Thomas More Institute Montreal

10/12/2026

🌐📖 What compels an author to write in a language other than the one they were born into? And what happens when they do? The practice of writing in a language other than one’s mother tongue—also known as exophonic writing—is not new. Yet as communities around the world become increasingly multilingual, more and more examples emerge.

In this discussion-based literature course, we will explore the concept of linguistic identity as it relates to creative writers. How can finding a literary voice in another language affect one’s sense of cultural and national identity, both for authors and their audiences? How does this practice straddle the boundary between the personal and the political?

Visit our website to learn more or register:
https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/beyond-the-mother-tongue-literature-in-an-adopted-language/

Day: Tuesdays
Time: 6:15 to 8:15 PM
Location: 3405 Atwater, Montreal
First session: January 12th, 2027
Course length: 6 weeks
Degree credit: 1.5 credits (Optional)

10/06/2026

**NEW FALL COURSE: STARTING NOVEMBER 2**

🏛🌊 If you watched The Odyssey and want to discuss both the film and the original story in depth with other people, this course is for you!

The second of two foundational epic poems attributed to Homer, the Odyssey has greatly influenced western civilization’s views of home, determination and character. This film and classics discussion-based course will use a close reading of the new Mendelsohn translation to examine what has made this literary work so enduring and meaningful. We will then compare it with Nolan’s film adaptation, which participants will be expected to watch outside of class. We will focus on what the Odyssey can tell us about the time and society in which it was composed and first read, with particular attention near the end of the course on what re-interpretations of the story can tell us about our own time and society.

Day: Mondays
Time: 6:15 - 8:15 PM
Location: 3405 Atwater Ave.
First session: November 2 2026
Course length: 6 weeks

Learn more and register here:

The second of two foundational epic poems attributed to Homer, the Odyssey has greatly influenced western civilization’s views of home, determination and character. This film and classics discussion-based course will use a close reading of the new Mendelsohn translation to examine what has made th...

10/01/2026

📜 ✍🏾 Over the course of a career that would see her become the first Black writer ever awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks travelled the currents of African American History. Having published her first poem at age thirteen, Brooks’ work shifted over the course of the 1960s from a personal, private preoccupation with local community life to public, political questions of Black politics and identity.
In this literature course, participants will discover Brooks' expansive body of work, situating it within its historical context and the influences that shaped her aesthetic choices. Core questions guiding our discussion will include: In what ways are language and identity connected, and what role do these connections play in the development of the poetic voice? Should poets feel obliged to take up socio-political causes? If so, who gets to decide what constitutes a legitimate political cause and the nature of the poets’ obligation?
Finally, how does Brooks’ body of work reflect her changing responses to these questions? Alongside Brooks, works by Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and more will be considered.

Visit our website to learn more or register: https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/alive-in-ice-and-fire-the-poetry-of-gwendolyn-brooks/

Day: Wednesdays
Time: 6:15 to 8:15pm
Location: Zoom
First session: January 13th, 2027
Course length: 6 weeks
Degree credit: 1.5 credits (Optional)

10/01/2026

🏛️🎭 Aeschylus’ Oresteia is an ancient Greek tragedy of revenge, violent familial strife, and justice. Written in the 5th century BCE, it is a trilogy of plays that begins with the character of Agamemnon—how he was murdered by his own wife, Clytemnestra, after returning home from the Trojan war; and how his son, Orestes, kills Clytemnestra in turn, condemning Orestes to be forever tormented by the Furies. Two thousand years later, Jean-Paul Sartre reimagined this story through his work The Flies, adding his own existentialist theme to it. How do the two works compare to one another?

In this discussion-based classics course, we will read and discuss both stories, exploring them not only in relation to one another, but also in relation to the times in which they were written. What does the Oresteia’s story have to do with the democracy emerging in Athens at the time? Additionally, why would Sartre take this ancient tragedy and rewrite it for a 20th-century audience? How did he use Orestes’ journey as a platform to express his own ideas about existentialism?

Visit our website to learn more or register: https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/aeschylus-and-sartre-on-justice-in-ancient-greek-tragedy/

Day: Wednesdays
Time: 1:30 to 3:30pm
Location: 3405 Atwater, Montreal
First session: January 13th, 2027
Course length: 12 weeks
Degree credit: 3 credits (optional)

09/04/2026

We are delighted to have seen so many members of our community and newcomers at the courses launch and reading on September 1. Thank you for joining us for our first event of the year, and thank you to our guest of the evening, Sarah Gilbert, author of Our Lady of Mile End!

08/05/2026

Rethinking Fast Fashion: Ethics, Sustainability and Innovation
A social science course by the Thomas More Institute

Day: Mondays
Time: 1:30 - 3:30 PM
Location: 3405 Atwater Ave
Starting September 12, 2026
12 weeks

Register today! https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/rethinking-fast-fashion-ethics-sustainability-and-innovation/

07/30/2026

🎟📖The 2026-2027 academic year at the Thomas More Institute is underway! Join us on September first to kick off the new year, and enjoy some light refreshments while you discover our upcoming courses, mingle with the course leaders, and learn more about the Institute and our discussion method. Then, join us for a reading and Q&A with author Sarah Gilbert, who will read from her book Our Lady of Mile End, a neighbourhood of stories called a “literary gem” by The New York Times, and praised as “vibrant and intimate” by author Heather O’Neill. The stories in Gilbert’s collection explore gentrification and displacement in a once affordable area that is feeling the squeeze of social and cultural transformation.

Entry is free. Please RSVP here.
https://forms.gle/LzKnjqeUFBxPMxbG8

Sarah Gilbert is the author of the story collection Our Lady of Mile End, called a “literary gem” by The New York Times. Her fiction has appeared in a variety of literary journals and been a finalist for several prizes. Gilbert has worked as a freelance writer and a radio producer and is a faculty member at Dawson College where she teaches literature.

07/30/2026

👩‍🎨 Venetian art in the late 15th century and well into the 16th century signifies a golden age of painting. Pictures by Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and scores of others define the era and separate Venice from the Renaissance in other Italian cities. But the paintings we now see in museums or churches were commissioned from the artist. Commercial art dealers and exhibitions were a thing of the future.

In this art history lecture course, we will look at the four main patrons of Renaissance art in Venice and their commissions: the Venetian Republic government, the Catholic church and the clergy, the various secular confraternities, and lastly, private or unknown individual Venetians. We will ask questions such as the following: How did the motivations of art patrons influence the subjects and symbolism of Venetian painting? In what ways did paintings reflect the social, political and religious values of Venice at the time?

To find out, register at thomasmore.qc.ca or follow the link in our bio.
https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/who-paid-for-the-art-patronage-in-renaissance-venice/

Day: Wednesdays
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 PM
Location: 3405 Atwater, Montreal
First session: November 4 2026
Course length: 4 weeks

Venetian art in the late 15th century and well into the 16th century represents a golden age of painting. Pictures by Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and scores of others define the era and separate Venice from the Renaissance in other Italian cities. The paintings we no...

07/27/2026

👩‍🎨 Venetian art in the late 15th century and well into the 16th century signifies a golden age of painting. Pictures by Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and scores of others define the era and separate Venice from the Renaissance in other Italian cities. But the paintings we now see in museums or churches were commissioned from the artist. Commercial art dealers and exhibitions were a thing of the future.

In this art history lecture course, we will look at the four main patrons of Renaissance art in Venice and their commissions: the Venetian Republic government, the Catholic church and the clergy, the various secular confraternities, and lastly, private or unknown individual Venetians. We will ask questions such as the following: How did the motivations of art patrons influence the subjects and symbolism of Venetian painting? In what ways did paintings reflect the social, political and religious values of Venice at the time?

To find out, register at thomasmore.qc.ca or follow the link in our bio.
https://courses.thomasmore.qc.ca/product/who-paid-for-the-art-patronage-in-renaissance-venice/

Day: Wednesdays
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 PM
Location: 3405 Atwater, Montreal
First session: November 4 2026
Course length: 4 weeks