My research is focused on "critter studies," that is, the examination of how we story nonhuman "pests" (invasive species, weeds, fungi, microbes, insects, parasites). My dissertation investigates botanical languages and botanical narration in recent Canadian and Indigenous novels, where I forage for new ways to think with plants, and to tell stories that foreground the intelligences of our botanical co-tenants. I currently serve on the board of the Society for Canadian English, and I am writing definitions for the forthcoming .
Contemporary Canadian Literature; Indigenous Literatures; Ecocriticism; Critical Plant Studies; Critical Animal Studies; Language Studies; Systems of Naming and Categorization; Science and Technology Studies; Eco-linguistics; Lexicography.
Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Chew, John, Stefan Dollinger, Emma Ferrett, Amir Ghorvei, and Anastasia Riehl. 鈥淎 Canadian English Dictionary for All: Reviving Present-Day Lexicography in an Inclusive Era鈥. Dictionaries, forthcoming 2026.
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥溾橴nknowable other creatures鈥: Insect Poetics in Lydia Davis鈥 Short Fiction.鈥 Lydia Davis: Critical Essays, eds. Lola Boorman and Julie Tanner. Edinburgh UP, forthcoming October 2026.
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥'Dislodging the enemy': Unsettling Mosquitoes in Anna Brownell Jameson鈥檚 Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada." Bugs in the Nineteenth Century, eds. Brooke Cameron, Michaela Wipond, Alyce Soulodre. Genre Fiction and Film Companions Series, ed. Simon Bacon, forthcoming 2026.
Ferrett, Emma, and Stefan Dollinger. 鈥淚s Digital Always Better? Comparing Two English Print Dictionaries with their Current Digital Counterparts鈥. International Journal of Lexicography, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2021.
Public-Facing Publications:
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Canuck Word of the Year.鈥 Interview with Ontario Morning with Ramraajh Sharvendiran. CBC, radio, 31 December 2025, .
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥淐anada Names its First-Ever Word of the Year.鈥 Interview with GlobalNews.ca, 18 December 2025, .
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥淨ueen鈥檚 University Helps to Determine Canada鈥檚 Official Word of the Year,鈥 Interview with The Whig Standard, 17 December 2025, .
Ferrett, Emma. 鈥淎natomy of an Entry: Drafting Definitions for the Canadian English Dictionary鈥 Strathy Language Unit Blog, www.queens.ca/Strathy/Strathy-blog. June-Sept 2025.
