as Canadian Jewish literature, especially by women. As she explores the work of Canadian writers, including Adele Wiseman and Miriam Waddington, she views their writing through the lens of their publishing lives. She is well known for uncovering women’s important roles in the publishing industry and her scholarship on publishing house Macmillan Canada. She is also a published creative writer, the author of poetry collections, essays and literary reviews.
The Lorne Pierce Medal was established in 1926 by its namesake, a well-known Canadian editor, publisher and literary critic. Professor Panofsky notes her scholarship has touched on Pierce’s work and the late Ryerson Press, where he was editor for 40 years. This includes co-curating an online exhibition featuring TMU Library’s Ryerson Press Collection, so recognition with this particular medal is “a great honour,” she says.
“Receiving this award validates the work I’ve been doing over the course of my career to bring understudied aspects of Canadian writing and publishing to the foreground of literary scholarship,” said professor Panofsky. “I’m very grateful to TMU and to my colleagues in the Department of English for supporting my research and to the RSC for this recognition.”
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in the Academy of the Arts and Humanities, Panofsky’s other recognitions include the Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award and TMU’s Sarwan Sahota Distinguished Scholar Award.
“I’m thrilled to congratulate professor Panofsky on her selection for the Lorne Pierce Medal by the Royal Society of Canada. Her scholarly and creative contributions to Canadian literature are an outstanding demonstration of excellence in her field, illuminating important aspects of the country’s literary and publishing history,” said Steven N. Liss, TMU’s vice-president, research and innovation.
This year’s RSC awards ceremony will be held on November 9 in Vancouver, B.C.
Learn more about the 2024 RSC award recipients. (external link)
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