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.

28 February 2026

5 Poets Breaking into Song (#21): Black Magic Friday the 13th in the Great Middle East/Mediterranean North

Our next event is an exciting collaboration!

 Friday 13 March, 6:00-9:00pm, Notre Dame Chapel, St. Jerome's University

Please join us for the latest event in George Elliott Clarke’s 5 Poets Breaking into Song. The mightiest songs? Poetry put to music and sung! Throughout this series, George Elliott Clarke, former Poet Laureate of Canada, has commissioned 8 composers to transform 90+ Canadian poems into art-songs of all genres. Come and hear live performances of 12 songs by 7 composers, with introductory readings by some of the poets. 3 songs will be debuted at this event!

This event offers the most optimal pairing of music and poetry that you will ever experience. And it's FREE!

Please check out The New Quarterly’s interview with George Elliott Clarke (Launching March 5th)

Performers: Drew Aarssen, Josiah Ropp, Natalia Sawyer, Lindsay Scott, Chloe Shantz, Isabel Song, Ye Yi

Featuring poetry by: Lamees Al Ethari, Leonard Cohen, George Elliott Clarke, Ehab Lotayef, Leilah Nadir, Mansour Noorbakhsh, Giovanna Riccio

Composers: Holly Arsenault, Eddie Bullen, Emily Hiemstra, D. D. Jackson, Juliet Palmer, Nevawn Patrick, David Jaeger

Event Sponsors: George Elliott Clarke; St. Jerome’s University – Department of English; University of Waterloo – Department of English; Conrad Grebel University; The New Quarterly 

 
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