TORONTO, October 24, 2002 -- What does it mean to be literate in the digital age? Living Literacies, a conference on the philosophy of literacy, will explore this question with some of the leading writers and theorists of our time at York University, November 14-16.
Susan Sontag, George Steiner, Camille Paglia, Jean Baudrillard and Gayatri Spivak are among the international cast joining Canadian writers, performers, teachers, activists, and technologists in a once-in-a-lifetime gathering to generate a new awareness of the responsibilities of communication in the global information age.
"Literacy is a lifeline; the link to a full life experience, but the range of literacies today is much greater and more demanding of our abilities to discern and decipher," said conference organizer Bruce Powe, novelist, poet, and author of the inspired treatise on Canadian identity, Canada of Light. "We need to re-engage the practice of literacy at all levels to help shape this new environment."
Bridging literacy research and practice has been the mission of conference presenter Jenny Horsman, a 20-year veteran of literacy education and author of Too Scared to Learn: Women, Violence and Learning. The Catalyst Centre, a Toronto-based organization supporting popular education to promote social change, will also contribute to discussion of the practical issues of literacy. Other presenters include cultural-scientific historian William Irwin Thompson, literary scholar and critic Barry Sanders, ex-boxer and advocate for the wrongfully convicted Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, television visionary Moses Znaimer, author and Book TV Producer Daniel Richler.
The conference is organized jointly by York University and Frontier College, Canada’s historic national movement of volunteers, who take literacy training into the home, the farm, the workplace and the prison. It is funded by the National Literacy Secretariat in the Ministry of Human Resources Development Canada, with support from CHUM City, Canadian Learning Television, Book Television, The Globe and Mail, Penguin Books, and the York University Bookstore.
"The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that all Canadians can benefit from the new global information society," said Judy Sgro, Member of Parliament for York West. "Literacy is a right of all Canadians and Frontier College continues to be in the forefront of ensuring that is a reality. We congratulate them and Stong College at York University for initiating this new discussion about the responsibilities of communication."
York University President Lorna Marsden will open the event, and the Hon. Joyce Fairbairn, Senator and Special Advisor for Literacy to the Minister of Human Resources Development will give introductory remarks. The conference will convene on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 9:30 a.m. in Burton Auditorium, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. Tickets, registration information and a complete program are available at www.livingliteracies.ca.
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For further information, please contact:
| Bruce Powe | Lara Ubaldi | Susan Bigelow |
| Stong College | Stong College | Media Relations |
| York University | York University | York University |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 22142 | 416-736-2100, ext. 33629 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| bpowe@yorku.ca | lara@yorku.ca | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
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