News / Nouvelles

 

A Book Launch Afternoon

On Thursday, November 28, join the Centre for Literatures in Canada for an afternoon of readings from recently published books.

We are hosting two double book launches in Henderson Hall (Rutherford Library South 1-17):

From 2:00-3:15 PM, Dorothy Thunder and Marilyn Dumont will read from and discuss their respective books This Land Is a Lullaby / cistomâwasowin ôma askiy and South Side of a Kinless River.

From 3:30-4:30 PM, Jaspreet Singh, with Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock, and Erina Harris, with Trading Beauty Secrets with the Dead, will read from and talk about their new poetry collections.

Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of Audreys Books. Light refreshements will be provided and the events are open to the public. Come to one or both!

 

Dorothy Thunder is a first-language speaker of nehiyawewin/Plains Cree from Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a Professor of Cree at the University of Alberta. Recognizing that her command of the language is uncommon among members of her generation, she shares it at every opportunity: in classrooms, on-line teaching, and at land-based camps. Dorothy serves as a major contributor to contemporary Cree language reclamation and revitalization. Her personal experiences and land-based language camps have given her unique insights into the role of language in relationship to the land. As a nehiyaw iskwew (Plains Cree woman), she holds strong her relationship to kikâwînaw askiy (mother earth) and the gifts that the land has to offer and the importance of looking after the land (wâhkohtowin) and her strong connection to nehiyaw kehte-ayak (Elders).

Marilyn Dumont teaches for the faculties of Arts and Native Studies at the University of Alberta and is proud of Métis family lines from her mother’s--Vaness/Dufresne--families and her father’s--Boudreau/Dumont--families. Her four collections of poetry have won provincial or national awards: A Really Good Brown Girl (1996); green girl dreams Mountains (2001); that tongued belonging (2007); and The Pemmican Eaters (2015). A fifth collection surrounding Indigenous history of Edmonton, called South Side of a Kinless River, was published by Brick Books in 2024.

Jaspreet Singh is the author of acclaimed poetry collections, non-fiction, novels, short stories, and a memoir. His books include the novels Chef and Helium, the story collection Seventeen Tomatoes, the poetry collection November, and the award-winning memoir My Mother, My Translator. More and more his work engages with deep time and the ecological crisis. His newest book, Dreams of the Epoch & the Rock, was published in Canada in November 2024 by NeWest Press.

Erina Harris is a Canadian writer, educator and mentor. Her first book, The Stag Head Spoke (Buckrider Books, 2014), was shortlisted for the Canadian Authors' Association Award for Poetry. A graduate and Fellow of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her work has been published widely and in translation. She is the recipient of the Editor’s Choice Award (ARC Magazine), This Magazine Great Literary Hunt Prize, and short-listings/nominations for the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, the Air Canada Award, the Pushcart Prize, and the National Magazine Awards. She has received numerous grants, international residencies, and was honored to receive a Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award in 2024. For over a decade she curated the yearly Blue Betty's Bistro International Women's Day Reading Salon, a fundraising event for local women's shelters featuring innovative women writers. Erina teaches Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Alberta. www.erinaharris.com

 

Public Lecture with Dr. Ian MacLaren

Separating Fact from Painted Fiction: An Examination of Paul Kane's Problematic Representations of Indigenous Peoples in North America

Ian MacLaren, U of A Professor Emeritus (History and Classics & English and Film Studies), is launching his four-volume Paul Kane's Travels in Indigenous North America: Writing and Art, Life and Times (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024).  

To celebrate this significant work of scholarship, Dr. MacLaren will give a public lecture on Paul Kane's Travels at the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA), sponsored by the Centre for Literatures in Canada and the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, and hosted by the AGA.

 

The CLC and LitFest Host Marjorie Beaucage: A Reading + Conversation and Water Walk

Join the CLC and LitFest on Friday, October 18, for a Reading and Conversation, and a Water Walk, with Two-Spirit Métis artist and waterwalker Marjorie Beaucage! 

Reading + Conversation

At noon, Marjorie will read from her bilingual (English and French) poetic memoir leave some for the birds -- movements for justice, followed by a conversation with the audience hosted by spoken word poet Medgine.

There will be refreshments and a book signing at this event.

Date and Time: Friday, October 18, 2024, from 12:00-1:00 PM
Location: Henderson Hall (Rutherford Library South 1-17), University of Alberta

 

Water Walk Teachings: A Walk to the kisiskâciwanisîpiy

Later in the afternoon , Marjorie will lead a walk from the U of A campus down to the kisiskâciwanisîpiy (North Saskatchewan River) to share her Water Walk Teachings.

These events are free and open to the public. Join us for one or both!

Marjorie Beaucage is a filmmaker, art-ivist and educator, a land and water protector. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, working to give people the tools for creating possibilities and right relations. Whether in the classroom, community, campsite or the arts, Marjorie’s goal has been to pass on the stories, knowledge and skills that will make a difference for the future. For Marjorie, story is medicine.

As a Two-Spirit Métis Elder, Marjorie takes on the tough topics that need to be discussed. Her work is focused on giving voice to, and creating safe cultural spaces for, traditionally silenced or excluded groups. Marjorie is known on the local, regional and national levels as an Elder who speaks truth to power, and who holds space for difference. She has been a Grandmother for Walking With Our Sisters; the Elder for OUTSaskatoon and the youth led Chokecherry Studios. She has also been called on for national research initiatives that focus on Indigenous women living with HIV, Indigenous Harm Reduction, Indigenous youth who experience sexual and gender-based violence, and post traumatic stress. She has created over 35 community based videos, including her recent harm reduction video portraits on reducing the harms of colonialism.

Her recent book, leave some for the birds -- movements for justice is also part of her legacy for the future.

Marjorie has just been awarded the Canada Council for the Arts 2024 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts for her work in creative documentary.

Haitian-born spoken word artist and advocate, Medgine (pictured right) is a person for whom the love of language and the alchemy of words is second nature. Her multi-lingual upbringing (french, creole, english) not only prompted her to begin experimenting with the potential and magic of language, but naturally compelled her into a deep love of poetry. She has been featured in CBC, Global TV, Skirtsafire Festival and the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Medgine was a selected as a participant in the 2022 Mentorship Program with the Writers' Guild of Alberta and became a mentor with the 2022 Horizon Circle Writers Program, a writing mentorship program for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC), ESL, and underrepresented writers living in Edmonton. In 2023, Medgine received the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund award, from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation.

She is the author of Waiting in the Land of the Living / Attendre dans le monde des vivants, published by The Polyglot, a multilingual poetry collection, that touches on navigating chronic illness, inter-generational healing, and the wrestle of waiting for answered prayers. 

You can follow her at medgine.ca and social media @medginespeaks. 

 

Une nouvelle lecture et conversation, avec Louise Dupré et Evelyne Gagnon

Écoutez cette lecture et conversation entre deux poètes francophones qui nous invitent à considérer les poèmes comme des « exercices de joie », de compassion, et d’empathie. This conversation – tout en français – reminds us that writers can do much more than hold mirrors up to humanity’s darkness; in the words of Louise Dupré, elles peuvent nous offrir « les ouvertures vers la lumière ».

Écoutez sur SoundCloud                    Regardez sur YouTube

Louise Dupré a publié une trentaine de titres qui lui ont valu de nombreux prix et distinctions, dont deux fois le Prix de poésie du Gouverneur général du Canada (2011 et 2017). Elle collabore régulièrement avec des artistes d’autres disciplines. Ses livres ont été traduits dans plusieurs langues et son recueil de poésie Plus haut que les flammes a fait l’objet d’un long métrage réalisé par Monique LeBlanc et produit par l’Office National du Film du Canada.

Professeure au Département d’études littéraires de l’Université du Québec à Montréal de 1988 à 2008, elle consacre maintenant son temps à l’écriture. Elle est membre de l’Académie des lettres du Québec, de la Société royale du Canada et du Parlement des écrivaines francophones. En 2014, elle a reçu l’Ordre du Canada « pour son apport à la littérature québécoise en tant que poète, romancière, dramaturge, essayiste et professeure ».

Poète et essayiste, Evelyne Gagnon est professeure de littérature à l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Spécialiste de la poésie, elle s’intéresse aussi aux formes de la mélancolie contemporaine et, notamment, à ses liens avec l’éco-anxiété et avec l’écoféminisme. Chercheuse affiliée au CLC, elle a fondé, en 2014, le Concours de poésie du Centre de littératures au Canada, ouvert chaque année depuis aux étudiants universitaires albertains. Ayant publié des études sur la poésie dans plusieurs ouvrages scientifiques au Canada, aux États-Unis et en France, Evelyne Gagnon a également reçu, en 2001, le Prix de poésie Clément-Marchand. Son recueil de poèmes, Incidents (et autres rumeurs du siècle), est paru aux Éditions du Noroît, à Montréal, en 2022.

 

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 CLC Poetry Contest! / 

Félicitations aux gagnants du Concours de poésie du CLC 2024 !

 

The CLC--along with NAIT, MacEwan University, and Athabasca University--congratulate Justine Schultz, Acacia Kubanay, and Joseph Lam for their winning poems! 

Read the winning poems here and get to know a little bit about the poets.

Read The Gateway's interview with Justine where she talks about writing "Attic."

Thank you to this year's contest judges: Dr. Evelyne Gagnon (Athabasca), Dr. Michael O'Driscoll (University of Alberta), and Kelly Shepherd (NAIT).

Thank you to all the students who submitted poems this year, as well as to our contest partners: Athabasca University, MacEwan University, NAIT, Edmonton Poetry Festival, Athabasca University Press, NeWest Press, University of Alberta Press, and SpokenWeb.