Thursday, May 15, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY
Map of location

Cover image by Melvin Charney

Join us as acclaimed novelists Camilla Gibb (Sweetness in the Belly) and Ann Charney (Rousseau's Garden), and poet Herménégilde Chiasson (Lectures) come together to present an evening of readings celebrating Review's latest issue, which focuses on contemporary Canadian writing and arts and features work by all three participants. Sylvia Söderlind and Mark Abley, respectively the guest academic editor and the guest creative editor of Review 76, will give opening comments at this, the final literature program of an organization-wide Spring 2008 Canada Festival that has also included music programs and a visual arts exhibition. The special issue will be available to order at the event.

Review 76 focuses on currents in contemporary writing from throughout Canada, including literature in English and French and aboriginal and immigrant literatures; the selections presented in the issue provide a glimpse of the multicultural and multi-generational face of Canadian writing today. The issue opens with a section of scholarly articles that explore the influence of history, language, geography, ethnic identity, and class upon the country's literary production. It continues with a creative section comprised of fiction, poetry, essays, drama, and reviews of books by iconic and emerging authors such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Priscila Uppal, as well as pieces on Canadian art and music. Featured writers include Di Brandt, Lawrence Hill, David Manicom, Don McKay, Merilyn Simonds, Michel Tremblay, and Richard Wagamese.

Mark Abley is the author of the acclaimed Spoken Here: Travels among Threatened Languages and, most recently, The Prodigal Tongue. He served as the book-review editor for The Montreal Gazette.

Ann Charney is a Polish-born novelist, short story writer, and journalist who has received awards both for her fiction and nonfiction. She was recently named an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Herménégilde Chiasson is an award-winning poet, playwright, and visual artist who has been a prime mover in the revival of Acadian culture in Atlantic Canada and who has served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick since 2003.

Camilla Gibb is the author of three novels, most recently Sweetness in the Belly (2006), which won the 2006 Trillium Book Award and was short-listed for the Giller Prize.

Sylvia Söderlind teaches American, Canadian, and Comparative literatures at Queen's University. She is author of Margin/Alias: Language and Colonization in Canadian and Quebecois Fiction.

To order a copy of Review 76, visit www.tandf.co.uk/journals/spissue/rrev-si2.asp.

Listen to a selection of readings presented at the launch of Review 76: Contemporary Canadian Writing and Arts.

In collaboration with: