TORONTO, September 16, 2002 -- For those wanting to get a bit more up close and personal with their favourite home-grown authors, York University is presenting its fourth annual "Canadian Writers in Person" reading series, September 2002 - April 2003.
Twelve of Canada's leading novelists and poets, including: Greg Hollingshead, Rosemary Sullivan, George Elliott Clarke, Richard B. Wright, Susan Goyette and Alistair MacLeod, will read from their work and will take questions from the audience.
"The series showcases some of Canada's best literary talent," said Atkinson English Professor John Unrau. "Hearing these authors read from their work adds a dimension to the literary experience that is unavailable from the printed word alone."
The series is sponsored by the Master's Office and English Department of the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, the Atkinson students' and alumni associations, with the support of the Canada Council, and a dozen other benefactors.
The following free public readings will be held Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. in Stedman Lecture Hall "D" at York University, 4700 Keele Street:
Greg Hollingshead (The Roaring Girl) -- September 26
Born in Toronto and raised in Woodbridge, Ontario, Greg Hollingshead won the 1995 Governor General's Award for Fiction for his collection of 12 short stories, The Roaring Girl (Somerville House, 1995). His novel, The Healer (HarperFlamingo, 1998) was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and in 1999 won the Rogers Fiction Prize. His other publications include: Famous Players (Coach House, 1982), White Buick (Oolichan, 1992) and Spin Dry (Mosaic, 1992).
Rosemary Sullivan (The Bone Ladder, Labyrinth of Desire) -- October 10
Renowned poet, novelist, biographer and journalist, Rosemary Sullivan won the Governor General's Award for Non-fiction for Shadow Maker, The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen (Harper Collins, 1995), later adapted for a documentary film in 1998. Her poetry collections include: The Space a Name Makes (Black Moss Press, 1986), Blue Panic (Black Moss Press, 1991), and The Bone Ladder (Black Moss Press, 2000). Her essays include, Memory-Making (Black Moss Press, 2001), and Labyrinth of Desire (HarperCollins, Toronto, 2001).
Norman Kester (From Here to District Six: A South African Memoir) -- October 24
Norman G. Kester emigrated with his father and three sisters from South Africa to Canada in 1969 during the height of apartheid. He received an Oppenheimer Memorial Scholarship (sponsored by DeBeers) and attended York University (BA '88) and the University of Western Ontario. His publications include: From Here to District Six: A South African Memoir (District Six Press, 2000), and Liquid Love and Other Longings (District Six Press, 2002). Kester's work has been anthologized in MA-KA Diaspora Juks: Contemporary Writings by Queers of African Descent (Sister Vision Press, 1997).
John Pass (Water Stair) November 7
John Pass teaches at Capilano College in North Vancouver. His poetry includes: Taking Place (1971), The Kenojuak Prints (1974), Port of Entry (Repository Press, 1975), There Go the Cars (1978), An Arbitrary Dictionary (1984), The Hour's Acropolis (Harbour Publishing, 1991), Radical Innocence (Harbour Publishing, 1994), Mud Bottom (1996), and Water Stair (Oolichan Books, 2000) which was nominated for a Governor General's Award for Poetry. He has taught at the Banff Centre and was the Visiting Poet at Brigham Young University in Utah in 1990.
Richard B. Wright (Clara Callan) -- November 21
Richard B.Wright is the award-winning author of the much celebrated Clara Callan (Harper Collins, 2001), a book that topped Canadian bestseller lists for more than 32 weeks and has won the 2001 Giller Prize for Fiction; the 2001 Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Trillium Book Award. He is also the author of In the Middle of a Life (1973), Farthing's Fortunes (1976), Final Things (1980), The Teachers Daughter (1982), Tourists (1984), Sunset Manor (1990) and The Age of Longing (1995).
Camilla Gibb (Mouthing the Words) -- December 5
Camilla Gibb was born in London, England and has a PhD in social anthropology from Oxford University. Gibb's first novel, Mouthing the Words (Pedlar Press, 1999), was selected by the Globe and Mail as one of the best books of 1999. It won the Toronto book award in 2000 and has been published in twelve countries. Gibb's recently-released novel is The Petty Details of So-And-So's Life (Doubleday, 2002).
Susan Goyette (The True Names of Birds) -- January 16
Winner of the 1992 Joyce Marshall Scia Poetry Award from Saint Mary's University, Susan Goyette grew up in St. Bruno, Quebec, and currently resides in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Her first book of poems, The True Names of Birds (Brick Books 1998), was short-listed for the Governor General's Award in 1999. Her first novel Lures (2002), was recently published by HarperCollins.
Alistair MacLeod (Island: The Collected Stories) -- January 30
Cape Breton author Alistair MacLeod was the 2001 winner of the prestigious IMPAC Dublin Literary Award -- the world’s richest book prize valued at $172,000 Cdn -- for his award-winning novel No Great Mischief (McClelland & Stewart, 1999), a literary achievement nearly 13 years in the making. He has published The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (1976), As Birds Bring Forth the Sun (1986) and Island: The Collected Stories (McClelland & Stewart, 2000).
George Elliott Clarke (Execution Poems) -- February 13
George Elliott Clarke was born in the Black Loyalist community of Windsor Plains, Nova Scotia, and raised in Halifax. He won the 2001 Governor General’s Award for poetry for the Execution Poems (Gaspereau Press, 2001). His book of poems Whylah Falls (Polestar, 1990) was one of five books chosen for Canada Book Day 2002. And he was the lone poet chosen in CBC Radio’s "Canada Reads" feature -- a panel series that ran on This Morning. His opera Beatrice Chancy has had four stage productions and was broadcast on CBC television.
Priscila Uppal (The Divine Economy of Salvation) -- March 6
Priscila Uppal is completing her PhD in English literature at York University where she has recently accepted an assistant professorship teaching in the creative writing program. Uppal has published three collections of poetry, How to Draw Blood From a Stone (Exile Editions, 1998), Confessions of a Fertility Expert (Exile Editions, 1999), and Pretending to Die (Exile Editions, 2001). Her first novel, The Divine Economy of Salvation, (Doubleday, 2002) has received critical acclaim.
Diane Baker Mason (Last Summer at Barebones) -- March 20
Diane Baker Mason's latest book, Men with Brooms (McArthur, 2002) is a novelization of the major motion picture starring Paul Gross, Leslie Neilsen and Molly Parker. Mason graduated from York University with a degree in English literature (BA '96). While still a student, she won the Story Magazine contests for "Feast", published in Gluttony: Ample Tales of Epicurean Excess (Chronicle Books, 1993). She is currently a law student at York's Osgoode Hall Law School. Her first novel is Last Summer at Barebones (McArthur, 2001).
Diane Keating (The Year One: New and Selected Poems) -- April 3
Diane Keating was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and has lived in Toronto for the past twenty-five years. Her poetry collections are: In Dark Places (1978), No Birds or Flowers (1982), The Optic Heart (Exile Editions, 1984), and The Year One: New and Selected Poems (Exile Editions, 2001). No Birds or Flowers was nominated for the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 1982.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. John Unrau | Ken Turriff |
| Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies | Media Relations |
| York University | York University |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 33893 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| junrau@yorku.ca | kturriff@yorku.ca |
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