University Archives
& Special Collections
Canadian Literary Collections Project (CLCP)
2009 - 2010 "Written Word Coming to Life" Public Reading Series
matt robinson 7:30 p.m., February 18, 2010
DUASC Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
494-3615 for more info
Halifax poet matt robinson will be reading from the manuscript of his forthcoming poetry collection, Against the Hard Angle (ECW Press, out in April 2010), as well as from his recently released limited edition chapbook (published by Greenboathouse Press in Fall 2009) at the next installment of the Dalhousie Libraries’ CLCP Public Reading Series.
Against the Hard Angle is robinson’s fourth full-length volume of poetry. Previous collections include no cage contains a stare that well (ECW, 2005), a full-length volume of hockey poems; A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking (Insomniac, 2000), which was nominated for the Lampert and ReLit awards; and how we play at it: a list (ECW, 2002), as well as limited edition chapbooks from both Greenboathouse Press (in 2009) and Frog Hollow Press (in 2004).
Robinson’s poems have won a number of awards including the Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize and the Malahat Review Long Poem Prize. They have also appeared in numerous anthologies and been featured in special programs such as the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Art in Public Places initiative.
Born in Halifax, NS, robinson lived in Fredericton, NB and worked at the University of New Brunswick for a number of years. He currently lives in Halifax, and works as a Residence Life Manager with Dalhousie University. Copies of matt's limited edition broadsides, chapbooks, etc. will be available for purchase at this reading. Visit matt’s website to find out more about him and his poetry!
Randall Maggs, Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems 7:30 p.m., November 24, 2009
DUASC Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems (Brick Books, 2008) is a gripping hockey saga that wraps the game’s story in the intense, moody and contradictory character of Terry Sawchuk, one of the greatest goalies of all time. In compact, conversational poems that build into a narrative long poem, Night Work follows the tragic trajectory of Sawchuk’s life and work, ranging from meditations on ancient/modern heroism to dramatic capsules of actual games, in which the mystery of character meets the mystery of transcendent physical performance.
Night Work made the Globe and Mail's Top 100 Books list for 2008, and has won several awards including the 2009 Winterset Book Award and the E.J. Pratt Prize for Poetry 2007/2008 ( Newfoundland Book Awards) 2009. A short film has also been produced by Bookshorts entitled Night Work: A Sawchuk Poem, shot entirely on location in Beachy Cove Nfld. and featuring Des Walsh and Phil Churchill.
Randall Maggs is the author of Timely Departures (Breakwater, 1994), and co-editor of two anthologies pairing Newfoundland and Canadian poems with those of Ireland. He is artistic director of Newfoundland’s March Hare festival of music and literature, and teaches literature at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University in Newfoundland. Randall has played a lot of hockey himself, but the Maggs who made it to the NHL was his brother Darryl.
The Poets Are Coming, The Poets Are Coming! 
Carolyn Smart, with Sue Goyette & Carole Langille 7:30 p.m., November 17, 2009
DUASC Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
Carolyn Smart’s fifth collection Hooked: Seven Poems has just been published by Brick Books. Hooked is about seven famous (or infamous) women, all born before WWII: Myra Hindley, Unity Mitford, Zelda Fitzgerald, Dora Carrington, Carson McCullers, Jane Bowles, and Elizabeth Smart. Each of these women was notable for an addiction or obsession and speak articulately through the poems of their struggles and failures.
Carolyn Smart teaches Creative Writing at Queen’s University.
Carole Langille and Sue Goyette, both currently instructors in Dal's Creative Writing Program, will bookend Carolyn's presentation with reading of their own poems.
Douglas Arthur Brown 7:30 p.m., October 14, 2009
DUASC Reading Room
5th floor, Killam Library
494-3615 for more info
Douglas Arthur Brown is the author of five books including two novels (Quintet and A Deadly Harvest), a collection of short fiction (The Komodo Dragon and other Stories), and two children's books (The Magic Compass and Archibald's Boo-boo). The Globe and Mail called his latest novel Quintet, published by Key Porter in 2008, a masterfully written book. Quintet was the winner of the 2009 Thomas Head Raddall Fiction Prize and was short-listed for the Dartmouth Book Award.
Douglas' short stories have appeared in various literary magazines including Matrix Magazine, B&A, and Pottersfield Portfolio, and two anthologies: Water Studies: New Voices in Maritime Fiction and Life's Beginnings, a Danish anthology of fiction challenging ethics in modern society. His short story Fifty Bucks (under the title Macedon) was short-listed for the CBC Literary Awards. His full-length play The Weaverbird was a finalist in the Canadian Playwriting Competition hosted by Theatre BC and BRAVO. Douglas was also the publisher and managing editor of the Canadian literary magazine Pottersfield Portfolio for several years.
After ten years in Toronto and ten years in Copenhagen, Douglas returned to Cape Breton where he resides at the Bras d'Or Lake. Fluent in Danish, he has a degree in theatre from York University and has worked in professional theatre in both Toronto and Copenhagen.
This reading is hosted by Dalhousie University Archives & Special Collections, holders of the Thomas Head Raddall Collection, and is sponsored by the Canadian Literary Collections Project (CLCP).
“Quintet is a powerful and fascinating novel.” Leo McKay Jr., The Globe and Mail
About the Reading Series
In 1992, the Canadian Literary Collections Project launched a Public Reading Series to provide a venue for the work of both established and emerging writers, with special emphasis on those of the Maritime region. The reading series was also intended to raise the profile of creative writing on the Dalhousie campus as well as in the Halifax community.
Since 1992, the series has featured many excellent authors such as Karen Connelly, Don Domanski, Richard Cumyn, Harry Thurston, and Carole Glasser Langille. We sometimes push the envelope of "creative writing" to include such folks as local artists (Tom Forrestall), songwriters (Dan MacKinnon), filmmakers (Glenn Walton), and translators (Dalhousie professor Betty Bednarski).
Readings are usually held on the 5th floor of the Killam Library in the charming University Archives & Special Collections Reading Room, and are always lively and inspiring.
Contact Us
For further information about these readings or about the CLCP, please email Karen Smith, Head of Special Collections, or Tina Usmiani, Dalhousie Libraries Communications Officer, or phone us at 494-3615.
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