Michael Boughn and Christopher Dewdney read on 27 November!

It's November. It's grey and yucky outside. Term is almost over, but not quite. It is definitely time for a couple of amazing avant-garde Canadian writers to come and rouse us all out of wanting to hibernate. 

We're thrilled to be hosting a double bill with Michael Boughn and Christopher Dewdney. 
Please join us at 8pm, Tuesday 27 November 2012, in St Jerome's room 3014. 
And please spread the word -- as always, thanks to the Canada Council and to St Jerome's, the readings are free and all are welcome.

Michael Boughn was described in the Globe and Mail as "an obscure, veteran poet with a history of being overlooked." He is the only living recipient of The Friggin Prize. His last book of poetry, Cosmogrpahia - a post-Lucretian faux micro-epic was shortisted for the 2011 Governor General's Award for Poetry. Great Canadian Poems for the Aged Vol. 1 Illus, Ed. has just come out from Book Thug in fall 2012.

Christopher Dewdney is the author of four books of non-fiction as well as eleven books of poetry. A four-time nominee for the Governor General's Award, he won first-prize in the CBC Literary Competition for poetry and was awarded the 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize, given in recognition of his outstanding contribution to literature. His most recent non-fiction title, Soul of The World; Unlocking the Secrets of Time, was published by HarperCollins in 2008. It became a Canadian bestseller and was listed in 4th place in the non-fiction section of  The Globe And Mail's Top 100 Books of 2008. Dewdney appeared in the critically acclaimed film, Poetry in Motion, and his 2005 book, Acquainted With the Night, was released as a feature documentary in 2010. The film garnered a Gemini award in 2011. Dewdney teaches creative writing and poetics at York University in Toronto.

Shane Neilson and Brian Henderson read on 25 October!

To kick off our 2012-13 series, Metaphoriment -- where literature meets science, metaphor meets experiment -- we're honoured and delighted to host two brilliant poets from right here in K-W and Guelph. 

Shane Neilson and Brian Henderson will be joining us on Thursday 25 October at 8pm in room 3014 at St Jerome's University. The reading is free and all are welcome!

photo by Janet Sunohara

Shane Neilson is a doctor and a poet. His collection Complete Physical was shortlisted for the Trillium Poetry Award in 2011. His latest book is Gunmetal Blue, a memoir about the intersection of poetry and medicine. Lately Shane is working on poetry based on historical figures—doctors and patients—in psychiatry.

photo by Anna Ross

Brian Henderson is the author of 10 collections of poetry, one of which, Nerve Language (Pedlar Press 2007), was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. His latest, Sharawadji (Brick Books), was shortlisted for the 2012 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry. He has published articles, reviews, and poetry in many literary magazines, has a PhD in Canadian Literature and is the director of WLUPress.






We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $154 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil  a investi 154 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

The New Quarterly's Wild Writers Festival

The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers and Writing, the nationally acclaimed literary magazine based right here at St Jerome's, is having a fabulous festival on November 2nd - 3rd. Among its many attractions -- such as masterclasses and readings -- it features two current Governor General's Award nominees, Carrie Snyder and Tamas Dobozy. Both were featured in past years TNQ, and at the Reading Series at St Jerome's -- we knew them when!

For more information, and tickets, please visit:

http://www.tnq.ca/wildwriters/

Our 2012-13 Series

Get ready for another year of dynamic readings at St Jerome's! We are very excited about our lineup, and the theme that guides it, specially suited to St Jerome's and Waterloo. 

Our upcoming Reading Series -- Metaphoriment -- will explore how the literary arts approach the sciences, how metaphor meets experiment. Our vision for this series begins with the assumption that the sciences and the literary arts are both grounded in the act of exploration. The languages of description and imagination are, in different ways, foundational to both. Scientists and writers alike start with intent attention to the worlds around and within them, and then imagine themselves into worlds that could, or should, be. Both the scientist and the writer create their arts in that tense but invigorating space between the control one might exert over one’s mediums and the willingness and necessity not to know what the outcome might be.

In selecting authors for our Metaphoriment series, we have defined the sciences rather broadly to include, for instance, representations of medicine, physics, and biology. Some of our writers are practicing doctors, veterinarians, or scientists. Some explore scientific themes in their writing, employ science as metaphor, or apply experimental principles to their creative practice.

Here's what we have in store:

Brian Henderson and Shane Neilson -- Thursday, 25 October, 8pm, STJ 3014
Michael Boughn and Christopher Dewdney -- Tuesday, 27 November, 8pm, STJ 3014
Susan Musgrave -- Thursday, 24 January, 8pm, STJ 3014
Nora Gould -- Thursday, 31 January, 4:30pm, STJ 3014 With the generous support of Brick Books
Anne Michaels -- Wednesday, 6 February, 4:30pm, STJ 3027
Vincent Lam -- Tuesday, 19 March, 8pm, St Jerome's Community Centre
Adam Dickinson -- Thursday, 4 April, 4:30pm, STJ 3014

All readings are free and open to the public, thanks to the assistance of St Jerome's University, and the fundamental support of the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Hope to see you there!

Robert Paul Weston reads March 27!

A bonus reading for this Winter term -- Robert Paul Weston, a YA author whose novel Dust City has been described as "Chinatown via the Brothers Grimm", while Zorgamazoo "is about saving the universe from boredom. And it rhymes -- all 280 pages worth". 


Join us Tuesday 27 March 4:30pm in STJ 2009. The reading is free and all are welcome, so please spread the word!

Robert Paul Weston's first novel, Zorgamazoo, is the winner of the 2011 California Young Reader Medal, the 2010 Silver Birch Award, the 2009 Children’s Choice Award, and a 2009 E.B. White Honour. The film rights to the book have been optioned by the producer of Shrek. His second novel, Dust City, was shortlisted for the 2011 Edgar Alan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America, the 2011 Sunburst Award for Canadian Fantasy, and the 2012 Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award; it was also named a 2011 Honour Book by the Canadian Library Association. Currently, Weston lives in Toronto, where he lectures in creative writing at U of T.


Check out his website at www.robertpaulweston.com.

Julia McCarthy reads 8 March!

Poet Julia McCarthy will be visiting us on Thursday, 8 March, at 4:30pm in STJ 3014. Please come out for another great reading in this year's series!


Julia McCarthy is originally from Toronto. She spent ten years living in the United States, most notably Alaska and Georgia. She has also lived in Norway and spent significant time in South Africa. She has recently published Return from Erebus with Brick Books; it is the recipient of the Canadian Authors Association Award for poetry. Her previous collection of poetry, Stormthrower, was published by Wolsak and Wynn in 2002. She now resides in Nova Scotia where she works as a freelance editor. And she is a St. Jerome's alumna!


We're delighted to be working once again with Brick Books to make this reading happen, and grateful for their support, along with the generosity of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the St. Jerome's English Department.

Fred Wah reads at Guelph, 15 March

Fred Wah, newly appointed Poet Laureate of Canada (Congratulations, Fred!!), will be appearing at the TransCanada Institute, University of Guelph, on Thursday 15 March, 11:30-12:30.

Not too long ago, he gave a memorably fantastic reading at St. Jerome's. If you can go to this one, you're in for a treat!

For more information, and to register (registration is required), go to this page, all about the event, at the TransCanada Institute.