Faculty

Dr. Archna Sahni was born in India and educated in Kuala Lumpur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Toronto.  She made Toronto her home in 1992.  Dr. Sahni is currently Sessional Faculty at University of the Fraser Valley, Chandigarh.  She holds an MPhil (Master of Philosophy) and a PhD in English Literature from Panjab University, and an MEd in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), University of Toronto. Prior to joining the University of the Fraser Valley, she was teaching at Humber College, Toronto.

Archna is also a poet.  Archna’s debut collection of poems, First Fire (Yeti, 2005), has received the praise of renowned writers such as Vilas Sarang and K.Satchidanandan (Nobel Prize for Literature nominee).  Her second book of poems Another Nirvana is forthcoming in May 2018 by Mawenzi (Toronto). She is the recipient of the inaugural Agha Shahid Ali Prize for Poetry, and received Honourable Mention for E.J. Pratt Medal and Poetry Prize.  Archna has published widely in literary journals and anthologies, and has been invited to read her work at organizations such as Art Bar (Toronto), Sahitya Akademi (Delhi), Cappuccino Readings (Mumbai), and most recently, at the Chandigarh International Literary Festival 2017. Archna is currently working on a manuscript of poems that explores her relationship to aboriginal Canada.

• “Indian in Canada, Canadian in India: Reflections on Living Inter-Nationally.” Working Paper. To be published in MG Saudelli, J. Kusch & S. Carroll, Stories from Far Away Lands: Lessons and Learning from Contemporary and International Lives. England, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2018
• “The Mutation of Draupadi in Bachint Kaur’s Draupdi and Mahashweta Devi’s “Draupadi”’ published in Gender Perspectives: South Asian Writing in English and in English Translation (New Delhi: Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, and Gangtok: Sikkim University, 2014), edited by Basudeb Chakraborti and A.S. Chandel, pgs. 61-76.
• “Machu Lobsang.” Muse India: The Literary E-Journal, Focus: Literature of Refugees, Issue 55, May-June 2014.
• “Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable: Publication History, Reception, and its Relation to his Letters.” Indian legendary writers in English : Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao. Ed. Jaydeep Sarangi. New Delhi: Authorspress, 2009. 9-28.
• “Tibetan Diasporic Poetry and the Politics of Neglect.” Presentations of Postcolonialism in English: New Orientations. Ed. Jaydeep Sarangi. New Delhi: Authorspress, 2007.167-176.
• “Reflections on my diaspora-mediated/diasporic self: a personal (and ongoing) narrative.” Contemporary Diasporic Literature: Writing History, Culture, Self. Ed. Manjit Inder Singh. New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2007. 117-126.
• “Unpeeling the Layers of Draupadi.” Re-markings. Vol. 5, No.2, Sep 2006: 35-46.
• “Passage to Tibet”, “Tibetmata”, “Hidimba’s Gift”, and “How Zan Lost His Paradise” published in Voices Across The Ocean: Poems From Australia & India, edited by Rob Harle and Jaydeep Sarangi (Cyberwit, 2014)
• “Earth at Night”, “Lady Hanuman” and “Destiny” published in The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India, edited by Dr. Vivekanand Jha (Canada: Hidden Brook Press, 2013).
• “Shelley” published in South Asian Ensemble: A Canadian Quarterly of Literature, Arts and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 4 & Vol. 4, No.1 (Autumn 2011 & Winter 2012).

Dr. Sahni’s teaching and research interests include cultural studies, world literature, postcolonial literature, the Gothic novel, women in the Mahabharata, aspects of South Asian society and culture, and education, and she has published and presented papers on the same. She is currently looking into the area of contemporary Tibetan poetry in English.  At the University of the Fraser Valley she has taught Introduction to Literature (ENGL 108), Introduction to Sociology (SOC 101), and Gender and Diversity Issues (BUS 407).