Canadian Writing Comes to You -- Live!

The Reading Series has been bringing cutting-edge Canadian writers to St. Jerome's University since 1984.

Each year we strive to offer a range in our slate of visiting writers: well-established and up-and-coming, from the local area and from sea to sea, working in verse and prose and beyond. Experimental and traditional, serious and playful, beautiful and stark, cynical and celebratory -- come and sample the wealth and variety that is Canadian literature today.

These readings are special opportunities to get inside the book -- to hear writers read their own words, and speak about their own writing. Every reading includes an open question and answer session.

All readings are free and open to the public. And there's free parking!

St. Jerome's is located at 290 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, Ontario.

From its beginnings through 2018-19, the Reading Series has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and St. Jerome's University. It now continues to be funded by St. Jerome's.

21 December 2010

David Morrell, creator of Rambo, speaks

 A SJU English alumnus of whom we are very proud, David Morrell, author of First Blood, Creepers, The Spy who Came for Christmas, The Successful Novelist, and many other works, will be giving a talk about writing. This is one of the feature events in the celebrations of the University of Waterloo English Department's 50th anniversary.

27 January 2011, 7pm, Siegfried Hall. Cost: $10.
To find out more, and to register, please visit
UW English at 50: Events

16 November 2010

Charlene Diehl and Janice Kulyk Keefer Readings This Week

We have an exciting week of events.

Please join us Wednesday, Nov. 17th at 7:30 (STJ 2017) for our Reading Series' Special Event. Charlene Diehl will be reading from Out of Grief, Singing, a memoir of a mother's loss of her newborn. Charlene is a former St. Jerome's professor. Please help us welcome her back for her reading. We'll have some refreshments and parking is available starting at 7 p.m. in Lot B at St. Jerome's.

And on Thursday, Nov. 18th at 4:30 (STJ 2017), we'll welcome Janice Kulyk Keefer. Janice is the author of over a dozen works of poetry, prose and literary criticism. Among her awards are first prize in the CBC radio literary competition and the National Magazine Award, the 13th Marian Engel Award and a SSHRC artist/researcher fellowship. Under Eastern Eyes, her study of Canadian fiction from the Maritimes, and her novel The Green Library were both shortlisted for a Governor General’s award. Her most recent novel, The Ladies Lending Library, won the Kobzar prize. She is a Professor of English at the University of Guelph and also teaches in Guelph-Humber’s MFA in Creative Writing Program.

As always, all are welcome and the events are free. Hope to see you there.

Veronica Austen

27 October 2010

Schedule Update: some bad and some very good Special Event news

Unfortunately, we're having to cancel Kathleen Winter's Nov. 11th visit. But we're very excited by her nomination for the Giller prize (winner to be announced Nov. 9th) and wish her all the best at this very busy and exciting time. We're working on a possible rescheduled visit, so I'll update you as soon as I can.

And now for some great news: we have a Reading Series Special Event to announce.

Charlene Diehl will be reading
on November 17th at 7:30pm in STJ2017.

We're very excited to be adding this Special Event to the Series. As many of you might know, Charlene's visit to St. Jerome's marks a homecoming of sorts, Charlene having once been a professor of English here.

Charlene will be reading from her recently published Out of Grief, Singing: A Memoir of Motherhood and Loss.

We look forward to welcoming Charlene back to St. Jerome's. Hope to see you at the event. Remember all are welcome and the event is free.

01 October 2010

Updated Schedule

Exciting things are already happening with the Series this year. Thanks to the help of The New Quarterly and the SJU English Department, we've been able to add one more reading to the Series: Kathleen Winter on Nov. 11th. Here's the updated schedule (note too that the locations of the Winter term readings have been added):

Richard Cumyn

Thursday, October 14th, 4:30 pm, STJ 2017
Richard is widely published in Canada, his work often appearing in The New Quarterly, Fiddlehead, and Prairie Fire. With two of his earlier collections of short fiction shortlisted for the ReLit Award, his latest collection of short fiction The Young in their Country is a finalist for the inaugural Enfield & Wizenty Fiction Prize.

Christian Bök
Tuesday, October 26th, 4:30 pm, Siegfried Hall
Christian Bök is the author of Crystallography (Coach House Press, 1994), a pataphysical encyclopedia nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and Eunoia (Coach House Books, 2001), a bestselling work of experimental literature, which has gone on to win the Griffin Prize for Poetic Excellence.

**NEW ADDITION: Kathleen Winter
Thursday, November 11th, 4:30 pm, STJ2017
Kathleen Winter's story collection, boYs (Biblioasis 2007), won the Metcalf Rooke Award and the Winterset Award. Her novel, Annabel (Anansi 2010), has been longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She lives in Montreal. (Thanks TNQ and SJU Dept. of English for this addition to the Series)

Janice Kulyk Keefer
Thursday, November 18th, 4:30 pm, STJ2017
Janice Kulyk Keefer is the author of over a dozen works of poetry, prose, and literary criticism. With work previously shortlisted for GG awards, her most recent novel The Ladies Lending Library won the Kobzar prize.

Gregory Scofield
Tuesday, February 15th, 4:30 pm, STJ 3014
Gregory Scofield is a leading Canadian poet whose work blends oral modes of storytelling with song and the Cree language. His much read Thunder through my Veins (1999), a poetic memoir, is described as a “heartbreaking” story of “self-discovery, acceptance, and the power of art to heal” (harpercollins.ca). His latest collection kipocihkân: Poems New & Selected was released in 2009.

Guy Gavriel Kay
Tuesday, March 29th (tentative), 4:30 pm, STJ 3014
In 1984, Kay's first novel, The Summer Tree was published to considerable acclaim. In 1990 Viking Canada’s edition of his novel Tigana reached the national bestseller list, and his next book A Song for Arbonne debuted at #1 nationally. Kay has been a bestseller with each novel since.

Roy Miki
Tuesday, April 5th, 4:30 pm, STJ 3014
Roy is the author of numerous publications, including Surrender (Mercury Press 2001) which received the GG’s Award for Poetry and Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice (Raincoast 2004). He is currently completing “Mannequin Rising,” a book-length series of poems and photo collages that probe the internal effects of commodity culture (forthcoming spring 2011).

14 September 2010

2010-2011 Schedule

We've got a great line-up for the Series this year. Hope to see you there!

The Reading Series at St. Jerome's
2010-2011
Richard Cumyn
Thursday, October 14th, 4:30 pm, STJ 2017

Richard is widely published in Canada, his work often appearing in The New Quarterly, Fiddlehead, and Prairie Fire. With two of his earlier collections of short fiction shortlisted for the ReLit Award, his latest collection of short fiction The Young in their Country, to be released this Fall, is a finalist for the inaugural Enfield & Wizenty Fiction Prize.

Christian Bök
Tuesday, October 26th, 4:30 pm, Siegfried Hall

Christian Bök is the author not only of Crystallography (Coach House Press, 1994), a pataphysical encyclopedia nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, but also of Eunoia (Coach House Books, 2001), a bestselling work of experimental literature, which has gone on to win the Griffin Prize for Poetic Excellence.

Janice Kulyk Keefer
Thursday, November 18th, 4:30 pm, STJ2017

Janice Kulyk Keefer is the author of over a dozen works of poetry, prose, and literary criticism. With work previously shortlisted for GG awards, her most recent novel The Ladies Lending Library, which explores the various familial and group tensions experienced by a community of Ukranian-Canadian families, won the Kobzar prize.

Gregory Scofield
Tuesday, February 15th, 4:30 pm

Gregory Scofield is a leading Canadian poet whose work blends oral modes of storytelling with song and the Cree language (harbourpublishing.com). His much read Thunder through my Veins (1999), a poetic memoir, is described as a “heartbreaking” story of “self-discovery, acceptance, and the power of art to heal” (harpercollins.ca). His latest collection of poetry kipocihkân: Poems New & Selected was released in 2009.

Guy Gavriel Kay
Tuesday, March 29th (tentative), 4:30 pm

In 1984, Kay's first novel, The Summer Tree was published to considerable acclaim. In 1990 Viking Canada’s edition of his novel Tigana reached the national bestseller list, and his next book A Song for Arbonne debuted at #1 nationally. Kay has been a bestseller with each novel since. His most recent novel Under Heaven was released in 2010.

Roy Miki
Tuesday, April 5th, 4:30 pm

Roy Miki is the author of numerous publications, including Surrender (Mercury Press 2001) which received the GG’s Award for Poetry and Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice (Raincoast 2004) and. He is currently completing “Mannequin Rising,” a book-length series of poems and photo collages that probe the internal effects of commodity culture (forthcoming spring 2011 from New Star Books).

The locations of the latter readings will be posted when available. Check back soon!



28 June 2010

Our 2010-2011 Series!

We're working on an exciting roster of readers for the coming year -- details to be announced soon. Watch this space!