Literary A-Listers Featured in 2015 Writers Reading Series at Trent University
Big names and award winning authors share adventures in literature as part of weekly series at Traill College
Move over TIFF! Trent University is also rolling out the red carpet this fall to bring some of the most celebrated literary names in Canada to its Peterborough campus. For fans of those who transform words into art, the 2015 Writers Reading Series offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of these prolific writers. It’s sure to be the hottest ticket in town.
The weekly series, launching Tuesday, September 15, is an event not to be missed. Sean Michaels, the current Giller Prize winner, will join other renowned authors and poets including Rob Winger, associate professor at Trent and Governor General’s Award nominee, to read excerpts from their works in an intimate, relaxed setting.
The 27th annual Writers Reading Series hosted by the department of English Literature provides the rare opportunity for members of the Trent and Peterborough communities to engage authors of multiple genres from across Canada, in lively discussions about their varied works from concept to final chapter. This year, literary settings from the Great War to Toronto gambling dens and their accompanying themes are sure to spark unforgettable yet casual conversation with a favourite author.
“We are glad to have so many original and interesting voices visiting the University,” stated Dr. Lewis MacLeod, host of the series and professor of English Literature at Trent. “The series has seen tremendous growth in the past few years; writers with worldwide reputations are now very keen to come here. We are also always happy to bring up-and-coming writers to Peterborough.”
Unless otherwise noted, the readings begin at 7:00 p.m.in the Scott House Junior Common Room at Trent’s Catharine Parr Traill College, located at 310 London Street. The fun between authors and their captivated audiences continues following the readings each week at a casual reception at The Trend Pub.
“It's been great fun to see students and members of the community interact with the writers, talking and laughing,” said Professor MacLeod. “Best-selling authors who have done hundreds of these things and been published around the world routinely express their appreciation for our series and affection for our audiences. That's very gratifying.”
As a further incentive to attend the series, English Literature students with perfect attendance will receive a personalized limerick commissioned from one of the famous authors who have participated in the event over the years.
The Writers Reading events are part of the Barbara Rooke Lecture Series, and have been made possible with additional support from the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, the departments of Canadian Studies, English Literature and Cultural Studies, the Public Texts M.A. program, and the Nind Fund.
Please visit www.trentu.ca/english or www.facebook.com/writersread for more information about the Writers Reading series. The full listing of events and authors is as follows:
Tuesday, September 15,2015
Michael Crummey's latest novel, Sweetland, was a National Bestseller and won the CBC Bookie Award for Fiction. His previousnovel, Galore, won the Canadian Authors' Association Fiction Award, the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book (Canada & Caribbean Region), and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Award and the Governor-General's Award. He has published two other novels, River Thieves and The Wreckage, as well as poetry and short stories. His work has appeared in the Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories and in The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry. He lives in St. John's.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Rob Winger is the author of three collections of poetry: Old Hat (Nightwood 2014), The Chimney Stone (Nightwood 2010), and Muybridge’s Horse (Nightwood 2007). Muybridge’s Horse won the CBC Literary Award for poetry and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Sean Michaels was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1982. Raised in Ottawa, he eventually settled in Montreal, founding Said the Gramophone, one of the earliest music blogs. He has since spent time in Edinburgh and Kraków, written for the Guardian and McSweeney's, toured with rock bands, searched the Parisian catacombs for Les UX, and received two National Magazine Awards. His first novel, Us Conductors (Penguin, 2014) won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the QWF Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for the QWF Concordia University First Book Prize and the inaugural Kirkus Prize for Fiction.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Bob Bossin is a founding member of long-lived Canadian folk group, Stringband. Three collections of his music are currently in print. Bob has also written non-fiction, including the book Settling Clayoquot (1981), and the play Bossin’s Home Remedy for Nuclear War (1986). He has been nominated for a national magazine award, and his short story, “Latkes,” won 2nd prize in the Antigonish Review’s fiction competition. His latest book, Davy the Punk (Porcupine’s Quill, 2014) chronicles his father’s life in Toronto’s gambling underground in the 1930s and 40s.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Frances Itani is the internationally known author of 16 books, including her novel Tell (Harper Collins, 2014), shortlisted for the 2014 Giller Prize. She has won many awards including 3 CBC Literary Awards, a Commonwealth Prize for best book for her novel, Deafening (Phyllis Bruce, 2004), and the CAA Jubilee Award for best book of short stories. She was shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the William Saroyan International Literary Award and again for the Commonwealth Award for her novel Remembering the Bones (Phyllis Bruce, 2008). The Washington Post named her novel Requiem one of the top fiction titles in the U.S. for 2012. Her work has been published in 17 countries. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, has lived in many countries, has taught extensively and has been involved in humanitarian work all her life. Frances currently lives in Ottawa.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Robyn Sarah was born in New York to Canadian parents and grew up in Montreal, where she still lives. A poet, writer, literary editor, and musician, she is the author of ten poetry collections, most recently My Shoes Are Killing Me (Biblioasis, 2015) as well as two collections of short stories and a book of essays on poetry. Her poems have been broadcast by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac and anthologized in The Best Canadian Poetry in English (2009 and 2010), The Bedford Introduction to Literature, The Norton Anthology of Poetry, and Modern Canadian Poets: An Anthology (UK). She is currently poetry editor for Cormorant Books in Ontario.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Steven Galloway is the author of Finnie Walsh (2000), Ascension (2004), The Cellist of Sarajevo (Vintage, 2009), and The Confabulist (Knopf 2014). He has won the Borders Original Voice Award, the OLA Evergreen Award, and the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature, and been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Richard & Judy Book of the Year Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, the Canadian Booksellers Association Fiction Award, and the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award. His work has been published in over thirty countries and optioned for film.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Sachiko Murakami is the author of The Invisibility Exhibit (Talon 2008) and Rebuild (Talon 2011). Her latest writing project is Get Me Out of Here, poems that respond to an open Internet call for observations in airports. She has been a literary worker for numerous presses, journals, and organizations, including Matrix, EVENT, The Capilano Review, Summer Literary Seminars, and Snare Books. She has served as a juror for numerous literary prizes and competitions. The Invisibility Exhibit was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.
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