Four Readers on February 3rd 2008

John Terpstra reads from Two or Three Guitars, poetry published by Gaspereau Press.

Sarah Klassen presents fiction from A Feast of Longing, recently published by Coteau Books.

J. Edward Chamberlin reads from Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations, from Random House.

Valentino Assenza provides spoken word energy and excitement from his latest book, Quiet Confessions of a Loudmouth, published by Lyricalmyrical Press.

John Terpstra

John Terpstra has published eight books of poetry, and two works of non-fiction. His work has won the CBC Radio Literary Prize, the Bressani Prize, and several Arts Hamilton Literary Awards. His poetry collection Disarmament was short-listed for a Governor General's award for poetry, while The Boys, or Waiting for the Electrician's Daughter was short-listed for the Charles Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction and for the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. His latest book is an edition of selected poems entitled Two or Three Guitars and was recently published by Gaspereau Press.

Sarah Klassen

Sarah Klassen is a Winnipeg poet and fiction writer. Her work has appeared in most of Canada's literary magazines. Her latest book is a story collection: A Feast of Longing, (Coteau Books, 2007), and her most recent poetry collection was A Curious Beatitude which was published by The Muses Company in 2006. Awards for her work include The Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award (2007), a National Magazine Gold Award for poetry (2000), the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award (1989), as well as nominations for the CBC Literary Award, the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, the Margaret Laurence Fiction Award, and the Lansdowne Poetry Award. A former high school English teacher, she has also taught English language and literature in Lithuania and Ukraine. Last May she taught at the inaugural School of Writing at Canadian Mennonite University and is scheduled to teach there again in May 2008.

J. Edward Chamberlin

J. Edward Chamberlin was born in Vancouver and educated at U.B.C., Oxford, and the University of Toronto. Since 1970, he has been on the faculty of U. of T. where he is now Professor of English and Comparative Literature. His interest in stories and songs has taken him around the world, to peoples as different as the hunters of the Kalahari and the herders of Mongolia (and then back to the farmers of Mulmur township north of Toronto, where he raised horses). He has worked on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and the Alaska Native Claims Commission, was Senior Research Associate with the Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and has worked extensively on native land claims in Canada, the United States, Africa, and Australia. He is the former Poetry Editor for Saturday Night magazine, and has lectured widely on literary, historical and cultural issues.

Valentino Assenza

Melding a theatre arts background with the constant of writing, Valentino Assenza has emerged as an engaging spoken word performer. He attributes his love of poetry to three key influences: Charles Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, and Pablo Neruda. His two poetry chapbooks -- Wandering Absence and Il Ritorno -- were brought out by Labour Of Love Press. His most recent book of poetry -- Quiet Confessions Of A Loudmouth -- was published with Lyricalmyrical Press. In the summer of 2006 Valentino joined the Last Call Poets who have gone on weekend tours of Montreal, Quebec, and are planning a large tour across North America. Valentino also runs a spoken word poetry series called Cryptic Chatter on the first Friday of every month at the Renaissance Cafe in Toronto. He also enjoys live concerts and bleeding blue and white for his favourite hockey team.