Mailhot nabs pair of writing prizes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/04/2019 (2450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

British Columbia memoirist Terese Mailhot has found major success since being recruited to Purdue University in Indiana by author Roxane Gay, known for her bestseller Bad Feminist.

In March, Mailhot won one of 10 US$50,000 Whiting Awards, bestowed by the Whiting Foundation for achievement by emerging writers in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. In the same month, her memoir Heart Berries won the first US$7,500 Spalding Prize for Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature.

Mailhot arrived at Purdue as a post-doctoral fellow in a program intended to increase representation among Indigenous authors and writers of colour; she has since been hired into a tenure-track position.

● ● ●

Children’s author and former teacher-librarian Harriet Zaidman is launching a novel to transport young readers back to one of the most important events in Winnipeg’s history.

In City on Strike: A Novel, a 13-year-old boy and his younger sister get caught up in the events of the Winnipeg General Strike, which began in May 100 years ago.

She launches the novel tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location, in discussion with former CBC host Terry MacLeod.

● ● ●

Winnipeg is the unlikely hiding place of a famous guerrilla street artist, on the run from a relentless special agent, in M.C. Joudrey’s novel Fanonymous.

Joudrey, whose most recent book was Charleswood Road: Stories, makes the absurdity of Winnipeg and its eccentric characters a central feature of his new novel, which he launches Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the McNally Robinson Grant Park location.

● ● ●

Poet Victor Enns and Gimli organization Evergreen Basic Needs are gauging interest in a monthly program of writing for therapy, to begin in the fall.

Write For Life, facilitated by Enns, will be an informal program open to all, whether or not you think of yourself as a “writer.” A planning and information meeting starts at 1 p.m. Monday at the Evergreen Basic Needs office at 71 4th Ave. in Gimli. People interested in the program can also call Elaine Gibbs at 204-642-9736.

● ● ●

Vancouver poet and podcaster Dina Del Bucchia launches a new short-story collection Wednesday that grapples with how we interpret and understand the “big deals” in our life.

Del Bucchia, who is one of the hosts of a popular podcast on the Canadian literary scene called Can’t Lit, will read from It’s a Big Deal, her fourth book, at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location. She’ll be joined by Montreal’s Nicole Raziya Fong, who’ll read from her debut poetry collection, Perfact. The event begins at 7:30 p.m.

● ● ●

Ryerson University political science Prof. Arthur Ross returns to his North End Winnipeg roots in a work of history delving into the development of Winnipeg’s Jewish community.

Ross writes of the period from 1882 to 1930, when 9,800 Jews immigrated to Winnipeg from Eastern Europe and many formed mutual aid societies in their new home.

He launches his book Communal Solidarity: Immigration, Settlement and Social Welfare in Winnipeg’s Jewish Community at the Rady Jewish Community Centre (123 Doncaster St.) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

● ● ●

Prairie Fire literary magazine is holding its annual Speaking Volumes fundraiser May 11 at Fort Gibraltar (866 Rue Saint Joseph).

As always, the event includes dinner, readings by local authors, a silent auction and axe throwing. Poets Duncan Mercredi and Chimwemwe Undi will provide the entertainment and auction prizes include work by famed artists Jackson Beardy and Aganetha Dyck.

Tickets are $75 and partially tax deductible. They’re available from McNally Robinson Booksellers and at prairiefire.ca.

booknewsbob@gmail.com