Tuesday, October 9

Jan Zwicky + Méira Cook

Jan Zwicky

Jan Zwicky has taught philosophy and general courses in the humanities, as well as creative writing and English at a number of North American universities

Jan Zwicky has published nine book-length poetry collections, including:

  • Wittgenstein Elegies (Brick, 1986) 
  • The New Room (Coach House, 1989)
  • Songs for Relinquishing the Earth (Cashion, 1996; Brick, 1998; Governor General’s Award, 1999)
  • Twenty-One Small Songs (Barbarian Press, 2000)
  • Why I Sing the Blues, an anthology co-edited with Brad Cran (Smoking Lung, 2001)
  • Robinson's Crossing (Brick, 2004; DorothyLivesay Poetry Prize, 2004; short-listed for Governor General's Award, 2004)
  • Thirty-Seven Small Songs and Thirteen Silences (Gaspereau, 2005)
  • Forge (Gaspereau Press, 2011)

 

Her books of philosophy include:

  • Lyric Philosophy (UTP, 1992; 2nd  revised edition, Gaspereau, 2012)
  • Wisdom & Metaphor (Gaspereau, 2003; short-listed for Governor General's Award, 2004; 2nd edition 2008)
  • Contemplation and Resistance: A Conversation, with Tim Lilburn (Jack Pine, 2003)
  • Plato as Artist (Gaspereau, 2010)

 

Her first book of fiction, The Book of Frog, will be published this fall by Pedlar Press. Auden as Philosopher: How Poets Think, her 2011 Gustafson Lecture, will also be published in book format this fall by ICR. Zwicky lectures frequently in Europe and North America, and publishes widely as an essayist on issues in music, poetry, philosophy, and the environment.  

 

She has taught philosophy and general courses in the humanities, as well as creative writing and English at a number of North American universities, most recently at the University of Victoria. She left her teaching duties at UVic in 2009, but remains adjunct professor there. She has also offered numerous workshops, and taught in the Writing Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Since 1986, she has served as a regular editor for Brick Books. A native of Alberta, she now lives on the west coast of British Columbia.

 

Further information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Zwicky

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Méira Cook

Méira Cook has been the Poetry Editor of Prairie Fire magazine and teaches creative writing classes at the University of Manitoba.

Méira Cook’s poetry collections include A Fine Grammar of Bones (Turnstone 1993), Toward A Catalogue of Falling (Brick 1996), Slovenly Love (Brick 2003), and A Walker in the City (Brick 2011).  She has published a book of literary criticism, Writing Lovers: Reading Canadian Love Poetry by Women (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005), and edited and introduced a selection of Don McKay’s poetry entitled Field Marks: The Poetry of Don McKay (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006).  Her first novel, The House on Sugarbush Road, will be published this Fall by Enfield & Wizenty. Her poetry won first place in the CBC Literary Awards in 2007, has been published in The Best Canadian Poetry of 2008, and has been featured in Winnipeg Transit’s “Poetry in Motion” program.  She has been the Poetry Editor of Prairie Fire magazine and teaches creative writing classes at the University of Manitoba. Poems from A Walker in the City won first prize in the 2006 CBC Literary Awards and "The Beautiful Assassin" garnered a Manitoba Publishing Award (a "Maggie"). Méira lives, writes and walks in Winnipeg.  

 

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