Congratulations to Abbigail Ketsa, whose poem "(Rural*) Grandmother Alchemy" was chosen as the winner of the 2023 CLC Student Poetry Contest!

The judges had this to say: “The poem '(Rural*) Grandmother Alchemy' is a wonderfully evocative and challenging poem that captures this year's theme of ‘Land and Water’ by evoking generations of living close to the land 'as the night suckles the wheat / sprouts fingertips in hungry mouths.' The language snaps and cracks like the sidewalks, produce, and hands it describes, as the poem descends into starkly beautiful and disturbing imagery. The use of word variants, marked by asterisks and set in parentheses, invite multiple and complex readings of the poem as dynamic as the cycles of life it describes.”

To read the poem, visit the CLC's website: https://www.ualberta.ca/canadian-literature-centre/research/poetry-contest.html

Abbigail Ketsa (she/they) is an emerging settler poet and writer from Edmonton, Alberta. She is finishing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Alberta. A member of the LGBTQ+ community, they enjoy exploring death, existence, and the universe through poetry. Abbigail is currently participating in the 2023 Roger S. Smith Undergraduate Researcher Award, researching divine monstrosities and "vampires" in ancient Greek magic and religion. They are a recipient of the 2021 Ted and Charlotte Davenport Poetry Prize and the 2021 Darren Zenko Memorial Prize for the non-fiction essay “Step Into the Night,” a feminist telling of a night walk. They have previously worked on poetry’s function as a pedagogy of walking the city. Their prose work on poetry as a medium of exchange for the Italian-Canadian and diaspora experiences, "Cultural Literary Landscapes," is expected to be published in a 2023 Special Issue of Crossings: An Undergraduate Arts Journal. In her free time, she writes and shares short stories amongst peers and family. Abbigail hopes to forever be a work-in-progress and to share her experiences, strengths, and hope.

Abbigail Ketsa reads "(Rural*) Grandmother Alchemy" - 2023 CLC Poetry Contest

Quatre femmes se rencontrent au cœur de la poésie. Dans un ici/maintenant planétaire, leurs voix s'interrogent sur la fragilité et le courage d'être au monde.

Une table ronde réunissant:
Nicole Brossard
Vanessa Courville
Louise Dupré
Evelyne Gagnon 

Animée par Dr. Nicoletta Dolce (Université de Montréal)

Crédits de l'enregistrement audio: Diane Régimbald
Conception visuelle et graphique: Éric Lafrenière

Le risque, la douleur, la résistance: rencontre avec quatre femmes poètes

As the presence of Artificial Intelligence evolves and its reach continues to expand, writers are forced to ask themselves: What does this mean for me and my work? The topic of AI is multi-faceted, and while AI promises endless possibilities for artists and writers alike, it also brings with it fear and uncertainty. What lines have been drawn between AI as a supplemental tool and AI as the career-crushing thief many believe it could be?

Controversy @ Noon

Alice Major has published eleven collections of poetry, two novels for young adults, and an award-winning collection of essays about poetry and science. Alice is the founder of the Edmonton Poetry Festival, was the first poet laureate of Edmonton, and the past president of both the Writers Guild of Alberta and the League of Canadian Poets.

Hari Alluri (he/him/siya [pronounced sha]) is an uninvited migrant poet of Philippine and South Asian descent living, writing, and working on unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, and Kwantlen, Katzie and Kwikwetlem lands of Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking peoples. Author of The Flayed City (Kaya Press), chapbook Our Echo of Sudden Mercy (Next Page Press) and, forthcoming in 2025, Like a Feather Holds the Sky (Brick Books), he is a co-founding editor at Locked Horn Press, a workshop facilitator, and a bookseller at Massy Books. His award-winning work can be found in journals, anthologies, and online. 

Dr. Michelle Porter is a writer and scholar from Alberta and living in Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the descendent of a long line of Métis storytellers. Many of her ancestors (the Goulet family) told stories using music and today she tells stories using the written word. She is the author of Approaching Fire, Scratching River. Her first novel, A Grandmother Begins the Story (Penguin 2023), was a finalist for the Atwood-Gibson Writers’ Trust Award for Fiction in 2023. Her first book of poetry, Inquiries, was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for Best Book of Poetry, Canada 2019 and was a finalist for the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award 2021. She teaches creative writing at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

CLC Brown Bag Lunch Podcast - Episode 12 - Alice Major, Hari Alluri & Michelle Porter

On October 20, 2023, the Centre for Literatures in Canada, in partnership with LitFest, hosted Trina Moyles and Omar Mouallem for a public event that was part of the CLC's 2023-24 Reading and Conversation Series on the theme of "Air and Fire."

Trina Moyles is an author, journalist, and creative producer based between Alberta and the Yukon Territory. She is the author of three non-fiction books, including Women Who Dig (2018), Lookout (2021), which won the 2022 Alberta Memoir Award, and Black Bear, which is forthcoming with Alfred A. Knopf in 2025. Her first book, Women Who Dig, is being adapted into a documentary film series by Edmonton-based filmmaker and director, Anna Kuelken. Her award-winning writing, often focusing on social and environmental justice issues, has been published in the Globe and Mail, Hakai Magazine, The Walrus, and Canadian Geographic. In 2022, she received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. 

Omar Mouallem is an author, filmmaker, and educator. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, WIRED, and The Wall Street Journal. He coauthored Inside the Inferno: A Firefighter’s Story of the Brotherhood that Saved Fort McMurray, with firefighter Damian Asher, which was a national bestseller. His latest book Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas won the 2022 Wilfred Eggelston Nonfiction Award and was named one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 best books of 2021. His documentary The Lebanese Burger Mafia, which documents the unlikely link between fast-food and Lebanese immigrants, won the 2023 Audience Choice for Best Doc at Northwest International Documentary Festival. He also teaches creative nonfiction at the University of King’s College and is the "fake dean" of Pandemic University School of Writing, a virtual school he founded in support of writers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trina Moyles & Omar Mouallem | "Air and Fire" Series | Reading + Q & A

We are thrilled to present the latest episode of the Canadian Literature Centre podcast. In this episode, also part of the “Air and Fire” series of readings and conversations this year, Hari Alluri, Alice Major, and Michelle Porter explore the literal and metaphorical significance of fire in a brilliant, wide-ranging reading and conversation.

Alice Major hosts Michelle Porter and Hari Alluri

The ethics of writing on social issues can be a complicated topic of conversation for writers: What does it mean, really? Are certain issues off-limits for particular writers? What are the types of issues that fall under this very broad theme? How can we strive to write characters and narratives that feel meaningful, informed, and appropriate to the story we’re trying to tell? Join our group of panellists as they discuss the ethics of writing on social issues during our first Controversy @ Noon panel in 2024.

About The Panellists
Dr. Jenna Butler (she/her)
www.jennabutler.com

Dr. Jenna Butler (she/her) is an award-winning poet, essayist, mentor, and editor.

She is the author of three books of poetry, Seldom Seen Road, Wells, and Aphelion; a collection of ecological essays, A Profession of Hope: Farming on the Edge of the Grizzly Trail; and the Arctic travelogue Magnetic North: Sea Voyage to Svalbard. Her book, Revery: A Year of Bees, essays about beekeeping, climate grief, and trauma recovery, was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award in Non-Fiction and a longlisted title for CBC Canada Reads 2023.

Butler teaches creative writing at the University of Saskatchewan and serves as the Environmental Writing Fellow for the Spring Creek Project and Oregon Wild. She teaches for Calgary’s Alexandra Writers’ Centre as their outgoing Writer in Residence, focusing on ecological writing. Her work has its roots in the off-grid organic farm she runs with her husband in northern Treaty 6, Alberta.

Natasha Deen
natashadeen.com

Recent works: The Spooky Sleuths series, Book three, Don’t Go Near the Water!

Guyanese-Canadian NATASHA DEEN is a best-selling author, with novels for kids, teens, and adults, and she’s a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. Her novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, won the Amy Mather Teen Book Award and her most recent YA title, The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad was a Globe & Mail‘s Top 100 Books for 2022. When she’s not writing, she teaches Introduction to Children’s Writing with the University of Toronto’s SCS and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. 

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike
www.instagram.com/uche_peter_umez/

Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike is the author of literary works such as there’s more (2023), Double Wahala, Double Trouble (2021), Wish Maker (2021), and a co-editor of Wreaths for a Wayfarer (2020).

Rayanne Haines (she/her)
www.rayannehaines.com/

Rayanne Haines is an award-winning author, educator, and cultural producer. She is the creator and host of the literary podcast Crow Reads, is the President of the League of Canadian Poets, and teaches at MacEwan University. Her hybrid poetry collection, Tell the Birds Your Body is Not a Gun won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson Alberta Literary Award and was shortlisted for both the Robert Kroetch Award and the ReLit Award. She’s been published in the Globe and Mail, Minola Review, Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire and others. A CNF poetry and essay collection exploring grief, identity, and gendered trauma is forthcoming from Frontenac House September 2024

Bibliography:
1 - https://bookriot.com/mistreatment-of-women-in-game-of-thrones/
2 - https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/kosoko-jackson-a-place-for-wolves.html#
3 - https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/american-dirt-book-controversy/
4 -https://lareviewofbooksorg/article/my-taco-laughs-at-you-on-death-threats-aimed-at-women-of-color-who-dont-fellate-white-supremacy/

Controversy At Noon: The ethics of writing on social issues

With book banning in Alberta and Canada seemingly on the rise, it’s left many wondering what this means for writers, for readers, and for the community at large. What are the ways in which censorship affects and/or impedes the literary world, and what can we do to maintain the creative freedom to read and to write what we choose to?

Controversy at Noon: Book Banning in Alberta and Canada

Does bias exist in the literary world where age is concerned? Writing is hard enough in the first place, do writers also have to worry about the continued relationship with their publisher, agent, readers, and other writers in the industry as they get older? If so, in what ways? Additionally, are writers in certain genres prone to be more successful if they fall under a particular age group? Less successful? Our panelists will examine these questions and other age-related industry issues during our April Controversy @ Noon Panel.

About The Panelists
Norma Dunning – Moderator
Norma Dunning (PhD) is a Padlei Inuk writer, professor and grandmother. Dr Dunning has published in poetry, prose, fiction and nonfiction.

Kinauvit? (what’s your name?) a work of nonfiction shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen prize for political writing in 2023 and Tainna (the unseen ones) received the Governor General’s Award in literary fiction in 2021. Annie Muktuk and Other Stories (2017) received the Danuta Gleed in 2018, as well as several other literary awards. Her books have been translated into French, Greek and Amharic. Aput! (snow), a children’s book, will be released in the fall of 2024. 

Dunning lives in Regina where she teaches at the First Nations University of Canada.

Facebook

Rona Altrows – Panelist
Rona Altrows is a fiction writer, essayist, editor, and playwright. She believes literature plays a critical role in the fight for social justice. Her books of short fiction are A Run on Hose, Key in Lock, and At This Juncture, and her work has appeared in Queen’s Quarterly, The Prairie Journal, and many other magazines and e-zines in Canada and the US. She has edited or co-edited three anthologies, including You Look Good for Your Age, an exploration of women, aging, and ageism.  Honours she has received include the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize,  the Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award, and two Independent Book Publishers awards.

Website, Bluesky

Sharon Butala – Panelist
Butala is the author of 22 books of both fiction and nonfiction and for nearly fifty years, at 83, has been writing and publishing with both major publishers and smaller companies. She has been agented since the eighties and has appeared at many festivals in Canada and the USA and made presentations in, besides Canada, the USA, Mexico, Ireland and the Czech Republic. Her many awards and prizes include the Marian Engel Award, the W.O. Mitchell/City of Calgary Award and the Glengarry Book Prize Award. She was recently shortlisted for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Her memoir, The Perfection of the Morning, was on the Canadian bestseller list for a year.

Website

Tololwa Mollel – Panelist
Edmonton-based Tololwa M. Mollel writes books, plays, and stories for performance for all ages in English and Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania where he was born. He has published 24 books for the young in both languages. Some of the books are translated into various African, Asian, and European languages. Tololwa also performs stories, solo or with other performers or artists. He has been spreading his passion for story, performance and writing to the young and old through story workshops, performances and presentations in Alberta schools and communities.

Website

Controversy at Noon: Ageism in the Industry

This recording is from an online reading featuring finalists for the 2024 Alberta Literary Awards. 
Antoinette Bekker
Astrid Blodgett
Kate Boorman
Jennifer Bowering Delisle
Natasha Deen
Julie Sedivy
Josée Thibeault

*Note. The audio volume drops at the end of the recording during Astrid Blodgett's reading. Apologies for the inconvenience*

Reading with Alberta Literary Awards Finalists

As writers, we are told that rejection, a lot of rejection – most likely – is par for the course. Some of us cope by making light of the situation, framing rejection letters and showcasing them on an office wall or shelf. Others opt to go back to the drawing board, reframing their process, their work, or even their overall career plans. When is enough enough? Is there a point where we accept that something isn’t working and move on to the next project? Where is the line that separates resilience from naivety? Join our panelists as they discuss the complexities of dealing with rejection during our May Controversy @ Noon panel.

About The Panelists

Ali Bryan – Moderator

Ali Bryan is an award-winning novelist and creative nonfiction writer who explores the what-ifs, the wtfs, and the wait-a-minutes of every day. Her work has been shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, longlisted for both the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing prize, and has been optioned for TV by Sony Pictures. Her sixth book, a YA contemporary novel, Takedown, was released in May. Born and raised in Halifax, she now lives in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies on Treaty 7 Territory. When not writing, she operates Parlay Manuscript Services with her business partner, Sandra McIntyre.


Sandra SG Wong- Panelist
Sandra SG Wong writes fiction across genres. The cross-genre Lola Starke novels and Crescent City short stories have garnered finalist nominations for the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. The standalone thriller, IN THE DARK WE FORGET, was an Anthony Awards finalist and Canadian bestseller. In addition to being a speaker, mentor, and community organizer, Sandra is a Past President of Sisters in Crime, and an active member of Crime Writers of Color.


Nisha Patel – Panelist

Nisha Patel (Nee-Sh-aww, Put-ell) (She/her) is a Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton and a Canadian Poetry Slam Champion. A queer and disabled artist, Nisha is a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award. Her sophomore collection of poetry, A Fate Worse Than Death, engages in the necropolitics surrounding disability, and is out now with Arsenal Pulp Press.



Lauren Seal – Panelist

Lauren Seal is a writer and former St. Albert Poet Laureate. She mentors the teen and young adult poets of SWYC, the Spoken Word Youth Choir, and performs in the adult incarnation of the group. Her debut novel-in-verse, Light Enough to Float, is forthcoming October 2024 with Rocky Pond Books, a Penguin-Randomhouse imprint.

Abbigail Ketsa reads "(Rural*) Grandmother Alchemy" - 2023 CLC Poetry Contest

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