After reading the award-winning novel Three Day Road as part of Trent Reads 2008, a new initiative for Introductory Seminar Week, first-year students, along with members of the Trent and Peterborough communities, will have the opportunity to hear from the author, Joseph Boyden, on Thursday, September 18 at 7 p.m. when he delivers a free, public reading in the Wenjack Theatre at Trent University.

At the event, Mr. Boyden will be reading from his new novel, Through Black Spruce, which was recently released to the public on September 11 and is described as “an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city.” The visit to Trent will mark Mr. Boyden’s first public reading of his new book.

"I think it is so exceptional that Joseph and Amanda are able to come to Trent to help Trent wrap up our first Trent Reads,” said Professor Ray Dart, principal of Peter Gzowski College. “Imagine meeting the author of the first book you read for university, two weeks after you start classes! Imagine having that author read from their hot-off-the-presses follow-up! This is such a wonderful Trent event, and really showcases the way we like learning at Trent University to be -- current, engaged and exciting."

This will be Mr. Boyden’s second visit to Trent. The award-winning author first came to Trent in February 2006 as Trent’s Margaret Laurence Writer in Residence Fellow and the Northern Chair Lecturer. During his time at Trent, Mr. Boyden met with students and delivered a public reading of his first novel, Three Day Road. Since then, Three Day Road has won international acclaim as the winner of the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year, and the Amazon.ca/books in Canada First Novel Award. It was also selected for the Today Show Book Club and CBC Canada Reads.

Three Day Road was chosen for the inaugural Trent Reads 2008, an initiative designed to alleviate students’ anxiety as they prepare to enter their first year of university, for its relevance to people in all areas of study as it spans across many perspectives. Inspired in part by real-life WWI Ojibwa hero Francis Pegahmagabow, the novel follows Xavier and Elijah, two Cree snipers in the killing fields of Ypres and the Somme.

Joining Mr. Boyden at Trent is his wife and fellow author, Amanda Boyden. Before becoming a writer, Mrs. Boyden was a trapeze artist who started an all-female trapeze troupe in New Orleans. She also worked as a stuntwoman in Los Angeles before publishing her first novel, Pretty Little Dirty in 2006. At Trent, she will read from her second novel, Babylon Rolling, a story of five families living along one block in pre-Katrina New Orleans.

Mr. and Mrs. Boyden both teach writing at the University of New Orleans. Mr. Boyden has also written articles for Maclean's about the devastation of hurricane Katrina, along with several short stories and essays that have appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, and Canadian Geographic. His short story collection, Born Without a Tooth, was short listed for the Upper Canada Writer’s Craft Award.

This event is free and open to the public. A book signing and reception will follow the readings at Wenjack Theatre.