The campus will be teeming with lit lovers and writers alike from Feb. 20-22 as the Malahat Review hosts WordsThaw 2014, the second-annual spring symposium put on by UVic鈥檚 renowned literary quarterly. Participants will mingle, learn and delight alongside 38 featured poets, novelists, short-story writers and journalists from Victoria and beyond.
Just in time for the Sochi Winter Olympics, noted sports writer and veteran journalist Tom Hawthorn will be focusing on sports writing in his role as the 番茄社区鈥檚 2014 Harvey Stevenson Southam Lecturer in Journalism and Nonfiction
Heroes or chokers, rich or poor, pro or amateur, there鈥檚 nothing simple about how we see athletes. 鈥淲e even demand all of them to be role models, as though athleticism is itself imbued with some noble purpose,鈥� says noted sports writer and veteran journalist Tom Hawthorn. Hawthorn is the 2014 Southam Lecturer for the Department of Writing and will discuss our love/hate relationship with athletes in a free public lecture at 7pm Wednesday, January 29, in UVic鈥檚 HSD A240.
Poet Patrick Lane and Harvard University chemist George Whitesides will receive honorary degrees from UVic during the Fall 2013 convocation ceremonies, Nov. 12 and 13, in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium.
For over 20 years, Lorna Crozier helped shape the future of Canadian poets and writers as a professor in the Department of Writing. Now, her legacy will live on in the form of the Lorna Crozier Scholarship for undergraduate writing students鈥攁nd to h鈥�
Acclaimed local journalist and author Tom Hawthorn (Globe and Mail, Boulevard, The Tyee) has been announced as the latest Harvey Stevenson Southam Lecturer in Journalism and Nonfiction for the Department of Writing. The award-winning Hawthorn follow鈥�
A short story turned short film turned out to be the shortest route to the Cannes International Film Festival for Fine Arts staff member Dan Hogg. A digital media technician who specializes in film production, Hogg鈥攁lso a UVic alumnus鈥攚as invited to Cannes in May when his 10-minute film, Floodplain, was included in Telefilm Canada鈥檚 annual Not Short on Talent showcase.
Writing program BFA graduate Cody Klippenstein has always loved stories and storytelling. As a child, her curious and creative nature would often get her into trouble. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 remember a time when I wasn鈥檛 inventing things, even when I probably shouldn't have been,鈥� she jokes. And when she enrolled in UVic鈥檚 creative writing program, she asked herself the same question many amateur writing students do: Why am I enrolling in a writing program? In the end, it was her love of fiction, and her experiences in UVic鈥檚 writing department, that encouraged her to complete a writing degree.
Department of Writing professor, UVic alumna and 2011 $100,000 Siminovitch Prize winner Joan MacLeod debuted her latest play, The Valley, at the playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays at Alberta Theatre Projects last month. The story of a troubled teenager who has a confrontation with a police officer on Vancouver鈥檚 SkyTrain, The Valley was praised by the Globe and Mail as 鈥渁 subtle work that avoids all the romantic traps that typically ensnare those who write about mental illness.鈥� The Valley will also be staged during the 2013-14 season at Toronto鈥檚 prestigious Tarragon Theatre. No local production is planned at this point.
Canadian Anne Michaels,author of four poetry collections and two critically acclaimed novels鈥擣ugitive Pieces (1996) and The Winter Vault (2009)鈥攑resented a President鈥檚 Distinguished Lecture Feb. 18 during a special convocation ceremony in which she received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from UVic. Her lecture examined faith and failure, pain and love, memory and silence鈥攖hemes apparent in her novels.
The Malahat Review presents WordsThaw 2013: an all-day (and evening) writing symposium held at UVic on Saturday, March 23. The symposium will consist of three day-time panels on relevance in fiction (with John Gould, Yasuko Thanh, Daniel Griffin and Amy Reiswig), sustainable food writing (with Rhona McAdam, Kimberley Veness and Don Genova), and writers on poverty (with Patrick Lane, Madeline Sonik and Sylvia Olsen). In the evening, The Malahat Review presents Words on Ice: readings from Pamela Porter, Laura Kraemer, Katherin Edwards, Bill Gaston, Marilyn Bowering, Lorna Crozier, Lee Henderson and C. P. Boyko. More info: www.malahatreview.ca/events/wordsthaw2013.html
Dr. John Celona (music) received a Diamond Award in the screenwriting category at the 2012 California Film Awards, for his screenplay for an聽unproduced聽science-fiction black-comedy thriller called Lady Smoke. Celona had picked up聽honorable mention at the same awards聽two years ago for his neo-noir thriller Nightfreight.
Spend a day and evening on March 23 with some of BC and Alberta鈥檚 finest writers, thought-provoking panelists and most avid readers. WordsThaw 2013, Victoria鈥檚 second major literary happening in less than six months, will provide local residents wit鈥�
The winners of the 2012-2013 Diversity Writing Contest and first annual UVic Diversity Slam Poetry Contest were announced on Jan.30 at First Peoples House, during the opening reception of the Provost鈥檚 Diversity Research Forum: Rethinking Realities.
Department of Writing student Aysia Law has been named the City of Victoria鈥檚 inaugural Youth Poet Laureate鈥攁 first not only for Victoria, but also in Canada. Law, who won UVic鈥檚 2011 Diversity Writing Contest, will be performing her work at a number of events throughout 2013 and receives a $1,500 honorarium, plus $1,000 to develop and complete a major project that engages youth through poetry. 鈥淪he's such a passionate and dedicated writer with a great sense of humour and a natural instinct for language,鈥� say Lee Henderson, one of Law鈥檚 writing professors. 鈥淪he鈥檚 the perfect choice as our first public voice for the city's young poets.鈥� Law will perform the first poem in her new position for Victoria City Council at City Hall on Jan.17.
