Lovers of literature can shed their winter woes at the third-annual WordsThaw 2015 from March 20-22. Hosted by聽The Malahat Review,聽the event brings 36 poets, novelists, short-story writers, and journalists together for a spring symposium鈥攐ne of the biggest writing festivals in Victoria.
After 25 years of queer activism, writing professor and filmmaker Maureen Bradley is still changing the world鈥攕he鈥檚 just having more fun doing it now, thanks to her debut feature film, Two 4 One. Billed as the first transgendered romantic comedy, Two 4 One offers a bittersweet look at a couple in an unimaginable predicament: after an ill-advised one-night stand, Miriam and Adam both wind up pregnant.
Life for a university student isn鈥檛 just essays, exams and ramen noodles鈥攁lthough those are a big part of it. There are also yoga raves, nights of uninterrupted Netflix marathons, awkward icebreakers and friendships that will last a lifetime. Whether you're a high school student wondering what's like to be an undergraduate student at UVic or a current student looking to share in your classmates鈥� experiences, you鈥檒l find something new in a blogging project that spotlights student life at UVic.
Looking to create a personal website? A blog to discuss your latest research? Maybe you want a place to show off photos of your cat? Thanks to the Online Academic Community (OAC), current 番茄社区 employees and students can now create their own websites and blogs鈥攁ll you need is a NetLink ID. With more than 100 themes and plugins available, UVic faculty, staff and students can create, customize and manage their own sites鈥攑rofessional or personal鈥攖hrough a university-supported WordPress platform.
Makenzie Zouboules, third-year UVic honours political science and writing co-op student, is something of a celebrity in her hometown of Yellowknife, NWT. Last month, along with FOXY co-founders Candice Lys and Nancy MacNeill, Zouboules accepted a $1-million Arctic Inspiration Prize for their work with northern youth. Originally part of Lys鈥� PhD dissertation on public health promotion, FOXY (Fostering Open eXpression among Youth) is a participatory research project aimed at talking with young people about sexual health, sexuality and relationships across the three northern Canadian territories.
Department of Writing alumna Arleen Par&e#180; (BFA/MFA) received the 2014 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry for her newest book, Lake of Two Mountains, last November.
As an MFA candidate in the Department of Writing, Hannalora Leavitt has spent the past two years fulfilling the same kind of duties and responsibilities as most UVic graduate students: conceiving a thesis, working with a supervisor, giving lectures, teaching classes, marking papers, reading, writing, research. But given her specialty in creative nonfiction, Leavitt is also tasked with interpreting the world as she sees it鈥攏o easy job when you鈥檙e a blind writer.
Retired professor Jack Hodgins (writing) is the winner of the Royal Society of Canada鈥檚 Lorne Pierce Medal. The award noted that Hodgins is 鈥渋nternationally acclaimed for his achievements in both the novel and short story forms, admired for the complex morality of his subjects, as well as his structural and linguistic ability鈥� and that his 鈥渋maginative fiction masterfully explores the history, the people and the places of the coast of British Columbia.鈥� Hodgins has also received the Governor General鈥檚 Award for Fiction, the Commonwealth Prize, and the Order of Canada.聽
Annual Southam lecture looks at comedy and censorship If you think there鈥檚 nothing funny about censorship, Mark Leiren-Young would like to change your mind. A prolific freelance journalist, screenwriter, playwright, memoirist and award-winning author, Leiren-Young is this year鈥檚 Harvey Stevenson Southam Lecturer in Journalism and Nonfiction for the Department of Writing. And while his current Writing course Finding the Funny focuses on humour writing, his upcoming public lecture will examine the fine line between comedy and censorship. 鈥淚鈥檓 fascinated by the question of, 鈥榃here鈥檚 the line?鈥�,鈥� says Leiren-Young. 鈥淲hat can you make fun of? What can't you make fun of? What's taboo? How soon is too soon?鈥� By way of example, Leiren-Young looks east to Toronto鈥檚 frequently lampooned mayor. 鈥淩ob Ford and his tumor鈥攖oo soon for jokes?鈥�
Longtime and much-loved instructor, filmmaker and writer Brian Hendricks passed away on August 11 at the age of 57. An alumnus of UVic鈥檚 Creative Writing program (he won the Petch Prize on his 1979 graduation), Brian taught at UVic as a Continuing Sessional from 1992 to 2011 in the Department of Writing and in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies.
Two 番茄社区 scholars have joined the ranks of Canada鈥檚 academic elite. Historian Eric Sager and poet Tim Lilburn have been elected by their peers as fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for their remarkable contributions to their field and to public life. The distinction is Canada鈥檚 highest academic honour.
Two UVic scholars have joined the ranks of Canada's academic elite. Historian Eric Sager and poet Tim Lilburn have been elected as fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for their remarkable contributions to their field and to public life.
Few students would be proud of being called a scam artist, but theatre grad Max Johnson is鈥攋ust note the alternate spelling. Johnson, who has been working for local professional theatrical company Theatre SKAM since 2011 (associates are charmingly dubbed 鈥淪KAM artists鈥�), is graduating this June with a double major in writing and theatre. And the practical experience he learned at Phoenix Theatre has made him a valued member of SKAM鈥檚 team.
Erin Frances Fisher, graduating this month with an MFA in Writing, was announced on May 27 as the winner of the 20th annual Writers鈥� Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Her $5,000-winning short story, 鈥淕irl,鈥� was selected from a field of 133 blind submissions and described by jurors 鈥渁s vast and satisfying as a great novel . . . [she] is a writer you will see again.鈥� (Also in the top-three finalists: former writing student Leah Jane Essau.)
Kevin Kerr is coming full circle. Back in 2002, the noted playwright received the Governor General鈥檚 Literary Award for Unity (1918). Now a professor in the Department of Writing, Kerr is directing his first show for the Phoenix Theatre this month鈥攁nd it鈥檚 Unity (1918), a play that is regularly studied in first-year theatre classes. More significantly, it鈥檚 the first time he鈥檚 ever directed it.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2013-2014 Diversity Writing Contest. The awards鈥攆or creative writing on themes related to equity, diversity and inclusion鈥攚ere presented on Jan. 30 at First Peoples House, during the opening reception of the Provost鈥檚 Diversity Research Forum: Arts, Allies and Activism.
