New Guide: “Producing and Evaluating Canadian Texts”
Sep 16, 2014
Our newest guide, Producing and Evaluating Canadian Texts,
is now online! Featuring chapters on Paratexts and Literary Value, CBC’s Canada Reads, and Graphic Fiction, this guide discusses the myriad ways texts are produced and evaluated in Canada. This guide covers topics such as literary value, awards, celebrity, cultural nationalism, and much more.
derek beaulieu named Calgary Poet Laureate
Apr 30, 2014
This week, derek beaulieu was named Calgary Poet Laureate for 2014–16. We featured beaulieu’s work in our guide to Poetic Visuality and Experimentation. In particular, check out the Reading Visual Poetry chapter for an in-depth close reading of his poem this half is for the ceremony.
You can read more about beaulieu and his work as Calgary Poet Laureate on his blog.
Jordan Abel’s The Place of Scraps shortlisted for 2014 BC Book Prize
Mar 12, 2014
Today the BC Book Prizes announced their 2014 shortlist. Jordan Abel’s poetry collection The Place of Scraps, which we wrote about in our Indigenous Literatures in Canada
guide, is among the finalists for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.
In the chapter Visual Poetry and Indigenous-Settler Issues: Shane Rhodes and Jordan Abel,
we read The Place of Scraps alongside the visual poetry of Shane Rhodes to consider how the poets engage with assumptions about Indigenous-settler relations in the past and present.
Also check out our guide to Poetic Visuality and Experimentation
for help reading visual poetry.
Fred Wah’s “Poetry Connection: Link Up with Canadian Poetry”
Feb 28, 2014
During his time as Parliamentary Poet Laureate, Fred Wah created a collection of resources for teachers and students of Canadian poetry. The collection features a series of videos on YouTube of poets reading their work, and accompanying PDFs that contain the poems, questions and prompts for classroom use.
Wah’s project serves as great accompaniment to the content we have on CanLit Guides—for example, our guide to Poetic Visuality and Experimentation
. We encourage you to check out our guide and apply what you’ve learned to the poems in Wah’s Poetry Connection: Link Up with Canadian Poetry
video series!
First Nations Public Library Week: February 10–15, 2014
Feb 13, 2014
This week is First Nations Public Library Week in Ontario. The theme this year is “Celebrating Mother Earth.”
What better way to celebrate than to learn more about Indigenous literary history in Canada? Check out our guide to Indigenous Literatures in Canada
—it’s a great resource for students, instructors, and anyone who wants to learn more about the complicated relationship between colonialism, culture, and language.