Thomas Hodd on New Brunswick's Internationalist Literary Tradition

Charles G.D. Roberts

Thomas Hodd, Université de Moncton professor and poet, has written an interesting piece for The Puritan entitled "'Cross Border Kinship': A Tradition of the Literary Internationalism in New Brunswick." In the article, he argues that The Fiddlehead was controversial in the 1950s when former editor Fred Cogswell opened up the magazine to international submissions. Apparently the Ontario elite (Hodd names Northrup Frye and Earl Birney) decried that Canadian identity itself was under threat. But opening up to cross-cultural influences — and Hodd names several prominent examples of New Brunswick writers, starting all the way back with Sir Charles G. D. Roberts — benefits the work produced (and still being produced) in the province. He says,

It seems to me that New Brunswick’s reputation for producing literary work that exemplifies a stereotyped form of Maritime regionalism is misguided. 

Click here to read the whole article.

Kwame Dawes Pens Olympic Poetry

Former Fiddlehead Editiorial Assistant Kwame Dawes (now Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and Editor of Prairie Schooner) kept busy during the recent Winter Olympics by writing poetry inspired by the events for the Wall Street Journal.

Here's an excerpt from his poem "Ode to Canada's Hockey Team," inspired by Canada's 1-0 win over the U.S. in the semi-final game, with a nod to Fredericton:

But do you know what it means to Canadians?
I mean, do you really know what it means?
Like how I nearly got my head bashed
in for saying I did not know what the big
deal was when I lived up there in Freddybeach . . .

Follow this link to read the whole poem, which includes references to Wayne Gretzky, Tim Horton, and the Miramichi!

Odd Sundays at Molly's Presents Richard Kemick and Shari Andrews

This Sunday, February 23 at 2pm come to Molly's Coffee House (554 Queen Street) in downtown Fredericton to listen to Richard Kemick and Shari Andrews read from their poetry. This event is free — there's even a draw for free books! — and all are welcome.

Richard Kemick is currently completing his MA in English and Creative Writing at UNB. He recently won Grain Magazine's 2013 Short Grain Prize for poetry, and his work will be surfacing soon in PRISM International and The Fiddlehead.

Shari Andrews is the author of several collections of poetry, including The Stone Cloak (1999), Bones About to Bloom (2001), Crucible (2004), and Walking the Sky (2005). She lives in New Maryland, NB.

Don Gayton Reading Tonight at UNB Fredericton

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a reading by noted ecologist Don Gayton, who will be reading from a selection of his works.

Gayton has published extensively throughout his career, both in academic and non-academic circles. As an ecologist, Gayton's work has allowed him to travel around the world, and these experiences influence his non-fiction writing. His previous works include Kokanee: The Redfish and the Kootenay Bioregion; Landscapes of the Interior; The Wheatgrass Mechanism: Science and Imagination in the Western Canadian Landscape; Interwoven Wild: An Ecologist Loose in the Garden; Okanagan Odyssey: Journeys through Terrain, Terroir, and Culture, and his most recent work, Man Facing West, a work of short fiction.

Acclaimed over the course of his career, Gayton is the winner of The Lake literary non-fiction contest, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild non-fiction prize, the US National Outdoor Book Award, the Canadian Science Writers Award, and the Peace Corps Travel Book Award. He has also been twice short-listed for the BC Book Awards in their non-fiction category. With a B.Sc in Agronomy and an M.Sc. in Plant Ecology, Gayton's ecological interest is ever-present in his writing.

His reading will be held at 8:00pm, Tuesday, February 11 in the East Gallery of Memorial Hall on the UNB Fredericton campus. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Bill Gaston & Michael Christie Read in Fredericton on February 4 at the Fredericton Public Library!

Bill Gaston and Michael Christie will be reading at the Fredericton Public Library next Tuesday afternoon, February 4 at 3pm.

Bill Gaston is the author of 12 books of fiction, several of which have been nominated for awards including the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, among others (he's also published a book of poetry, a book of non-fiction, and a play). The Globe & Mail has said, “Given Gaston’s body of work, he merits elevation into the leading ranks of Canadian authors. His writing is gentle, humorous, absurd, beautiful, spiritual, dark and sexy. He deserves to dwell in the company of Findley, Atwood and Munro as one of this country’s outstanding literary treasures.” He comes to Fredericton with his latest, The World, published by Hamish Hamilton.

Michael Christie is the author of The Beggar's Garden, a collection of short fiction published by HarperCollins. The book — his debut — won great acclaim: it was long-listed for the 2011 Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize, and won the Vancouver Book Award. It was also named one of Amazon's 10 Best Books of 2011: Canadian Fiction, and one of Quill & Quire's Top 5 books of 2011. Steven W. Beattie says, "In Christie's hands, the Downtown Eastside becomes every bit as thriving and alive as Richler's St. Urbain Street or Michel Tremblay's Plateau-Mont-Royal. The Beggar's Garden takes the pulse of history by unsentimentally dramatizing the way a certain segment of society lives now, and in so doing stands as a sympathetic and compassionate examination of modern urban loneliness and disaffection."

The event is free and all are welcome. Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Fredericton Public Library!

Odd Sunday's @ Molly's: Ross Leckie and Sharon McCartney

The next odd sundays at Molly’s event, Fredericton’s longest-­‐running, semi-­‐monthly, persistently-­‐hyphenated, poetry-­‐reading series, will take place this Sunday (February 2nd) at 2 pm with featured poets, Sharon McCartney and Ross Leckie.

So if you are in Fredericton this weekend, drop into Molly's Coffee House at 554 Queen on Sunday at 2 pm to enjoy some poetry and a warm drink!

Sharon McCartney is a past member of The Fiddlehead's editorial team. she received the Acorn/Plantos People's Prize for her book, The Love Song of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her most recent book is Hard-Ass.

Ross Leckie is the editor of The Fiddlehead and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. His most recent book is The Critique of Pure Reason.

Fiddlehead Editorial Board Member Richard Kemick Wins Grain's Poetry Contest!

The Fiddlehead just received its copy of Grain in the mail today and we're pleased to congratulate Richard for winning the Short Grain Poetry contest with "A Note Left on the Dresser." Judge Méira Cook says about the poem: "images accrue richly and wittily. . . . I love how well this poem ends, its sense of decorum, as well as the amiable and slightly abrasive rub of pragmatism against the density of images that precede it."

Richard is currently a graduate student here at UNB, and last term served as an editorial assistant of The Fiddlehead. He continues to read submissions for us as a volunteer.

Congratulations again to Richard and to the other winners!