On Edge Reading Series

March 22, 2012 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm The On Edge Readings Series presents World Water Night: readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a special screening of Samaqan: Water Stories, with director Jeff Bear. Lee Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada. Her books include Daughters Are Forever (fiction, Raincoast, 2002), Will's Garden (Theytus, 2002), Bent Box (poetry, Theytus Books, 2000), Sojourners & Sundogs (fiction, Press Gang, 1999), Ravensong (Press Gang, 1993), I Am Woman (nonfiction, Press Gang, 1988) and Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel (fiction, Women's Press, 1975). She received the J.T. Stewart Voices of Change Award, and she contributed to First Fish, First People, which won the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Western Washington University, South Oregon University, and many more places. Michael Blackstock has published two books of poetry: Salmon Run: A Florilegium of Aboriginal Ecological Poetry (Kamloops: Wyget Books, 2005) and Oceaness (Kamloops: Wyget Books, 2010). Of Gitxsan (Hazelton) and Euro-Canadian descent, Blackstock has a MA in First Nations Studies. His first book, Faces in the Forest (McGill-Queen's Univ. Press, 2001), examines tree art in conjunction with First Nations cosmology, citing carvings, paintings and writings on trees within Gitxsan, Nisga'a, Tlingit, Carrier and Dene traditional territories. He has served as a member of the UNESCO-IHP Expert Advisory Group on Water and Cultural Diversity. Jeff Bear (Maliseet) produces, writes and directs independent documentaries with director Marianne Jones (Haida) at Urban Rez Productions in Vancouver. Since 2000 Urban Rez has produced the 26-part series Ravens and Eagles, for broadcast on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, as well as Storytellers in Motion, a 39 part documentary series about indigenous storytellers, and currently, Samaqan: Water Stories. The first documentary that Bear and Jones shot together, Burnt Church: Obstruction of Justice won the 2001 Telefilm/APTN award for Best English Language Production. Bear received the 2000 Leo Award for Best Information Series as the producer of First Story, an aboriginal current affairs program broadcast in Canada on CTV. Bear speaks the Maliseet language fluently and was raised in Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick. The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr University

The On Edge readings series presents: Kaie Kellough and Cornelia Hoogland. Kaie Kellough is a Montréal word-sound systemizer. He is the author of Lettricity (Cumulus, 2004), and Maple Leaf Rag (Arbeiter Ring, 2010), which was nominated for the Manuela Dias design award. Kaie is the voice of one sound recording, Vox:Versus (WOW, 2011), a suite of conversations between voice and instrument. Kaie's print and sound work is underwritten by rhythm and by a desire to dis-and re-assemble language and meaning. Kaie's work emerges where voice, language, music, and text intersect. He blends word-games with sound poetry, dub, and jazzoetry. He has performed and published internationally and is presently working on short fiction, on poems that say goodbye, and on new sound works. Cornelia Hoogland launched two books of poetry in 2011: Woods Wolf Girl (Wolsak & Wynn), and Crow (Black Moss Press). Her poems have appeared in the anthologies Regreen: New Canadian Ecological Poetry, Madhur Anand and Adam Dickinson (Your Scrivener Press, Sudbury, ON, 2009) and Open Wide a Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems, Nancy Holmes (WLU Press, 2009). In 2008 Hoogland published poems in The River Project: 19 London Artists Turn to the Thames -- a book where artists re-imagined their relationship to the Thames River flowing through London. Forthcoming publications include Sound Ecology in the Woods: Red Riding Hood takes an Audio Walk, in the volume Essays in Performance & Ecology, (Eds. Wendy Arons and Theresa May, NY:NY, Palgrave). Woods Wolf You: A soundwalk, Cornelia's current project, incorporates the processes of poetry and storytelling with digital sound/audio technology, in order to provide participants with a heightened experience of the woods (and wolves) in Stanley Park in Vancouver. The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr.

he On Edge Readings Series presents World Water Night: readings by Lee Maracle and Michael Blackstock with a special screening of Samaqan: Water Stories, with director Jeff Bear. Lee Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada. Her books include Daughters Are Forever (fiction, Raincoast, 2002), Will's Garden (Theytus, 2002), Bent Box (poetry, Theytus Books, 2000), Sojourners & Sundogs (fiction, Press Gang, 1999), Ravensong (Press Gang, 1993), I Am Woman (nonfiction, Press Gang, 1988) and Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel (fiction, Women's Press, 1975). She received the J.T. Stewart Voices of Change Award, and she contributed to First Fish, First People, which won the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Western Washington University, South Oregon University, and many more places. Michael Blackstock has published two books of poetry: Salmon Run: A Florilegium of Aboriginal Ecological Poetry (Kamloops: Wyget Books, 2005) and Oceaness (Kamloops: Wyget Books, 2010). Of Gitxsan (Hazelton) and Euro-Canadian descent, Blackstock has a MA in First Nations Studies. His first book, Faces in the Forest (McGill-Queen's Univ. Press, 2001), examines tree art in conjunction with First Nations cosmology, citing carvings, paintings and writings on trees within Gitxsan, Nisga'a, Tlingit, Carrier and Dene traditional territories. He has served as a member of the UNESCO-IHP Expert Advisory Group on Water and Cultural Diversity. Jeff Bear (Maliseet) produces, writes and directs independent documentaries with director Marianne Jones (Haida) at Urban Rez Productions in Vancouver. Since 2000 Urban Rez has produced the 26-part series Ravens and Eagles, for broadcast on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, as well as Storytellers in Motion, a 39 part documentary series about indigenous storytellers, and currently, Samaqan: Water Stories. The first documentary that Bear and Jones shot together, Burnt Church: Obstruction of Justice won the 2001 Telefilm/APTN award for Best English Language Production. Bear received the 2000 Leo Award for Best Information Series as the producer of First Story, an aboriginal current affairs program broadcast in Canada on CTV. Bear speaks the Maliseet language fluently and was raised in Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick. The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr University.

Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm The On Edge Reading Series presents: Warren Cariou. Warren Cariou is the author of The Exalted Company of Roadside Martyrs (short stories) and Lake of the Prairies (a memoir which won the 2002 Drainie-Taylor Prize for Biography and was shortlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize). He is currently working on a novel titled Exhaust. Cariou is a Canada Research Chair in Narrative, Community and Indigenous Cultures. In conjuction with Neil McArthur, he released a documentary film entitled Land of Oil and Water. Cariou grew up on a farm near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, a place he describes beautifully in Lake of the Prairies. He has worked as a construction labourer, a technical writer, and a political advisor. He now teaches Aboriginal Literature at the University of Manitoba. The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr.

The On Edge Reading Series presents: Gurjinder Basran and Jim Oaten - November 17, 2011. Gurjinder Basran’s debut novel, Everything Was Good-bye (Mother Tongue, 2010), was the winner of the Search for the Great BC Novel Contest in 2010 and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Award for most outstanding work of fiction by a BC author. Her work has earned her a place in the Vancouver Sun's annual "Ones to Watch." A graduate of SFU's Writer's Studio, Gurjinder lives in Delta, BC. Jim Oaten’s first book—Accelerated Paces: Travels across Borders and Other Imaginary Boundaries—was published in late 2008 by Anvil Press, and his current project, Runtime, is a collection of short pieces exploring twinned themes of technology and loss. The inaugural winner of subTerrain magazine's creative non-fiction award, he has had work published in Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Review, the Vancouver Sun, Pacific Rim, Where and the National Post. He has also won a National Magazine Award (Honourable Mention) and has been a Western Magazine Award finalist. The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr University.

Thursday, October 13, 2011 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm The On Edge Reading Series presents: Christine Leclerc and Jonathon Wilcke Christine Leclerc is the author of Counterfeit (Capilano University Editions, 2008), and she co-facilitates the Enpipe Line: 1,173 kilometers of collaborative poetry written in resistance to Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipelines and projects like it around the planet. She is a Vancouver-based author and activist who teaches Writing for New Media in the UBC Creative Writing Program. Jonathon Wilcke is a Vancouver writer, saxophonist and poetics scholar. He has two books of poetry: Pornograph (Red Deer Press 2003) and Dupe! (Line Books 2010). He works in several areas of poetry ranging from page-based writing following the trajectory of Modern and avant-gardist poetics to performance-based, music-plus-poetry practices involving strict composition and improvisational approaches.

Thursday, September 29th, 7pm-8:30pm Nikki Reimer and Ray Hsu will be reading their poetry, as part of the On Edge reading series, which is also part of Rita Wong's Creative Writing class. We'll be shutting down the public computers at 6:45pm until the reading is over. You're still welcome to come in and study, though it might be a little noisier than usual. Our circulation desk will be open, so you can still come and check out materials. Bios Nikki Reimer, poet, curator and artist, is author of the poetry book [sic] (Frontenac House, 2010), shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, and the chapbooks that stays news (Nomados Press, 2011), haute action material (Heavy Industries 2011) and fist things first (Wrinkle Press 2009). Work has appeared inThe Capilano Review, Branch, Dandelion, Poetry is Dead, West Coast Line, Matrix, Front, Prism, Uppercase and BafterC. A second poetry manuscript is in progress. Reimer is interested in inter-disciplinary practice, publishing, mental health issues, animal rights and contemporary poetics. Ray Hsu is author of Anthropy (Nightwood Editions, 2004, winner of the Gerald Lampert Award) and Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon (Nightwood, 2010). He has published over 125 poems in over 40 journals internationally. He taught writing for over two years in a U.S. prison, and now teaches at UBC, where he collaborates across disciplines, districts, and dinner tables