kisiskâciwanisîpiy. Or, When is a Beach?

The new and original audio piece shared here is a collaboration between J.R. Carpenter and Darrin Hagen, our current and previous Writers-in-Residence respectively. In past years we've had our incoming and outgoing Writers-in-res get together for a shared reading and talk in the department. This year, with Covid 19 keeping us all at a physical distance, a remote collaboration seemed the best way for the writers to meet, get to know one another, and to share their work with the department and the community.

In an evocative call-and-response, J.R. and Darrin offer images, memories, and impressions from along the banks of Kisiskâciwanisîpiy, the North Saskatchewan River. We hope you enjoy it.


Darrin Hagen was the English & Film Studies Writer-in-Residence in 2019-20. Darrin is a playwright, actor, performer, composer, television host, and the Artistic Director of the Guys in Disguise theatre troupe, currently celebrating three decades of drag comedy that has toured all over North America. Darrin has received seven Sterling Awards for his work in theatre. His writing debut was the award-winning memoir The Edmonton Queen. Darrin was honoured as an “Edmontonian of the Century” for his city’s centennial.

J.R. Carpenter, our current, 2020-21, EFS Writer-in-Residence, was born in Nova Scotia and lived in Montreal for many years before emigrating to the UK in 2009. J.R. writes and works across live performance, print, and digital media. Her work often incorporates found text, data, maps, and other archival material. Her web-based work The Gathering Cloud won the New New Media Writing Prize in 2016. Her print collection An Ocean of Static was highly commended by the Forward Prizes 2018. You can find more of J.R.’s work online at her website: http://luckysoap.com