Qwerty Reads at Wilser's Room on Thursday, November 19

Join Qwerty, UNB's graduate student creative writing magazine, at the Wilser's Room (366 Queen Street) this Thursday, November 19, for the first Qwerty Reads event of the year! They have an impressive lineup of readers, including current UNB Writer-in-Residence Gerard Beirne, poet extraordinaire Triny Finlay, current UNB students Reid Lodge, Rebecca Salazar and Noah Page, plus musical performance from Mark Jarman's band.

Music starts at 6:30. Readings begin at 7:00.

*****FEATURED READER BIOS*****

Triny Finlay is the author of the poetry collections Splitting Off (Nightwood, 2004), Histories Haunt Us (Nightwood, 2010), and the chapbook Phobic (Gaspereau, 2006). Her writing has appeared in various publications, including ARC, Breathing Fire 2: Canada’s New Poets, The Fiddlehead, and University of Toronto Quarterly. She lives with her family in Fredericton, where she teaches English and Creative Writing at the UNB.

Gerard Beirne is an Irish writer now living in Canada. He has published three novels and two collections of poetry. His collection of short stories, In A Time Of Drought And Hunger, is forthcoming from Oberon Press this Fall. He is a past recipient of The Sunday Tribune/Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award. His novel The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars Publishers, London) was short-listed for The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2004. His collection of poetry Digging My Own Grave (Dedalus Press) was runner-up in The Patrick Kavanagh Award. His short story “Sightings of Bono” was adapted for a film featuring Bono (U2).

UNB Reading Series Presents Joan Clark

The University of New Brunswick's 2015 Reading Series invites you to a reading by Joan Clark on Friday, October 30th, 8pm, at Marshall d’Avray Hall in the Dugald Blue Auditorium in Fredericton. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Clark’s most recent work is The Birthday Lunch, a novel set in Sussex, New Brunswick. She is also the author of the novels Latitudes of Melt, The Victory of Geraldine Gull, and Eiriksdottir, as well as two short story collections and several award-winning novels for young adults. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, she has lived in various places across Canada. Together with Edna Alford, she began the literary magazine Dandelion.

The Fiddlehead Summer Fiction Issue Launches this Thursday!

We're pleased to be launching our summer fiction issue at Westminster Books (445 King Street) this Thursday, July 30, at 7pm with our friends at Qwerty, who are celebrating their new joint issue with Echolocation. There will be short readings from both magazines.

The event is free and open to all!

Upcoming Readings by Fiddlehead Editors and Contributors

Fiddlehead fiction editor Mark Jarman will be reading from his new book Knife Party at the Hotel Europa in multiple locations in Western Canada next week. The Vancouver Sun has recently called Mark's book "fierce and beautiful, one of the most stunning books I’ve read in a long time, and one which should not be rushed."

Here are the reading details:

Wednesday, May 20, 7:30, at Vancouver Central Library

Thursday, May 21, 7 pm, at Russell Books in Victoria

Friday, May 22, 7 pm, at Audrey’s Books in Edmonton

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Past contributor R.W. Gray ("Blink" in Fiddlehead no. 256, Summer 2013) will be launching his new book Entropic on Thursday, June 18, 7pm at Westminster Books in Fredericton. 

According to the publisher, "R. W. Gray finds the place where the beautiful, the strange, and the surreal all meet — sometimes meshing harmoniously, sometimes colliding with terrible violence, launching his characters into a redefined reality. A lovestruck man discovers the secret editing room where his girlfriend erases all her flaws; a massage artist finds that she has a gift, but is uncertain of the price; a beautiful man sets out to be done with beauty; and a gay couple meets what appear to be younger versions of themselves, learning that history can indeed repeat itself."

UNB Reading Series presents Kerry-Lee Powell

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to hear a reading by writer Kerry-Lee Powell. Her poetry collection Inheritance was published last year by Biblioasis. Inspired by a shipwreck endured by the author's father during the Second World War, and by his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and eventual suicide, Inheritance is a powerful poetic debut.

Powell’s work has appeared in journals and anthologies throughout the United Kingdom and North America, including The Spectator, The Boston Review, and The Virago Writing Women series. In 2013, she won The Boston Review fiction contest, The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for short fiction, and the Alfred G. Bailey manuscript prize.

Her reading will be held on Monday, March 30th at 8:00 pm in the Alumni Lounge of the Alumni Memorial Building on the UNB Fredericton Campus. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Craig Davidson Reads February 9

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to hear a reading by UNB Alumnus Craig Davidson, author of The Giller Prize short-listed Cataract City, published in 2013 by Doubleday. In his fourth literary novel Davidson presents a tourist town with an uncanny hold over those born within its borders, a place with more to it than first meets the eye. Beyond the gaudy storefronts and sidewalk vendors, past the hawkers of tourist T-shirts and souvenirs, are the townspeople who toil at The Bisk, the local cookie factory. And behind that crumbling façade are the truly desperate: those drawn to gritty alleyways on both sides of the US-Canada border, inhabitants of a shadow world that runs on money exchanged over dog races, bare-knuckle brawls, and night-time smuggling.

Davidson is the author of Rust and Bone, which was a finalist for the 2006 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and was made into a Golden Globe-nominated feature film of the same name. His other literary works include The Fighter and Sarah Court. His articles and journalism have been published in the National Post, Esquire, GQ, The Walrus, and The Washington Post, among other places.

Davidson has also published under the pen names Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter. Under the name Cutter he is the acclaimed author of The Troop (2014), about which Stephen King raved it “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down . . . old-school horror at its best.” Cutter’s latest novel The Deep has just been published by Simon & Schuster; it features a plague that threatens humanity on a global scale.

His reading will be held Monday, February 9th at 8:00pm in Memorial Hall on the UNB Fredericton Campus. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

UNB Art Centre Celebrates Black History Month with Poet and Filmmaker Sylvia D. Hamilton

UNB ART CENTRE CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH
FEBRUARY 2015

In celebration of Black History Month, the UNB Art Centre is pleased to welcome Sylvia D. Hamilton to Memorial Hall for a poetry reading on Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 PM. She is an award-winning filmmaker and acclaimed poet. Dr. Hamilton’s films have been screened on CBC, TVO, the Knowledge Channel, and on university campuses across the country. She has been honoured with many awards for her work, including a Gemini award, the CBC Television Pioneer Award, and Nova Scotia’s Portia White Prize for Excellence. Her collection of poetry, And I Alone Escaped to Tell You, was published by Gaspereau Press in 2014.

Much of Dr. Hamilton’s work exposes the systemic racism that Black Canadians have experienced across the country. Her collection of poems, And I Alone Escaped to Tell You, deals with the settlement of African peoples in Nova Scotia, and discusses the complex layers of the lives of early Black Nova Scotians and the generations that followed.

In addition to the reading, there will be a talk, and a lunchtime film series that will run from Monday, February 2 to Friday, February 6, screening Dr. Hamilton’s films as well as others related to the Black History of Canada. All films will be screened at Memorial Hall, starting at 12:00 PM.

On Monday, February 2, the UNB Art Centre will be screening Black Mother, Black Daughter (Dir: Sylvia Hamilton & Claire Prieto | National Film Board of Canada | Canada | 29 minutes). This film explores the lives of Black women in Nova Scotia, and the heritage they pass on to their daughters.

On Tuesday, February 3, the film will be Remember Africville (Dir: Shelagh Mackenzie | National Film Board of Canada | Canada | 35 minutes), a short film about Africville that was uprooted in the 1960s. Through archival photographs and films, Remember Africville tells the story of the relocation.

On Wednesday, February 4, join us for Journey to Justice (Dir: Roger McTair | National Film Board of Canada | Canada | 47 minutes), a documentary film profiling 6 Canadians who were instrumental in the legal battle for civil rights in Canada.

On Thursday, February 5, the film will be Sylvia Hamilton’s film Little Black Schoolhouse (Dir: Sylvia Hamilton | Maroon Films | Canada | 60 minutes), which exposes the segregation of schools in Nova Scotia and Ontario. The policies of segregation officially ended in the provinces in 1954 and 1964, respectively, but remained in operation as late as 1983, when the last segregated school closed in Nova Scotia. Dr. Hamilton will be present at the film, and participate in a question and answer session following the screening.

On Friday, February 6, the final film in the series, Speak it! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia (Dir: Sylvia Hamilton | National Film Board of Canada | Canada | 28 minutes), is also one of Sylvia Hamilton’s films. This piece looks at Black Nova Scotians at a predominately white high school in Halifax, the racism they experienced there, and the educational and cultural programs they develop to build self-esteem and cultural awareness.

On Friday, February 6, 12:30-1:50 p.m., Sylvia Hamilton will be giving a talk titled “Education: A Passport for the Future” at Marshall d’Avray Hall room 356.

The UNB Art Centre is located at Memorial Hall, 9 Bailey Drive, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. The galleries are open 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM weekdays and for special events. Admission is free to members of the public. Everyone welcome!

Linden MacIntyre reads this Wednesday 8PM at UNB

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a reading by the critically acclaimed novelist Linden MacIntyre, author of Punishment, published last year by Random House. In this new novel MacIntyre presents a powerful exploration of justice and vengeance, and the peril that ensues when passion replaces reason, in a small town shaken by a tragic death.

A Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist, MacIntyre has won eight Gemini Awards, an International Emmy, and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence. His childhood memoir Causeway (2006) won The Evelyn Richardson Prize and The Edna Staebler Award for Non-Fiction. His fiction has included his bestselling novel The Long Stretch (1999), and The Bishop’s Man (2009), which was the winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2010 Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award.

His reading will be held on Wednesday, January 21st at 8:00pm in the Bailey Auditorium, room 102 of Tilley Hall, on the UNB Fredericton Campus.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend!

Readings in Fredericton this Week: Brian Bartlett, Ann Eriksson, and Gary Geddes

Brain Bartlett reads at UNB on Tuesday evening, and Ann Eriksson and Gary Geddes read at Westminster Books on Wednesday evening.

The University of New Brunswick invites you to a public reading by award-winning poet Brian Bartlett! Join us on Tuesday, October 14th, at 8:00pm at the Alumni Lounge in UNB Fredericton’s Alumni Memorial Building.

Brian Bartlett is currently a Professor of English at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, but grew up in New Brunswick and completed his first degree at UNB. He is the author of seven collections and five chapbooks of poetry, and is also the editor of several other works of prose and poetry. Bartlett’s newest book, Ringing Here and There: A Nature Calendar, is his first published book of prose; it presents a full year of daily journals speaking to the human connection to the natural world.

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British Columbia-based authors Ann Eriksson and Gary Geddes are embarking on a cross-Canada book tour this fall, covering over twenty-five stops from B.C. to the Maritimes in two months. Join the authors for an evening of fiction and poetry in Fredericton, as they read at Westminster Books (445 King Street) on Wednesday, October 15 at 7pm. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Both members of this impressive husband-and-wife team have released new books this year. Eriksson’s High Clear Bell of Morning (Douglas & McIntyre, $22.95) is an elegant, affecting novel about a family struggling to cope when the daughter, Ruby, develops schizophrenia. The book also draws on environmental themes through the character of Ruby’s father, a marine biologist studying the mysterious death of a killer whale on our west coast. Geddes’ What Does a House Want? (Red Hen Press, $19.95) is a collection of selected poems from his highly acclaimed poetic career.

Ann Eriksson is the author of three previous novels: Decomposing Maggie (Turnstone, 2003), In the Hands of Anubis (Brindle & Glass, 2009) and Falling From Grace (Brindle & Glass, 2011), which was awarded a silver medal in the 2011 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Eriksson is a biologist and a founding director of the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy. For more info, go to: www.anneriksson.ca.

Gary Geddes has written and edited more than forty books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, criticism, translation, and anthologies, and won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), and the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.

This reading event is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. For more information, contact Westminster Books at 506-454-1442 or info@westminsterbooks.com.

Fredericton-Area Literary Events

If you're in the Fredericton area over the few weeks, there are some great literary opportunities on offer. The Fredericton Arts Alliance is hosting writer Forrest Orser as part of its artist in residence program this week. And on June 25, CBC Radio will be recording Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids at the Cedar Tree in downtown Fredericton, which promises to be fun and hilarious. Details on both below. 

UNB alumnus and past Fiddlehead contributor Forrest Orser is one of the artists in residence at the Soldiers’ Barracks in Fredericton’s Historic Garrison District until June 20. He will be available to discuss his work and writing in general from 1:30 to 5 p.m. each day. The other artist in residence is Mariah Sockabasin, an aboriginal artist and fashion designer. She will be presenting her work from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every day. This is the 13th year that the Fredericton Arts Alliance has organizing its series of one-week artist residencies in the Soldiers’ Barracks. The residencies are also part of Fredericton Tourism’s cultural tourism programming. Orser has published poems and short stories, including “Wild Horses on an Island” in the Summer 2011 issue of The Fiddlehead. After more than 30 years as a reporter and editor with The Daily Gleaner, he is now a freelance editor.

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Do you still have any of your childhood or teenage writing? CBC Radio presents Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids, an open-mic evening of juvenilia — book reports, diary entries, poems, letters from camp — read out loud by adults to a room full of strangers.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at The Cedar Tree Cafe (418 Queen St.). Doors at 7:30. Show at 8:00.

Tickets $10 in advance. Readers get free admission.

Visit the Facebook event.

Buy tickets.

Sign up to read.

Fiddlehead Editor Ross Leckie Launches New Book at UNB March 17

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a reading by local poet Ross Leckie. He will be launching his new book of poety, The Critique of Pure Reason (Frog Hollow Press, 2013).

According to Frog Hollow Press, Leckie's most recent collection “makes philosophy into the stuff of language. . . . Leckie writes huge new poems of incredible verbal music.” The collection is Leckie's fourth. His previous collections include A Slow Light, The Authority of Roses, and Gravity's Plumb Line, and his poems have appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review, Descant, ARIEL, The New Republic, Denver Quarterly, Southwest Review, and American Literary Review. He is also editor of The Fiddlehead and a poetry editor for Icehouse Poetry Books, an imprint of Goose Lane Editions.

His reading will be held Monday, March 17 at 8:00 pm in the East Gallery in Memorial Hall on the Fredericton campus.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Bill Gaston & Michael Christie Read in Fredericton on February 4 at the Fredericton Public Library!

Bill Gaston and Michael Christie will be reading at the Fredericton Public Library next Tuesday afternoon, February 4 at 3pm.

Bill Gaston is the author of 12 books of fiction, several of which have been nominated for awards including the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, among others (he's also published a book of poetry, a book of non-fiction, and a play). The Globe & Mail has said, “Given Gaston’s body of work, he merits elevation into the leading ranks of Canadian authors. His writing is gentle, humorous, absurd, beautiful, spiritual, dark and sexy. He deserves to dwell in the company of Findley, Atwood and Munro as one of this country’s outstanding literary treasures.” He comes to Fredericton with his latest, The World, published by Hamish Hamilton.

Michael Christie is the author of The Beggar's Garden, a collection of short fiction published by HarperCollins. The book — his debut — won great acclaim: it was long-listed for the 2011 Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize, and won the Vancouver Book Award. It was also named one of Amazon's 10 Best Books of 2011: Canadian Fiction, and one of Quill & Quire's Top 5 books of 2011. Steven W. Beattie says, "In Christie's hands, the Downtown Eastside becomes every bit as thriving and alive as Richler's St. Urbain Street or Michel Tremblay's Plateau-Mont-Royal. The Beggar's Garden takes the pulse of history by unsentimentally dramatizing the way a certain segment of society lives now, and in so doing stands as a sympathetic and compassionate examination of modern urban loneliness and disaffection."

The event is free and all are welcome. Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Fredericton Public Library!

UNB Reading Series Presents Catherine Bush

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to hear a reading by the acclaimed writer, Catherine Bush. She will be reading from her latest novel, Accusation, published by Goose Lane, 2013.

This novel tells the story of Sara Wheeler, a Toronto journalist, who happens upon Cirkus Mirak, a touring Ethiopian children’s circus. She later meets and is convinced to drive the circus founder, Raymond Renaud, through the night from Toronto to Montreal. Such chance beginnings lead to later fateful encounters, as renowned novelist Catherine Bush artfully confronts the destructive power of allegations.

Catherine Bush is also the author of Claire’s Head, The Rules of Engagement, and Minus Time. Her books have been published internationally and short-listed for literary awards, including Ontario’s Trillium Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. A former writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, Bush is currently the Coordinator of the Creative Writing MFA at the University of Guelph, and has taught Creative Writing at Concordia University in Montreal, Humber School for Writers, in UBC’s low-residency Creative Writing MFA, and for the Summer Literary Seminars in Kenya.  She has also been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

Her reading will be held on Tuesday, November 19 at 8:00 pm in the Lounge of the Alumni Memorial Building (next to Memorial Hall) on the UNB Fredericton Campus.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

The Fiddlehead Summer Fiction Issue Celebration, Part 2

Soldiers' Barracks in downtown Fredericton

Despite the cooler temperature today in downtown Fredericton, fiction co-editor Mark Jarman entertained a small, but appreciative, audience from his Fredericton Arts Alliance artist-in-residence studio in the old soldiers' barracks.

Jarman has been sharing the studio this week with basket maker Katie Nicholas, chatting with tourists about his own writing, and promoting The Fiddlehead. As part of the residencies, Fredericton artists engage the public and tourists with outreach events over the lunch hour. Today, Jarman hosted a second celebration of The Fiddlehead's summer fiction issue.

Jarman in his FAA studio with Jack,
the Jack Russell terrier

Don't forget, Jarman is there for a second week starting this weekend, sharing the space with artist Samira Torabi, and he will be hosting another outreach event on September 7, in a finale of sorts, collaborating with Clarissa Hurley of Notable Acts Theatre Company for a short reading of his story "The Stewardess Swims Over the Sea."

Jarman has information about The Fiddlehead on site, along with copies for purchase. Stop by and see what he is up to!

Farewell Reading for UNB Writer-in-Residence Joan Clark

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to Joan Clark's farewell reading as writer-in-residence. The reading will take place on Wednesday, April 10 at 8pm in the Alumni Memorial Lounge, University of New Brunswick.

Ross Leckie, editor of The Fiddlehead, will also be reading.

Joan Clark is a Member of the Order of Canada and the author of two short story collections, four novels, six novels for younger readers, and three picture books. She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

A Review and a Reminder

Lori A. May at The Review Review reads The Fiddlehead's West Coast issue (no. 253), and she likes what she reads! She says, "The country may have beautifully distinguishable regions, yet the voices within them branch inward, outward, and transcend borders in original ways. Thus, this issue of The Fiddlehead is perfectly representative of the diversity of styles, voices, and approaches to writing in and about Canada."

You can read the full review on The Review Review's website.

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And for those of you in the Fredericton area, don't forget that Madeleine Thien reads Tuesday night at Alumni Memorial Hall at 8pm.

Madeleine Thien will read from her new novel, Dogs at the Perimeter. Thien is the author of two previous works of fiction, Simple Recipes (2001), a collection of short stories, and Certainty (2006), a novel. She has received the City of Vancouver Book Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Ovid Festival Prize, and her fiction and essays have been featured in Granta, The Walrus, and Brick. Thien lives in Montreal.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Halifax Celebration of East Coast and West Coast issues!

On Thursday, November 29, join nine Atlantic Canadian authors in Halifax, NS, as they read their contributions to The Malahat Review's East Coast issue and a selection from The Fiddlehead's West Coast issue.

The event takes place at The Wardroom on the University of King's College campus at 7pm. (See poster on left.)

Both issues will be available for sale. The event is free and open to the public.

The UNB Reading Series Presents Stephanie Bolster and Susan Gillis

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a special poetry reading by Stephanie Bolster and Susan Gillis. The reading will take place on Tuesday, November 20 at 8pm in Alumni Memorial Lounge, UNB.

Stephanie Bolster will read from her latest work, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, whose poems, according to one reviewer, “read like small essays, and the finest end so wonderfully, just before they end, leaving so much more said by remaining unsaid.” She is the winner of such prestigious prizes as the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Archibald Lampman Award, and the Gerald Lampert Award.

Susan Gillis will read from The Rapids, a collection of poems that like the river its title invokes, is full of sudden shifts – a polyphony of surges and eddies and remarkable connections. She takes us from a balcony high over the St. Lawrence River in downtown Montreal, upstream to the Lachine Rapids, and beyond, to landscapes as far apart as Greece and the B.C. coast. Susan is the recipient of the Quebec Writers' Federation's A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

The UNB Reading Series Presents Margot Livesay

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a special reading by Margot Livesey. The reading will take place on Thursday, November 8 at 8pm in Alumni Memorial Lounge, UNB.

Margot Livesey will read from her seventh and latest novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy. Margot has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Artists' Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. Margot is currently a distinguished writer-in-residence at Emerson College.

Alice Sebold says, "Every novel of Margot Livesey's is, for her readers, a joyous discovery. Her work radiates with compassion and intelligence and always, deliciously, mystery."

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

The Fiddlehead's West Coast Issue is Here!



Fiddlehead Editor Ross Leckie & Malahat editor John Barton
hold copies of both issues in front of The Fiddlehead office

 And we launch it tonight along with The Malahat Review's East Coast issue!

This special event takes place at 8pm in the Bailey Auditorium, Tilley Hall, UNB Fredericton. Refreshments will be served; doors open at 7:30.

Hosted by the editors of both magazines, Ross Leckie of The Fiddlehead and John Barton of The Malahat, there will be many contributors to the east coast issue to read from both magazines, including Kerry-Lee Powell, M. Travis Lane, Claire Kelly, Gerard Beirne, Lynn Davies, Anne Compton, Michael Pacey, and Ian LeTourneau.

Copies of both issues will be available for sale (cash or cheque). This event is free and everyone is welcome.