TORONTO, January 10, 2003 -- For those wanting to escape the winter blahs and get a bit more up close and personal with their favourite home-grown authors, York University is continuing its fourth annual "Canadian Writers in Person" reading series, January - April 2003.
In addition to MacLeod, the series will feature five of Canada's leading novelists and poets -- Susan Goyette, George Elliott Clarke, Priscila Uppal, Diane Baker Mason and Diane Keating. Each will read from their work and will take questions from the audience.
"The series showcases some of Canada's best literary talent, including some from right here at York," said Atkinson English Professor John Unrau, the series organizer. "Free to the public, the series is one of the best cultural-entertainment values in town."
The series is sponsored by the Master's Office and English Department of the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, and the Atkinson students' and alumni associations, with the support of the Canada Council, and a number of 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:
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" -- a panel series that ran on the program 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 contest 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, Last Summer at Barebones (McArthur, 2001), has proven to be a critical success and has just been re-issued as a mass-market paperback.
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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