UPCOMING AND RECENT EVENTS
Meet + Greet with 2026-27 Writer-in-Residence Jana Pruden
Join the Centre for Literatures in Canada in welcoming reporter, writer, and podcast host Jana G. Pruden as the University of Alberta's Writer-in-Residence for 2026-27!
To kick-off Jana's residency, we are hosting a Meet + Greet event in the Department of English and Film Studies. Come hear about Jana's work and her plans for this year, while enjoying some light refreshments and conversation.
Date and Time: Thursday, September 24, 3:30-4:30 PM
Location: Humanities Centre 3-95 (Salter Reading Room), University of Alberta North Campus
Learn more about Jana and her work from the Writer-in-Residence website, or at janapruden.ca. To check out her award-winning podcast In Her Defence--Season 3 episodes are being released this month--find it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Numinous Animal: Bertrand Bickersteth in Conversation with Michael A. Bucknor
Join Dr. Michael A. Bucknor, Canada Research Chair in Black Global Studies & Decolonial Practice at the U of A, as he talks to poet, playwright, and essayist Bertrand Bickersteth (previously a CLC-invited speaker) about his new memoir Numinous Animal: Tracing the Afrofuturism of Black Cowboys.
Date: Sunday, October 18
Time: 2:30-4:00PM Location: Muttart Theatre, Edmonton Public Library Stanley A. Milner Branch
Tickets: $20 (general) / $10 (student / low income)
For tickets and for more information about this event and the full schedule for LitFest 2026, visit litfestalberta.org.
2026 Kreisel Lecture: Anniversary Edition
To celebrate its 20th Anniversary, the CLC partnered with the Writer-in-Residence Program, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2026, to bring three authors to the Kreisel stage.
Former U of A Writers-in-Residence Richard Van Camp (2011-12) and Shani Mootoo (2001-02) were joined by CLC visiting author Lise Gaboury-Diallo (2011). These authors each spoke, from their unique positions and experiences, on what it means to write “in Canada” and/or “in residence.” Senator Paula Simons hosted the event and facilitated a conversation between the three authors following their talks.
For more information about the invited lecturers, click HERE.
To watch a video recording of this and other Kreisel Lectures, visit the CLC's YouTube Channel.
To listen to the lecture, find it presented as three episodes from Senator Simons' podcast Alberta Unbound, on her website, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Announcing the Winners of the 2026 CLC Student Poetry Contest
The Centre for Literatures in Canada congratulates Jasmine Hyatt-O'Donnell, Caitlyn McClintock, and Amy Bacon for their winning poems!
To read their poems, as well as those from recent past winners, click HERE.
Thank you to all the students who submitted poems this year, as well as to our contest partners: Athabasca University, MacEwan University, NAIT, the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Edmonton Poetry Festival, Athabasca University Press, NeWest Press, and University of Alberta Press.
Magazine Archive: Eighteen Bridges magazine is now available on Substack
Check out the Eighteen Bridges magazine archive! The magazine was a project under the banner of the CLC from 2010 to 2019, and the legacy of many of the stories published in the magazine lives on through the quality of the storytelling. In lieu of maintaining a website or creating a new one for a magazine that no longer exists, co-founder Curtis Gillespie has decided to archive the issues on a Substack. The plan is to post all 13 issues of Eighteen Bridges, along with some brief commentary about each issue.
Support the CLC / Soutenir le CLC
With your help, the CLC can continue to foster communities of readers, writers, teachers, students, and scholars of Canadian literature and its diverse literary landscapes.
The University of Alberta is recognized as a charitable organization and will issue tax receipts for donations over $25. You can donate quickly and easily through the link below.