Interesting events and readings

Wednesday, October 3, 3:30 pm, HC L-3

A Joint Reading by rob mclennan, Writer-in-Residence, University of Alberta and Jalal Barzangi, Writer-in-Exile, City of Edmonton

Born in Ottawa,
rob mclennan
is the author of over 13 trade poetry collections in Canada and England, most recently
The Ottawa City Project.  He has published poetry, fiction, interviews, reviews and columns in over two hundred publications in fourteen countries and in four languages, and done reading tours in five countries on two continents. The editor/publisher of above/ground press and the long poem magazine, the online critical journal Poetics.ca and the Ottawa poetry annual ottawater (ottawater.com), he edits the ongoing Cauldron Books series through Broken Jaw Press, edited the anthologies
evergreen: six new poets,
side/lines: a new canadian poetics,
GROUNDSWELL: the best of above/ground press, 1993-2003,
Decalogue: ten Ottawa poets and
Decalogue 2: ten Ottawa fiction writers, and runs the semi-annual ottawa small press book fair. His online home is www.track0.com/rob_mclennan, and he often posts reviews, essays, rants and other 'nonsense' at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com.

An ethnic Kurd from Iraq,
Jalal Barzangi is a recognized poet and journalist who had a long literary career before he was forced to leave the country in 1998. He was imprisoned from 1986 to 1989 because of his writings. In Iraq, Barzangi edited several magazines and worked at many cultural organizations. He has published hundreds of articles and poems about human, cultural and women's rights. Barzangi served on the board of the Iraqi Kurdish Writers' Union and was executive director of the Culture Department of the Culture Ministry in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Since coming to Canada, Barzangi has continued to write and has published several volumes of poetry in Kurdish.

This event is made possible by grants from The Canada Council for the Arts (both WIR and WIE) and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and also by numerous WIE host/partners:  Writers Guild of Alberta, PEN Canada, Faculty of Arts, Edmonton Community Foundation, Edmonton Arts Council, Athabasca University, Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton Public Library, Edmonton Journal and Edmonton LitFest.

Derek Walcott

Friday, 28 September, 4:30 p.m., Convocation Hall – Arts Building

Derek Walcott is an award-winning poet, playwright and visual artist. Born in St Lucia, he studied languages and literature at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and theatre in the United States. He has published over 20 collections of poetry and verse, including In a Green Night: Poems 1948–1960 (1962); The Castaway (1965), Sea Grapes (1976), Collected Poems, 1948–1984 (1986); Omeros (1990), and Selected Poems (2007). Founder of St. Lucia's Arts Guild and Theatre Workshops in Trinidad and Boston, Walcott also has published over 30 plays, among them, Dream on Monkey Mountain (1967), Ti-Jean and His Brothers (1958); Pantomime (1978); and The Odyssey: A Stage Version (1993), which is currently playing at Statford's Festival Studio Theatre. His enchanting watercolours of Caribbean life are exhibited at June Kelly Gallery in SoHo.  His collaboration with Paul Simon led to a 1998 Tony Award nomination for Best Original Musical Score for "The Capeman." He has been awarded the Obie Award for Distinguished foreign play, the prestigious MacArthur Genius Award, the Queen's Medal for Poetry, the Royal Society of Literature Award, and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Derek Walcott currently spends his time in Boston, New York and Trinidad & Tobago.
This event is hosted by the Caribbean and African Diasporic Initiatives Program (CADI) and the Canadian Literature Centre/Centre de littérature canadienne (CLC), and sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Faculties of Arts and Education, the Department of Political Science,. the Department of English and Film Studies, the Office of Human Rights, the
Edmonton Journal, and Hole's Greenhouse and Gardens. 
A steel drum performance starts at 4:00 p.m.; book signing and reception will follow. 

 

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Poets, poetry, performance, premiere play, gala, and more…
The Edmonton Arts Council is sponsoring passes for interested students to attend the Word! Symposium, an innovative two day symposium that brings together presenters and performers  locally, nationally and internationally on September 21-22 at Muttart Hall, Macewan—Alberta College Campus. Full symposium passes are free to interested students and include all sessions and special events, plus lunches. Passes are available upon registration by phoning Chrystal Seutter at 780-497-2336.  For information about the Word! Symposium, go to:
http://edmontonculturalcapital.com/word.asp.  This event is produced by The Edmonton Cultural Capital Program.