Writers Bloom in May at Lit Live!

Join us for a literary bouquet of six writers on May 3rd at 7:30 p.m at the Skydragon Centre.

Robert Bringhurst presents his latest publication Ursa Major, recently re-issued by Gaspereau Press.

Karen Connelly brings her award-winning novel The Lizard Cage, awarded the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for New Writers.

Helen McLean sees art from the artist's perspective in Just Looking and other essays, her latest publication from Seraphim Editions.

Asa Boxer reads from his debut collection of poetry, The Mechanical Bird, from Signal Editions.

Ross Pennie presents Tainted, his first medical mystery, published in 2009 by ECW Press.

Barbara Pelman invites us into Borrowed Rooms, her second collection of poetry, recently published by Ronsdale Press.

Robert Bringhurst

Robert Bringhurst’s collections of poetry include The Calling: Selected Poems 1970-1995; Pieces of Map, Pieces of Music (1987) and The Old in Their Knowing (2005). He is an accomplished linguist, well-known for his translations of the Haida storytellers Skaay and Ghandl, and for his translations of the early Greek philosopher-poet Parmenides. His manual The Elements of Typographic Style has itself been translated into ten languages and is now one of the world's most influential texts on typographic design.

His book Everywhere Being is Dancing | Twenty Pieces of Thinking was published by Gaspereau in 2007. In this companion volume to The Tree of Meaning (2006), Bringhurst collects pieces of thinking under the principle that “everything is related to everything else.” His studies of poetry, polyphonics, oral literature, storytelling, translation, mythology, homogeny, cultural ecology, literary criticism and typography all build upon this sense of basic connection. His latest book is a new-edition of his polyphonic masque: Ursa Major. Shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2004, the National Post called Ursa Major “a typically majestic and dedicated piece of work.”

Karen Connelly

Karen Connelly was born in Calgary, Alberta. She is the author of seven books of best-selling nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. She has read from her work and lectured in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Her latest book, the novel The Lizard Cage, was published to international acclaim and won the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for New Writers.

Helen McLean

Helen McLean’s novel Significant Things (Dundurn Press) was shortlisted for the 2004 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize in the Canada and Caribbean division. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Quill & Quire, and many other periodicals. Her paintings have been exhibited across Canada and are part of several important collections including that of the Bank of Canada. Her portrait of Margaret Laurence hangs in the Margaret Laurence Home in Neepawa, Manitoba.

In Just Looking and other Essays McLean meditates on the world with a painter's eye. She examines the puzzle of why an artist feels compelled to paint. What is it that captures the attention, and how does the artist reproduce that first perception in the studio, days or weeks later? Does an artist record what is seen or what experience teaches? She inveighs against phoniness in art and the contemporary lack of rigour that Umberto Eco has called an “orgy of tolerance.”

Asa Boxer

Asa Boxer won first prize in the 2005 CBC/ enRoute poetry competition for his poem cycle entitled “The Workshop.” This work was included in The Mechanical Bird, his debut poetry collection published in 2007. His poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in London Magazine, Arc, Books in Canada, Maisonneuve and CNQ. He lives in Montreal.

Ross Pennie

Ross Pennie’s career as a physician specializing in infectious diseases has taken him around the globe. He is a professor at McMaster University and practises at Brantford General Hospital, caring for hockey stars and donut lovers alike. He started writing at age ten, chronicling his four-day solo train trip across the Prairies and Rockies between Medicine Hat and Vancouver. His award-winning memoir of Papua New Guinea, The Unforgiving Tides, has delighted readers with its grit and charm. It was also nominated for a Governor-General's Award. Tainted, his first medical mystery, was released in March 2009 by ECW Press. It is set in Hamilton and is already receiving widespread critical acclaim.

Barbara Pelman

For many years Barbara Pelman has taught English at high school and college, primarily in British Columbia. Born in Vancouver, she has degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto. She has been an active participant in the Victoria writing community: as a member of the Random Acts of Poetry team, a regular reader at Planet Earth Poetry, and the instigator of Victoria’s “Poetry Walls,” created by her students, in the downtown core. Her poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Event, Fiddlehead, Antigonish Review, Dalhousie Review and CV2. Borrowed Rooms is her second book of poetry; her first, One Stone was published in 2005 by Ekstasis Editions.