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.
Le CLC et LitFest présentent: Martine Delvaux en conversation avec Evelyne Gagnon
Joignez-vous à nous lors d’un midi littéraire sur Zoom sous le signe du feu, avec la romancière et essayiste féministe Martine Delvaux, qui discutera de son ouvrage Pompières et pyromanes (2021) avec la poète Evelyne Gagnon.Mercredi le 18 octobre de 12h à 13h MDT sur Zoom.
The CLC and LitFest Present: Trina Moyles in Conversation with Omar Mouallem
In partnership with LitFest, the Centre for Literatures in Canada/Centre de littératures au Canada presents Trina Moyles in conversation with Omar Mouallem on the topic of writing about wildfire.
Join us Friday, October 20 from 12 to 1 PM in Henderson Hall (Rutherford Library South 1-17).
Poetry Masterclass with Olive Senior
We are pleased to offer an in-person poetry masterclass with Olive Senior! We welcome all emerging creative writers, and actively encourage Black, Indigenous, and other racialized writers, to register for this workshop on the theme "Writing Your Enivronment."
This event will take place on Friday, September 29, from 10 AM to 1 PM, on the U of A campus. Registration is free and open to the public, but will be capped at 15 participants.
Olive Senior at 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.Stay tuned for recordings of the reading and of the interview to be available in our online archive.
2023 CLC Poetry Contest Winner
Congratulations Abbigail Ketsa, whose poem "(Rural*) Grandmother Alchemy" was chosen as the winner of the 2023 CLC Poetry Contest! Learn more about Abbigail and read their poem.
2023 Kreisel Lecture with Wayde Compton
We are thrilled to announce the 2023 CLC Kreisel Lecture with multi-media writer, editor, and historian Wayde Compton! Please mark your calendars for March 8, 2023. His lecture, “Toward an Anti-Racist Poetics,” promises to probe Canada’s myths about race and multiculturalism and expand how we think about the role writers play in creating anti-racist imaginaries.
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.
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."
2021 Kreisel Lecture with Vivek Shraya
From the archives: artist and writer Vivek Shraya reflects on how she might have approached 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, and what she wishes we collectively might have done differently.
Watch the lecture on YouTube and view the event programme.
Plus: listen to Vivek Shraya discuss Next Time There's a Pandemic on the May 21 episode of CBC Radio's The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers!
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.
Eighteen Bridges
Eighteen Bridges is a magazine concerned with people, politics, culture, and ideas, its articles substantial and grounded in the tradition of narrative journalism. (Currently on hiatus).
The Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory (CWRC)
