Photo Credit:
Photo credit
Abramovici Photography
Irene Marques
BIO
Biography

Irene Marques is a bilingual writer (writing in English and Portuguese) and Lecturer at Ryerson University in the English Department where she teaches literature and creative writing. She has also taught at the University of Toronto, York University and OCAD University in various departments including, the Department of English, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and the African Studies Program—and worked at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for 14 years. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, Masters in French Literature and Comparative Literature, a BA (Hon.) in French Language and Literature (University of Toronto) and a Bachelor of Social Work (Ryerson University). Marques’ academic writing intersects with her creative writing as both tend to explore issues of personal and collective identity, mystical and mythical understandings of self, world and universe, gender, race, empire, class, cultural syncretism, the Portuguese colonial wars in Africa and the Portuguese fascist regime. Her academic and creative endeavors are epistemological and ontological inquiries that display the individual as an entity constantly yearning to be “whole” in a markedly socio-political world that divides, dissects, annihilates, humiliates, and dismisses multidimensional (non-rational) intelligences and their enlightened ways. Her narratives are multifaceted, transcultural, transhistorical and transtemporal, and rely heavily on allegory, metaphor, lyricism, and magic-realism. Her writing is marked by a universal ethos that crosses geographical and cultural boundaries, bringing to the page existential themes that affect us all, while being characterized by a profound philosophical inquiry that sees the individual as an entity constantly yearning to be “whole” in a markedly socio-political world that divides, dissects, fragments, annihilates, humiliates, and dismisses multidimensional (non-rational) intelligences and their enlightened ways. She has published eights books in various genres (novel, short fiction, poetry and academic) and numerous articles, poems and short narrative in international scholarly journals, collectives and magazines. 

ADDRESS
City: Toronto, Province/Territory:
EMAIL
LANGUAGES
English and Portuguese
PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Title
Daria (novel)
Publisher
Inanna Publications
Year
2021
Title
Uma Casa no Mundo (novel)
Publisher
Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda (Portugal)
Year
2021
Title
My House is a Mansion (novel)
Publisher
Leaping Lion Books
Year
2015
Title
The Circular Incantation: An Exercise in Loss and Findings (poetry)
Publisher
Guernica Editions
Year
2013
Title
The Perfect Unravelling of the Spirit (poetry)
Publisher
Mawenzi House
Year
2012
Title
Transnational Discourses on Class
Title
Gender and Cultural Identity
Publisher
Purdue University Press
Year
2011
Title
Habitando na metáfora do tempo: crónicas desejadas (short fiction)
Publisher
Edium Editores
Year
2009
Title
Wearing Glasses of Water
Publisher
Mawenzi House
Year
2007
AWARDS
Awards
Name
Winner of Imprensa Nacional/Ferreira de Castro Prize (Prémio Imprensa Nacional/Ferreira de Castro
Name
Portugal)
Publication
Uma Casa no Mundo
Year
2019
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
School presentation details
Audience Size
All sizes
Intended Audience
University, College, High School
Programs & Interests
Interested in participating Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
All members are eligible for the Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program. Are you interested in participating in this pro
Yes
Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
The Union’s Northern Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program funds in-person visits to northern Ontario schools when possible. Ar
Yes