ALL EVENTS: SCOTT HOUSE, JUNIOR COMMON ROOM, TRAILL COLLEGE (310 LONDON)
SEPT 20
Ray Robertson is the author of the novels Home Movies, Heroes, Moody Food, Gently Down the Stream, What Happened Later, David, and I Was There The Night He Died, as well as the non-fiction collections Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing and Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live, which was short-listed for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-fiction and long-listed for the Charles Taylor Prize for non-fiction. His newest work is Lives of the Poets (with Guitars) (Biblioasis, 2016). Born and raised in Southwestern Ontario, he lives in Toronto.
--“Insightful and excellent and highly entertaining!” (Globe and Mail)
SEPT 28
Alissa York’s internationally acclaimed novels include Mercy, Effigy (short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize), Fauna and, most recently, The Naturalist (Random House). She is also the author of the short fiction collection, Any Given Power, stories from which have won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award. Her essays and articles have appeared The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Brick magazine and elsewhere. York has lived all over Canada and now makes her home in Toronto with her husband, artist Clive Holden.
--“One of few books on my shelf that reminds me how to live,” Miriam Toews
OCT 6
Kate Cayley’s first collection of short fiction, How You Were Born, won the 2015 Trillium Book Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, and was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her first collection of poetry, When This World Comes to an End, was shortlisted for the ReLit Award. She is currently a playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre, and has written two plays for Tarragon, After Akhmatova and The Bakelite Masterpiece. Her second collection of poetry, Other Houses, is forthcoming from Brick Books.
--“Tautly written, gripping tales, full of emotional intelligence,” (Now Toronto)
OCT 13
Linda Besner’s first book of poetry, The Id Kid, was published in 2011 by Véhicule Press and named as one of the National Post’s Best Poetry Books of the Year. In 2015 she was selected as one of the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s 5x5 Emerging Artists. Her poetry and journalism have appeared in magazines across Canada, including The Walrus, Maisonneuve, Hazlitt, and The National Post, and been anthologized in Best Canadian Poetry 2012. Her second collection, Feel Happier in Nine Seconds, is forthcoming in 2017 from Coach House Books. She lives in Montreal.
--“The logic cortex of my brain was booby-trapped!” (Maisonneuve)
NOV 9
Trent alumnus Joshua Trotter's first book, All This Could Be Yours (Biblioasis) was selected by the National Post as one of the top 10 poetry books of 2010. His second book, Mission Creep, was published in 2015 by Coach House Press. Joshua's work has been anthologized in Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets and The Best Canadian Poetry in English. He lives in Montréal.
-- “By turns funny and terrifying, airy and claustrophobic, non-representational and razor-sharp.” (National Post)
NOV 22
Kris Bertin’s stories have appeared in The Walrus, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, PRISM International, and other magazines. He is a two-time winner of the Jack Hodgins’ Founders’ Award for Fiction and has had his work anthologized in The Journey Prize Anthology, Oberon’s Coming Attractions and EXILE’s CVC Anthology. Bertin’s debut collection of stories, Bad Things Happen, was published with Biblioasis in 2016. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
--“Kris Bertin’s stories are a revelation, a triumph — each stamped with the mark of a new and rising genius.” David Adams Richards
NOV 30
George Elliott Clarke has published 14 poetry texts, 4 verse-plays, 3 opera libretti, 2 novels, 2 scholarly essay collections, and 2 edited anthologies. His honours include The Governor-General’s Literary Award for Poetry (2001), The National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry (2001), The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Achievement Award (2004), The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize (2005), The Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (2009). Appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia (2006) and the Order of Canada (2008), Clarke has also received 8 honorary doctorates. His newest book is The Motorcyclist, a novel (HarperCollins Canada), but also new/immediately forthcoming are Extra Illicit Sonnets (Exile), and Gold (Gaspereau), a miscellaneous collection.
--The Motorcyclist is “visceral and thoughtful, harrowing and insightful, cruel and tender.” (Toronto Star)