Literary Salons at the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Scholars, researchers, students, artists, and performers from all over Canada and the world are coming to Fredericton for the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. This enormous conference will be held over the next ten days on the campuses of the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. But Congress is not just a place where scholars present their latest findings (including research papers on The Fiddlehead!) to each other. Many events are open to the public including the Big Thinking lecture series, a special Bard in the Barracks production of Macbeth, and of course for lovers of literature a series of Literary Salon readings.

All the Literary Salons are free and open to everyone. They will take place in the lounge of Alumni Memorial Building from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. There will be refreshments and a cash bar.

• The  first Literary Salon will tonight (Friday 27 May) and will feature readings by Amanda Jenigan, James Langer, Natalie Meisner, Kathleen Brown, Chris Catchalian, Anita Lahey, Sharon McCartney, and Stephanie McKenzie.
• The second is on Saturday (28 May) and will have readings by Sue Sinclair, Anne Simpson, Warren Heiti, Heather Jessup, Kathy Mac, Ross Leckie, Tammy Armstrong, and David Hickey.
• The third is on Monday (30 May) and the readers will be Jess Ferguson, Tanis MacDonald, Norm Ravvin, Dave Brundage, Wanda Campbell, M. Travis Lane, Brian Henderson, and Kasia Juno.
• The fourth is Tuesday (31 May) and the readers will be Greg Shupak, Lorne Roberts, Nathan Dueck, Zhong Chen, Joe Blades, and Arpine Konyalian Grenier.

If you are in the Fredericton area do come by and see what the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences has to offer!

National Magazine Award Nomination

Congratulations to Sue Goyette, who has been nominated for the 2011 National Magazine Award in poetry for her three poems, “Disrupted,” “Recession,” and “Fog: Forgotten Names Begin Their Journey Home.” All three poems were published in The Fiddlehead 244 (Summer 2010). The 2011 National Magazine awards will be presented on June 10 at the annual banquet in Toronto.

The Fiddlehead 247 is Out!

Here in New Brunswick, there are signs of spring everywhere, the snow is rapidly becoming a distant memory, the fiddlehead ferns are popping up along the riverbanks, and The Fiddlehead contest issue – no. 247 – is out!

In addition to wonderful poems and stories from the contest, you will also find stories from Michael Laverty and Diana Swennes Smith and poems from Cory Brown, Geoffrey Cook, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Kim Trainor, Melissa Walker, and Darryl Whetter among others. There are also reviews of books authored by Robert Bringhurst, Chris Hutchinson, Vanessa Moeller, Michael Eden Reynolds, and Terence Young. The cover artwork is from Glenn Priestley’s "The Hill," which was commissioned in 2010 for the University of New Brunswick's C.C. Jones Student Services Centre by the Art for New Spaces Committee.

Pick a copy today and join the celebration!