On November 28, the Department of English and Film Studies will be featuring a panel and a poetry reading on the Kootenay School of Writing with poets Rachel Zolf (U of Calgary), Clint Burnham (Simon Fraser University), and Christine Stewart (U of Alberta).
"The Kootenay School of Writing and Writing in the Collective"
Panel Discussion will be held at 3:30 pm [NOTE NEW TIME]: "Writing in the Collective: The Kootenay School of Writing and then some". A small reception will follow.
At 7:30 pm, please join us for a wonderful series of poetry readings:
RACHEL ZOLF: Rachel Zolf will offer brief reflections on the influence of KSW on her thought and practice. She will then enact material bits of empty speech and social collage via her fourth book, Neighbour Procedure, and The Tolerance Project, a collaborative online undertaking.
CLINT BURNHAM: In The Only Poetry That Matters, novelist and poet Clint Burnham offers the first book- length examination of the Kootenay School of Writing, the group of poets who came to international attention in Vancouver during the 1980s. He will also read from The Benjamin Sonnets.
CHRISTINE STEWART: Christine Stewart will revisit the Barscheit Nation and life on the edges of the KSW. She will also read from her ongoing Under Bridge Project.
Please check the below link for further event information.
KSW: Founded in 1984 after the closure of David Thompson University Centre in Nelson, the KSW offered writing and publishing courses and hosted colloquia, critical talks, and a reading series featuring local, Canadian, and international writers (which continue to this day). Just as significantly, the KSW came to be associated with a number of "language" poets who worked defiantly outside the confines of traditional Canadian poetry. The KSW was and is a response to the failure of most public institutions to serve their artistic communities. It stands in opposition to the concept of 'culture industry' in its recognition that theory, practice, and teaching of writing is best left to working writers.