I’m a writer, an editor, and a critic located in Kitchener, Ontario.
My debut novel, entitled In the Key of Dale and telling the story of a queer sixteen-year-old music prodigy who starts writing letters to his late father, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in fall 2022; an audiobook is available from Orange Sky Audio and an Italian translation from Gallucci. In addition, my short stories have appeared in The Antigonish Review, Plenitude Magazine, and The New Quarterly.
My edited books include an edition of L.M. Montgomery’s rediscovered final book, The Blythes Are Quoted, which has been translated into five languages (and a sixth forthcoming), and the three-volume critical anthology The L.M. Montgomery Reader, which won the 2016 PROSE Award for Literature from the Association of American Publishers. I also edit two book series: Early Canadian Literature (Wilfrid Laurier University Press), which returns to print novels and memoirs published before 1950, with eight volumes in print, and The L.M. Montgomery Library (University of Toronto Press), which collects Montgomery’s short stories, poems, and miscellaneous pieces, with three volumes in print, a fourth forthcoming in 2025, and several more in progress. L.M. Montgomery Online, a web resource I curate, provides information about Montgomery’s life, work, and legacy for her worldwide community of readers.
As a critic, I write about Canadian literary culture and North American texts for young people. I earned an MA in English from the University of Guelph, a PhD in English from McMaster University, and a graduate certificate in publishing from what is now Toronto Metropolitan University. Current projects include two trade non-fiction books that will be published by Dundurn Press over the next few years: The Glory and the Dream: L.M. Montgomery’s Writing Life and Reimagining Anne: L.M. Montgomery’s Literary Icon on Screen.
My pronouns are he, him, and his. My surname is pronounced Luh-FAVE.
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Forthcoming Publications
The Blythes Are Quoted in Turkish: Alfa Ekspres
Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913 (The L.M. Montgomery Library): University of Toronto Press
The Glory and the Dream: L.M. Montgomery’s Writing Life: Dundurn Press
The Glory and the Dream: L.M. Montgomery’s Writing Life (audiobook): Tantor Media
Reimagining Anne: L.M. Montgomery’s Literary Icon on Screen: Dundurn Press
Reimagining Anne: L.M. Montgomery’s Literary Icon on Screen (audiobook): Tantor Media
Recent Publications
Twice upon a Time: Selected Stories, 1898–1939 (audiobook), narrated by Barbara Barnes and William Hope: University of Toronto Press, 2023
“Benjamin Lefebvre’s Writing Space” (blog post): The New Quarterly, 29 June 2023
In the Key of Dale in Italian: La musica di Dale [Dale’s Music], translated by Silvia Mercurio, Gallucci, 2023
“Condolence” (short story): The New Quarterly, Spring 2023
In the Key of Dale (audiobook), narrated by Michael Crouch: Orange Sky Audio, 2022
In the Key of Dale (novel): Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022
“When It’s Over” (short story): Plenitude Magazine, 8 October 2022
“Drive” (short story): The Antigonish Review, Summer 2022
Twice upon a Time: Selected Stories, 1898–1939 (The L.M. Montgomery Library): University of Toronto Press, 2022
The Blythes Are Quoted in Italian: Racconti dall’isola: Prima della guerra [Stories from the Island: Before the War] and Racconti dall’isola: Dopo la guerra [Stories from the Island: After the War], translated by Angela Ricci, Gallucci Editore, 2021
The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print; Volume 2: A Critical Heritage; Volume 3: A Legacy in Review (paperback editions): University of Toronto Press, 2020
The Blythes Are Quoted in Brazilian Portuguese: Os Contos dos Blythes [The Tales of the Blythes] (2 vols.) and Os Poemas dos Blythes [The Poems of the Blythes], translated by Thalita Uba, Ciranda Cultural, 2020, and, in one volume, as O grande livro dos Blythes: Contos e poemas de Anne of Green Gables [The Big Book of the Blythes: Tales and Poems of Anne of Green Gables], translated by Thalita Uba and Patricia N. Rasmussen, Ciranda Cultural, 2022