Lit Live at the Skydragon Centre on October 2nd

Lit Live would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Artword Artbar for enabling us to do our September show on the Artword Artbar's main stage. (Thank-you, Judith and Ron for wonderful evening!)

In October, the action swings back to the newly renovated Homegrown Hamilton cafe, on the first floor of the Skydragon Centre, 27 King William Street. Gary Barwin hosts Lit Live on Sunday October 2nd. Here are the stars we have for you!

Glen Downie reports the Local News, his new collection of poems from Wolsak and Wynn.

Andrew Pyper introduces The Guardians, his latest novel from Doubleday Canada.

Brian Henderson reads from his latest poetry collection Sharawadji, published this year by Brick Books.

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst brings us her poetry in Apologetic for Joy, from Goose Lane Editions.

Patrick Bowman reads from his first novel Torn from Troy, released in 2011 by Ronsdale Press.

Merle Nudelman presents The He We Knew, published by Guernica Editions.

Glen Downie

Glen Downie was born in Winnipeg, worked in cancer care for many years in Vancouver, and now lives in Toronto. In 1999, he served as Writer-in-Residence at Dalhousie University's Medical Humanities Program. He has published fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and several collections of poetry, including Loyalty Management (Wolsak & Wynn, 2007) which won the 2008 Toronto Book Award. His most recent poetry book is Local News (Wolsak & Wynn, 2011).

Andrew Pyper

Andrew Pyper is the author of five internationally bestselling novels and a collection of stories called Kiss Me. His first novel, Lost Girls (HarperCollins, 1999) won the Arthur Ellis Award and his second, The Trade Mission (HarperCollins, 2002) was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by The Toronto Star. Additionally, The Wildfire Season (HarperCollins, 2005) was a Globe and Mail Best Book and The Killing Circle (Doubleday Canada, 2008) was a New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year. His latest novel, The Guardians (Doubleday Canada, 2011), was a Maclean's national bestseller for the first seven weeks of its publication. Pyper last appeared in Hamilton in 2009 at the gritLIT Writing Festival.

Brian Henderson

Brian Henderson is the author of nine volumes of poetry, including a deck of visual poem-cards entitled The Alphamiricon. His latest collection, Sharawadji, was published by Brick Books this year. A previous collection, Nerve Language was nominated for a Governor Generals Award in 2007. His work, both critical and poetic, has appeared in a number of literary journals. He has a PhD in Canadian literature, is the Director of WLU Press, and he lives in Kitchener with his wife, Charlene Winger.

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst

Jessica Hiemstra-van der Horst is a visual artist and writer. Her poems have appeared in several journals including The Antigonish Review, The Malahat Review, and Carousel. Her previous books include Anatomy for the Artist (Greenboathouse Press, 2009) and Excerpts from Gerald, God and the Chickens (Frog Hollow Press, 2008). She recently won The Malahat Review’s 2011 Open Season Award for Non‐Fiction. Her latest book is a colleciton of poetry, Apologetic for Joy, recently released by Goose Lane Editions. Jessica has been painting since she was four; her artwork has been exhibited across Canada. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner, her paints, her computer, and her small garden.

Patrick Bowman

Patrick Bowman was born in Ottawa and educated in Toronto. He has twenty years of writing experience, all of it in software, but has been fascinated by Greek mythology since stumbling over a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology in his father’s library as a child. Torn from Troy is his first book and came out in 2011 from Ronsdale Press. He lives in Toronto.

Merle Nudelman

Merle Nudelman is a Toronto lawyer and poet. Her first collection, Borrowed Light, won the 2004 Canadian Jewish Book Award for Poetry as well as a prize in the Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest. Her second book, We, the Women, was released last fall by Guernica Editions. Her latest book is The He We Knew, which includes a suite of poems about the homeless and the displaced and grapples with the ripples of a broken relationship. Merle’s poems have appeared in journals, newspapers and zines. She teaches memoir writing to adults.