WGA 2023 Literary Award Readings

Please join the Writers’ Guild of Alberta for readings from twelve finalists of the various 2023 Alberta Literary Awards. 

Featuring short readings from Lareina Abbott, Paulo Da Costa, Marcello Di Cintio, Patti Edgar, Tasnuva Hayden, Kyra Koustrup, Kimberley McCullough, Seth Rasporich, Trevor Schmidt, Vivek Shraya (virtual), and Chris Turner. 

April 25 7:00pm – 9:00pm (MDT)

Shelf Life Books 1302 4 St SW 100

Calgary, AB Canada get directions

Calgary – Reading with the Finalists
Tuesday, April 25, 7:00 pm
Shelf Life Books, 1302 4 St SW #395

Tuesday, April 25th at 7pm, please join the Writers’ Guild of Alberta for readings from 12 finalists of the various 2023 Alberta Literary Awards.

Featuring short readings from Lareina Abbott, Paulo Da Costa, Marcello Di Cintio, Patti Edgar, Tasnuva Hayden, Kyra Koustrup, Kimberley McCullough, Seth Rasporich, Trevor Schmidt, Vivek Shraya (virtual), and Chris Turner.

There will be coffee & tea served.

This is a free event. All are welcome.

Lareina Abbott is a Métis writer and mother who writes speculative fiction novels, short stories and creative non-fiction essays and memoir. Her stories have a tie to the spiritual or natural world, and to ancestry, as she believes that these connections are how we will heal as a people and reclaim what has been previously lost. She originates from a cattle ranch in northern British Columbia but currently lives and writes in Calgary on Métis Local 87 and Treaty 7 territory.

paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator born in Angola, raised in Portugal, and now living in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. He is the recipient of the 2020 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction, the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. His latest work, Learning to Shave, Learning to Leave is forthcoming from the University of Regina Press.

Marcello Di Cintio is the author of five books, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades and Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense, both winners of the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Di Cintio’s writing has also appeared in publications such as The International New York Times, The Walrus, Canadian Geographic and Afar. Di Cintio has served as a writer-in-residence at the Calgary Public Library, the University of Calgary and the Palestine Writing workshop. Di Cintio’s newest book is Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers. Twitter: @DiCintio http://marcellodicintio.com

Patti Edgar’s creative writing has appeared in The Dalhousie Review, Grain, Prairie Fire, and in Waiting: An Anthology of Essays. Her recent middle-grade novel Anna, Analyst (Yellow Dog) was called a “droll, deftly executed debut” by Kirkus Reviews and recommended by CM Reviews and the Canadian Children’s Book News. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and teaches at Mount Royal University.

Tasnuva Hayden is a writer based in Calgary, Alberta, where she works as a consulting engineer and editor for filling Station, Canada’s experimental literary magazine. Her work has appeared in N?d, J’aipur Journal, Anti-Lang, carte blanche, Qwerty, and more. She is also the author of An Orchid Astronomy, a book of experimental poetry cataloguing a migrating requiem of memories, mythologies, and science in the face of climate catastrophe and personal collapse.

Kyra Lark Koustrup (pronounced Kai-ra Lark Cow-strup) grew up on a farm near the small community of Delia, AB raising sheep, cattle, and horses. Kyra has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Creative Writing from Mount Royal University. Her writing is inspired by the rural landscapes around her and the many outdoor adventures she has been lucky enough to experience.

Kim McCullough is a writer and teacher from Calgary/Treaty 7 territory. Along with writing, Kim spends her days teaching high school Humanities and Creative Writing at Mount Royal University. Kim’s novel Clearwater was a High Plains award winner, and her essay Night/light was a National Magazine Award finalist. Kim’s work can be found in various literary magazines including The New Quarterly, Grain, and Room.

Seth Rasporich is a Canadian student in what feels to be his one thousandth year of University, never completing a full degree. He has dropped out of nearly every major university in Alberta. He has worked as a sculptor and painter for film, but mostly as a barista for the loneliest of mall shoppers. His work ranges from creative non-fiction to screenplays which he swallows whole before completion.

Caroline Russell-King has been writing professionally for 35 years. She has written over 30 plays and had 60 plus productions on stages across Canada and the USA. Caroline is a member of and was the former Vice President of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She is also the Ambassador for the Dramatist Guild of America for western Canada. Caroline has also worked with professional theatre companies as a playwright-in-residence, literary manager and dramaturg.

Trevor Schmidt is the Artistic Director of Northern Light Theatre as well as a performer, designer of set and costume, a published playwright and a multiple award winner in award ceremonies for work in Calgary, Edmonton, and Florida. His work has been produced across Canada, the U.S. and Australia. His one-woman Gothic thriller, WE HAD A GIRL BEFORE YOU… will be having its American premiere at The Greater Boston Stage Company in October.

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre, and film. Her album Part-Time Woman was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, her music on HBO Max’s Sort Of is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award, and her best-selling book I’m Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel.” She is also the founder of the award-winning publishing imprint VS. Books, which supports emerging BIPOC writers. A seven-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek has been a brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics and Pantene. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, and is currently adapting her debut play, How to Fail as a Popstar, as a digital series with CBC.

Chris Turner is one of Canada’s leading voices on climate solutions and the global energy transition. His latest book is the bestseller How To Be A Climate Optimist, a survey of the first two decades of progress on solving the climate crisis. His previous books on climate, energy and technology include multiple bestsellers and winners of the National Business Book Award, the City of Calgary’s W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, and the Writers’ Union of Canada’s Freedom to Read Award. His essays and features on energy, climate and technology have appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Globe & Mail, Maclean’s, and many other publications, and have earned 10 National Magazine Awards. He was a 2019 media fellow at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue and a 2013 writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon. He lives in Calgary with his wife, the writer Ashley Bristowe, and their two children.

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