The Centre for Literatures in Canada brings together authors, scholars, publishers, collectors and readers to celebrate the strength and diversity of Canada’s written culture. It promotes literary study as a future-oriented commitment to social betterment, and serves as a main source of information on authors and their works.

The mission of the CLC is to foster knowledge, reading, and appreciation of Canadian literatures, in English and in French, with a special focus on Indigenous, minoritized, and marginalized writing. The Centre aims to lead cutting-edge literary and interdisciplinary research.

Le Centre de littératures au Canada réunit des chercheurs, des auteurs, des éditeurs, des collectionneurs et des lecteurs pour célébrer la vitalité et la diversité des littératures du Canada. Il favorise les études littéraires et leur profond engagement à l’amélioration de la société, et il sert de source principale de renseignements sur les auteurs et leurs oeuvres.

La mission du CLC est de favoriser la connaissance, la lecture et l’appréciation des littératures canadiennes d’expression française et anglaise, avec un accent particulier sur l’écriture autochtone, minoritaire et marginalisée. Le Centre se veut à l’avant-garde de la recherche littéraire et interdisciplinaire.

This popular reading series has quickly become an Edmonton favourite. The public, students and University staff are cordially invited to attend these noon-hour readings, to share coffee, cookies and their thoughts with the guest author. The sessions are informal, fun and educational.

Ces recontres littéraires populaires sont vite devenues un succès edontonien. Le public, les étudiants et le personnel universitaire sont cordialement invités à assister aux rencontres, prendre une collation et partager leurs idées avec l’auteur invité. Les scéances sont informelles, amusantes et éducatives.

Henry Kreisel was an author, University Professor and Officer of the Order of Canada. An Austrian-born Jew, Kreisel left his homeland for England in 1938 and was interned in Canada for 18 months during the Second World War. After studying at the University of Toronto, he began teaching in 1947 at the University of Alberta and served as Chair of English from 1961 until 1970. He served as Vice-President (Academic) from 1970 to 1975, and was named University Professor in 1975, the highest scholarly award bestowed on its faculty members by the University of Alberta. He was an inspiring and beloved teacher who taught generations of students to love literature and was one of the first people to bring the immigrant experience to modern Canadian literature. The Centre for Literatures in Canada is committed to ensuring his legacy through the annual Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture.

Écrivain, professeur universitaire et Officier de l’Ordre du Canada, Henry Kreisel était d’origine autrichienne. En 1938, il quitta son pays natal pour l’Angleterre et fut interné pour une durée de dix-huit mois, au Canada, lors de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Après ses études à l’Université de Toronto, il devint professeur à l’Université de l’Alberta en 1947, et à partir de 1961 jusqu’à 1970, il y dirigea le département d’anglais. De 1970 à 1975, il fut vice-recteur (universitaire), et il fut nommé professeur hors rang en 1975, la plus haute distinction scientifique décernée par l’Université de l’Alberta à un membre de son professorat. Professeur adoré, il transmit l’amour de la littérature à plusieurs générations d’étudiants et il fut parmi les premiers écrivains modernes au Canada à aborder l’expérience immigrante. Le Centre de littératures au Canada se consacre à perpétuer son souvenir par l’entremise des conférences annuelles Henry Kreisel.

Ducks Scholarly Lecture Social Media Image
Hark! Comics About Gender, Labour and Oil!: Talking About Kate Beaton's Ducks

Enter the university classroom to encounter and discuss cutting-edge University of Alberta research from Professor and Henry Marshall Tory Chair, Dr. Julie Rak (English and Film Studies) and Professor and Director of the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, Dr. Sara Dorow (Sociology).

This event will take place on Monday, March 4, 2024, from 6:00-7:30 PM, in Room 129, Education Centre South (ED 129). It is free and open to students, staff, faculty, and the general public.

For more information, see our Latest News.

Register Now Social Media Poster for Kate Beaton Kreisel Lecture
2024 Kreisel Lecture with Kate Beaton

Award-winning cartoonist and author Kate Beaton will give the 2024 Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture on March 7, 2024, at 7:00 PM, on stage at the TIMMS CENTRE for the ARTS.

The lecture, titled "Bodies of Art and Bodies of Labour," will examine class and its influence on the Arts in Canada. To read an abstract, see our Latest News.

Please register to join us for Beaton's lecture, followed by a reception and book signing. 

Register Here
2024 Poetry Contest Social Media Image English
The CLC Poetry Contest /
Le Concours de poésie du CLC

It’s the CLC Poetry Contest’s 10th anniversary!

This annual contest is looking for the best poem in English or French from a student attending the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, NAIT, Athabasca University, or participating French-language high schools.

Apprenez-en davantage ici / Learn more here  

 

 

Social Media Image for Alluri, Major, and Porter Podcast
CLC Podcast: Hari Alluri and Michelle Porter, Hosted by Alice Major

We are thrilled to present the latest episode of our podcast. In episode 12, which is also part of our “Air and Fire” series of readings and conversations this year, Hari Alluri, Alice Major, and Michelle Porter explore the literal and metaphorical significance of fire in a brilliant, wide-ranging reading and conversation.

Listen Here
Poster for Table ronde quatre femmes poetes
Le risque, la douleur, la résistance: rencontre avec quatre femmes poètes

Quatre femmes se rencontrent au cœur de la poésie. Dans un ici/maintenant planétaire, leurs voix s'interrogent sur la fragilité et le courage d'être au monde. 

Une table ronde réunissant:
Nicole Brossard
Vanessa Courville
Louise Dupré
Evelyne Gagnon

Écoutez ici

Poster for Olive Senior Events
Olive Senior ar the CLC

Olive Senior, Poet Laureate of Jamaica, recently visited the U of A for a series of events hosted by the CLC and Canada Research Chair Nominee Dr. Michael A. Bucknor.

For more information about these events, see our Latest News

Recordings of the reading and the interview are available in our online archive.


Kreisel Series / Série Kreisel

An Anthology of Monsters by Cherie Dimaline, award-winning author of The Marrow Thieves, is the tale of an intricate dance with life-long anxiety. It is about how the stories we tell ourselves can help reshape the ways in which we think, cope, and ultimately survive. 

Kreisel Series / Série Kreisel

In Next Time There’s a Pandemic, artist Vivek Shraya reflects on how she might have approached 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic differently, and how challenging and changing pervasive expressions, attitudes, and behaviours might transform our experiences of life in—and after—the pandemic.

Kreisel Series / Série Kreisel
In A Short History of the Blockade, award-winning writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg stories, storytelling aesthetics, and practices to explore the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative, the beaver—or in Nishnaabemowin, Amik.

Poster for Wayde Compton Kreisel Lecture
2023 Kreisel Lecture with Wayde Compton

On March 8, 2023, multidisciplinary writer, editor, and historian Wayde Compton delivered the 17th annual Kreisel Lecture. His lecture, "Toward an Anti-Racist Poetics," probes Canada's myths about race and multiculturalism and expands how we think about the role writers play in creating anti-racist imaginaries.

Watch Here

Poster for Cherie Dimaline Kreisel Lecture
2022 Kreisel Lecture with Cherie Dimaline

On April 21, 2022, we were honoured to welcome Georgian Bay Métis author Cherie Dimaline to the stage of the TIMMS Centre to deliver the 16th annual Kreisel Lecture, titled "An Anthology of Monsters: How Story Saves Us from Our Anxiety."

Watch Here


Virtual Book Launch: The Collected Poetry of Carol Shields
Lovers of Carol Shields won't want to miss the virtual launch of The Collected Poetry of Carol Shields edited by U of A Professor Emerita Nora Foster Stovel and introduced by CLC Director Sarah Krotz! Watch the dynamic event.
CLC Series / Cahiers du CLC

Check out the latest in the CLC Series / Cahiers du CLC: All the Feels / Tous Les Sens, edited by Marie Carrière, Ursula Mathis-Moser and Kit Dobson.

Publications

Cautiously Hopeful: Metafeminist Practices in Canada is the latest book from former CLC Director Marie Carrière, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.