Upcoming readings: Qwerty Reads, Odd Sundays, and Three Book Launches

Qwerty Reads takes place tonight, February 18 at Wilser's Room (366 Queen St.) featuring readings by 1st-year MA in Creative Writing students, a reading by Naomi K. Lewis, UNB's writer-in-residence this semester, and live music by UNB students. The festivities start at 7pm.

Qwerty Reads is a monthly reading series hosted by Qwerty Magazine and aims to promote the magazine and the local arts scene in general. Each event features a different headline reader - sometimes it's a writer coming through town promoting a new book, sometimes it's a member of the UNB community.

"odd sundays" continues on Feb. 21. The featured readers will be local writers Gerry Beirne and Shari Andrews.

Gerard Beirne is an Irish writer. His collection of short stories, In A Time Of Drought And Hunger, has just been released by Oberon Press. He is a past recipient of The Sunday Tribune/Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award. His novel The Eskimo in the Net (Marion Boyars Publishers, London) was short-listed for The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2004.

Shari Andrews’ recently launched her sixth collection of poetry First Thin Light. In this her fifth book from Oberon Press, Shari "considers the bonds that tie the present to the past in terms of what it means to be female, and the influences both obvious and subtle that have gathered to define her."

As always the opening part of the afternoon with our featured readers will be followed by a short break. Then comes the open mic session and our now-becoming-famous book draw to close out the afternoon.

The event takes place at Corked Wine Bar, 83 Regent St., which opens at 1:30. The festivities begin at 2:00.

The UNB Department of English, The Fiddlehead, and the UNB Bookstore are pleased to invite you to the book launches of Phillip Crymble, Gerard Beirne, and R.W. Gray. The event will take place at 8 pm on Wednesday, February 24th, 2016, at the Alumni Lounge, in the Alumni Memorial Building, on the UNB Fredericton campus.

Phillip Crymble's first full-length collection, Not Even Laughter, explores the work and sensibilities of those whose ideas and visions have been long overlooked. The technical acumen, ear for music, and emotional sincerity unite the eclectic subject matter in this literary debut.

Born in Belfast, N. Ireland, Crymble holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, and is currently pursuing a PhD in American Literature at the University of New Brunswick.

Set in a Cree community in northern Manitoba, Gerard Beirne’s short story collection In a Time of Drought and Hunger draws on Beirne’s family experiences as Irish immigrants. This book has been a long time in the making, and the disaffected people who fill its pages have moved everyone who has read it.

Beirne completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University and now lives in Fredericton, NB. He is the author of three novels and two collections of poems.

In his second collection of stories, Entropic, Canadian author and filmmaker R.W. Gray once again finds the place where the beautiful, the strange, and the surreal all meet--sometimes meshing harmoniously, sometimes colliding with terrible violence, launching his characters into a redefined reality.

Gray was born and raised on the northwest coast of BC, and received a PhD in literature from the University of Alberta. He is an active writer who has had ten short screenplays produced. He is a senior editor of the web magazine Numéro Cinq, and he teaches at the University of New Brunswick.

Fiddlehead Editors and Contributors in the News

Congratulations to a pile of Fiddlehead editors and contributors on their recent successes.

Poetry Editor Ian LeTourneau was recently named the City of Fredericton's Cultural Laureate. According to the city's press release, "The position may have a focus on different arts disciplines periodically but it was determined that the inaugural laureate will be a poet laureate in recognition of Fredericton’s literary heritage and it’s designation as the Poet’s Corner of Canada. Mr. LeTourneau will compose and present poems for 4-6 official City of Fredericton events per year. He will collaborate with the Fredericton Public Library on programs to engage children and adults. The laureate is also expected to support and raise the profile of Fredericton’s vibrant artistic community and heritage and reach out to a broad audience through public appearances and outreach activities."

Poetry Editor Rebecca Salazar recently published an essay at The Partisan that examines the juncture of the personal and the political. You can read it here.

Fiction editor Gerard Beirne has a story published at Numèro Cinq that also appears in his brand new book of stories, In a Time of Drought and Hunger (Oberon, 2015). You can read "What a River Remembers of its Course" here.

And finally, Danny Jacobs, former editorial assistant and past contributor, has just won Prism International's Non-fiction prize for his piece "Ghostly Transmissions from John D. Rockefeller." It will be published in their Spring issue.

Congrats to all!

UNB Reading Series Presents Rita Wong on February 11

The Canada Council for the Arts, The University of New Brunswick, The Fiddlehead, and the UNB Bookstore are pleased to invite you to a literary reading by celebrated poet Rita Wong on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 8 pm in the East Gallery of Memorial Hall on the Fredericton Campus. 

Rita Wong’s work examines the relationships among social justice, ecology, decolonization, and contemporary poetics. She is the author of four books of poetry: monkeypuzzle (1998); forage (2007): sybil unrest (2008, with Larissa Lai); and most recently, undercurrent (2015). forage won the 2008 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and Canada Reads Poetry 2011. Wong is an associate professor in the Critical and Cultural Studies department at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

The reading is free and all are welcome to attend.

Odd Sundays Presents Naomi K. Lewis and Aaron Giovannone on February 7

February 7th's "odd sundays" features Naomi K. Lewis and Aaron Giovannone. This is a free event that takes place at Corked Wine Bar, 83 Regent St. at 2pm. Come for the reading, the open mic, and the book draw!

Naomi K. Lewis is the current UNB Writer-in-Residence and is here during the 2016 winter term. She is a writer, editor, and teacher, based in Calgary. Her  2008 novel Cricket in a Fist was written during her time at UNB as a Creative Writing graduate student. Her 2012 story collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of won Enfield & Wizenty's Colophon Prize and was shortlisted for two Alberta book awards. Her non-fiction has been shortlisted for provincial and national magazine awards. For the past decade she has also worked as a magazine editor.

Aaron Giovannone’s first full-length collection of poetry is The Loneliness Machine (Insomniac Books, 2013). His poems have also appeared in a variety of literary magazines, including The Antigonish Review, Canadian Literature, Event, Filling Station, Prairie Fire, and Prism International. Originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, Aaron is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal and the University of Calgary. With a grant from the International Council for Canadian Studies, he spent a year at the Università di Sienaon. He also lived in Castelliri, Italy. Aaron has a Ph.D. in English literature and teaches at Okanagan College in Kelowna, British Columbia.

An Interview with Singer-Songwriter Mo Kenney

Mo Kenney is a singer-songwriter from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Her latest album, In My Dreams, produced by fellow Halifax native Joel Plaskett, was just nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year at the 2016 Junos. The Fiddlehead's editorial assistant Ryan Gaio spoke with the singer-songwriter in January, just before her two appearances at Fredericton's Shivering Songs festival. In this interview she talks to Ryan about her writing process, collaboration, dealing with negative feedback and more. Warning: there is some use of profanity.

For more information on her music and tour dates, visit her website.

UNB Reading Series Presents K.D. Miller and Naomi K. Lewis

The Canada Council for the Arts, ArtsNB, The University of New Brunswick, The Fiddlehead, and the UNB Bookstore are pleased to invite you to a literary reading by acclaimed writers K.D. Miller and Naomi K. Lewis on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 8 pm in the Alumni Lounge on the Fredericton Campus.

K.D. Miller is a poet, essayist, novelist, and short story writer living in Toronto. Her most recent work, and fourth collection of short stories, All Saints, was short-listed for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and was included in The Globe and Mail’s 100 Best Books list for 2014. She has been a guest on CBC’s Tapestry and The Next Chapter.

A Canadian writer of fiction and non-fiction, Naomi K. Lewis has published multiple books, short stories, and articles. Her story collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of won Enfield & Wizenty's 2012 Colophon Prize for fiction and was shortlisted for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award and the Georges Bugnet Award for fiction. She is currently the Writer-in-Residence at the University of New Brunswick.

The event is free and open to the public.