Tuesday, February 1: The Story That Brought Me Here
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science 1-430
Speakers: Linda Goyette, Nduka Otiono, Jalal Barzanji, Rita Espeschit, Goran Simic, Peter Midgley
Sponsored by University of Alberta Senate
Thousands of newcomers are pouring into Alberta from around the globe, bringing unexpected gifts. Many are writers and storytellers. What pulls them to Canada? What happens to them on the journey? What experiences have they deliberately left behind? What treasures do they bring? How do they describe their emerging sense of place and their creative aspirations in a new home? Join writer Linda Goyette and several writers from around the world to share their thoughts on creating a life in Alberta. You will hear very personal accounts of joy and sadness, regret and humour, homesickness and exuberance, as newcomers describe the defining moments of a departure and an arrival.
Bios:
Linda Goyette is a writer, editor and journalist with a strong interest in oral history and contemporary storytelling in Canada. While serving as Writer in Residence at the Edmonton Public Library in 2005, Goyette began to work with a group of gifted writers who had moved to Edmonton from 36 nations and wrote in languages other than English. Together they produced The Story That Brought Me Here: To Alberta From Everywhere. The writers are listed below.
Nduka Otiono, a journalist, poet and short story writer from Nigeria, Otiono came to the University of Alberta as a FS Chia Scholar in the Department of English and Film Studies. He has published two collections of poetry, one collection of short stories and he has edited several anthologies. Otiono is a former General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors.
Jalal Barzanji, a Kurdish poet from northern Iraq, Barzanji arrived in Edmonton in 1998 where he has continued to contribute to Kurdish language publications around the world. He was named Edmonton's first PEN Canada Writer in Exile in 2007. The author of several poetry collections, he recently completed his memoir, The Man in the Blue Pajamas, for publication in Canada.
Rita Espeschit moved to Edmonton from Brazil in 2001. Writing in Portuguese, she is the author of thirteen published books of children's literature as well as poetry collections, stage plays and screenplays and she has also worked as a professional journalist in Brazil. She became Edmonton's second PEN Canada Writer in Exile in 2008. After working at the Writers Guild of Alberta, Espeschit recently joined the staff at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Extension.
Goran Simic arrived in Edmonton from Toronto this month as the newly appointed PEN Canada Writer in Exile. He will divide his working time here between the University of Alberta and the Edmonton Public Library. Simic came to Canada from Bosnia in 1996, and has served as a senior resident at Massey College at the University of Toronto, and as a Writer in Exile at the Banff Centre. He has published collections of poetry, short stories, plays and essays and in 2006 founded a literary press in Toronto called Luna Publications.
Peter Midgley was born in Namibia and raised there and in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. He is a poet, editor and storyteller, and also writes children's stories and plays. Midgley came to Edmonton in 1999 to complete a PhD at the University of Alberta, and is now managing editor of the University of Alberta Press. In his most recent published collection of poetry, he writes in an intermingling of English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.
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