Méira Cook, photo supplied
UWinnipeg is proud to announce former South African journalist Dr. Méira Cook as its 2018 Carol Shields Writer-in-Residence. Since coming to Canada, she has published five books of poetry, two collections of essays, and two novels, with a third novel, Once More With Feeling, that was published by House of Anansi Press last September. She has won the CBC Literary Award for poetry, the Walrus Prize for poetry, and the McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award. In addition to her awards, Cook holds a PhD in Canadian literature from the University of Manitoba.
As writer in residence, Cook will be at UWinnipeg for four weeks beginning January 31, 2018. Emerging writers from the campus and the community are encouraged to contact Cook to set up an appointment to discuss their writing at m.cook@uwinnipeg.ca.
UWinnipeg’s Dr. Catherine Hunter writes about Cook’s collection of poetry, Monologue Dogs and shares,”Readers, if you have not yet ventured beyond the double-dog dare of this book’s cover, I bid you, enter. It’s like a tour through a dream-like library that threads itself through the gaps in your own reading history. All of the poems are excellent and most are brilliant — and no poetry reader should risk missing out on what is one of the best poems ever, and I mean ever: ‘Five Act Iscariot,’ a heart-breaking, mind-expanding, gospel-defying exploration of love, executed in flawless, and beautifully subtle, sonnet form.”
Méira Cook Events – are all free and open to the public and are in Room 2M70 (2nd floor of Manitoba Hall).
Inaugural Reading
Wednesday, January 31, at 12:30 pm
Coffee, tea and cookies will be served
The Carol Shields Distinguished Lecture
Fin in the Water: An Only Slightly Dangerous Glimpse Beneath the Surface
Thursday, February 15 at 7:00 pm
Refreshments will be served, cash bar.
Panel discussion with Méira Cook and Jennifer Still*
My Secret Mentor
Wednesday, February 28 at 12:30 pm
Room 2M70 (Manitoba Hall)
*2015 UWinnipeg Carol Shields Writer-in-Residence
The Carol Shields Writer-in-Residence Program at UWinnipeg was initially made possible by a generous donation from the Shields family. The program’s name honours the memory of Carol Shields, Pulitzer-prize winning novelist and Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg from 1996 to 2000. Shields was a generous mentor to emerging writers making this program a fitting tribute to her.
Past writers in this program include Margaret Sweatman, Sandra Birdsell, John Weier, Maria Campbell, David Bergen, Ivan Coyote, Debbie Paterson, Chandra Mayor, Jennifer Still, Rick Chafe and Katherena Vermette.
