Lee Maracle and Wayde Compton Read at the Rhizome Café

VANCOUVER — The final session of the season for Play Chthonics promises to be a stellar evening filled with inspiring voices as Lee Maracle and Wayde Compton share their energy, art, and creative thought. Please note the change from our usual location. As always, please arrive on time as seating is limited.


Date: FRIDAY, April 29, 2011
Time: 7:00 p.m, but feel free to come early for dinner!
Location: Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway
Cost: Free

Lee Maracle is an esteemed teacher, a gifted orator, and a prolific author of many acclaimed books, including the groundbreaking Bobbi Lee: Indian Warrior (1975, rpt. 1990), Sojourners and Sundogs: First Nations Fiction (1999), Ravensong (1993), Daughters Are Forever
(2002), Bent Box (2000), and I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism (1988). She is the co-editor of a number of anthologies, including the award-winning My Home As I Remember (1998) and Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture (1994). Born in North Vancouver and a member of the Sto: Loh nation, Lee Maracle has served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at both the University of Toronto and Western Washington University. In 2009, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the St. Thomas University. Her forthcoming work includes Memory Serves: And Other Words (2012). She is currently teaching in the Aboriginal Studies program at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Indigenous Theatre.

Wayde Compton is a Vancouver writer whose books include After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region (2010), Performance Bond (2004), Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature (2002), and 49th Parallel Psalm (1999). He and Jason de Couto perform turntable-based sound poetry as a duo called The Contact Zone Crew. Compton is also a co-founding member of the Hogan's Alley Memorial Project, an organization dedicated to preserving the public memory of Vancouver's original black community. He is also one of the publishers of Commodore Books. Wayde Compton teaches English composition and
literature at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Coquitlam College.

The Play Chthonics reading series showcases innovative poetry, narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative, interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Check http://playchthonics.blogspot.com/ or contact us at play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Spirited Writers Annharte and Joanne Arnott Read at UBC Green College

VANCOUVER — This March Play Chthonics presents the powerful voices of Annharte and
Joanne Arnott. Join us for an evening of reading, speaking, and engaging in the inviting glow
of Green College’s Graham House. All are welcome, but please arrive on time as seating is
limited.

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Annharte describes herself first and foremost as a Little Saskatchewan First Nations grandma.
She works with the Nokomis Storyteller Theatre Youth Outreach Project among other
community initiatives. She is the author of Being on the Moon (1990), Coyote Columbus Cafe
(1994) and Exercises in Lip Pointing (2003).

Joanne Arnott is a Metis/mixed-blood writer, originally from Winnipeg, living on the west coast of Canada since 1982. Her first book, Wiles of Girlhood, won the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry (Press Gang, 1992). She has published five further books, including Breasting the Waves: On Writing & Healing (Press Gang, 1995 ), Steepy Mountain love poetry (Kegedonce, 2004) and Mother Time: Poems New & Selected (Ronsdale, 2007). Her most
recent publication is, as editor, Salish Seas: an anthology of text + image (AWCWC, 2011).
Mother to six young people, all born at home, Joanne is a founding member of the Aboriginal
Writers Collective West Coast, has served on the National Council of The Writers Union of
Canada (as advocate), and continues to sit with the Author’s Committee, The Writers Trust
of Canada. She is also active with the Richmond Writers Group, hosting literary events in
Richmond BC. Joanne hosts two occasional blogs, Vera Manuel Tribute and Joanne Arnott,
as well as an online storytellers e-group.

The Play Chthonics reading series showcases innovative poetry, narrative, and cross-genre
writing. We encourage creative, interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty,
and community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada Council and
the following UBC institutions and programs: the International Canadian Studies Centre, Green
College, the Department of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for Critical
Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their
assistance.

Check http://playchthonics.blogspot.com/ or contact us at play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Renowned Wordsmiths Chris Hutchinson and Jay MillAr Read at UBC Green College!

VANCOUVER — This February Play Chthonics presents the superlative
finesse of Chris Hutchinson and Jay MillAr. Join us for an evening of
poetry and dialogue in the warmth of Green College’s beautiful Graham
House. All are welcome, but please arrive on time as seating is
limited.

Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Chris Hutchinson is the author of two books, Unfamiliar Weather
(Muses' Company 2005) and Other People's Lives (Brick Books 2009), and
three chapbooks of poetry, including his most recent limited edition
publication, Not Unlike (Okanagan College, Ryga Chapbook Series 2010).
His poetry is characterized by “daring honesty, close observation, and
humanity, executed with exhilarating verve and humour”. His work has
been translated into Chinese and has appeared in numerous Canadian and
U.S. publications. His third collection, A Brief History of the
Short-Lived is near completion and a collection of post-millennial-malaise-
inspired short stories is rumoured to be in the works.

Jay MillAr is a Toronto poet, editor, publisher, and virtual
bookseller. He is the author of False Maps for Other Creatures (2005),
Mycological Studies (2002), and The Ghosts of Jay MillAr (2000). His
most recent collection is the small blue (Fall 2007). Millar is the
shadowy figure behind BookThug, an independent publishing house
dedicated to cutting edge work by well-known and emerging North
American writers, as well as Apollinaire's Bookshoppe, a virtual
bookstore that specializes in the books that no one wants to buy. He
is the co-editor (with Mark Truscott) of BafterC, a small magazine of
contemporary writing. Singled out in the introduction of The New Canon
as a 'young firebrand' (which he reads as 'troublemaker') working
against what people hold dear to the Canadian poetic tradition, Jay is
one of Canada's voices of authority and risk on innovative,
experimental, contemporary poetry.

The Play Chthonics reading series showcases innovative poetry,
narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative,
interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and
community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada
Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the
International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department
of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for
Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty
Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Check http://playchthonics.blogspot.com/ or contact us at
play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Award-Winning Poets Philip Kevin Paul And Jeramy Dodds Read At UBC Green College

VANCOUVER —Play Chthonics opens the New Year with readings by two
stellar poets: Philip Kevin Paul and Jeramy Dodds. Join us for an
evening of storyful artistry, abundant wit, and glittering
conversation. (All are welcome, but please arrive on time as seating
is limited.)

Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Philip Kevin Paul is a member of the WSÁ,NEC Nation from the Saanich
Peninsula on Vancouver Island. His work has been published in BC
Studies, Literary Review of Canada, Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets
and An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English. Paul has
worked with the University of Victoria's linguistics department to
ensure the preservation of the SENCOTEN language.

Philip Kevin Paul’s second book of poetry, Little Hunger (2008), was
shortlisted for a 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award. His first
book of poetry, Taking the Names Down from the Hill, won the 2004
Dorothy Livesay Award for Poetry.

Jeramy Dodds lives in Orono, Ontario. His poems have been translated
into Finnish, French, Latvian, Swedish, German and Icelandic. In 2007
he held a residency at the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators
on the island of Götland, Sweden. He is the winner of the 2006 Bronwen
Wallace Memorial Award and the 2007 CBC Literary Award in poetry. He
works as a research archaeologist. His debut poetry collection,
Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House Books, 2008), received the 2009
Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and was shortlisted for both the 2009
Gerald Lampert Award and the 2009 Griffin Poetry Prize.

The Play Chthonics reading series showcases innovative poetry,
narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative,
interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and
community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada
Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the
International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department
of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for
Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty
Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Check http://playchthonics.blogspot.com/ or contact us at
play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Acclaimed Writers Phinder Dulai and Daniel Heath Justice Read at UBC

VANCOUVER — Mark your calendars for the November session of the Play
Chthonics reading series, and an opportunity for conversations with
our visiting writers. Phinder Dulai and Daniel Heath Justice join us
for a night of provocative readings. Please arrive on time as seating
is limited.

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Phinder Dulai is a Surrey-based poet and author of two books of
poetry: Ragas from the Periphery (1995) and Basmati Brown (2000) and
is anthologized in Making a Difference: Canadian Multicultural
Literature (Oxford University Press, 2007). Phinder Dulai is
particularly interested in migrant experiences, and he has spoken at
schools, colleges, and universities across Canada and internationally.

Daniel Heath Justice is a U.S. born Canadian citizen of the Cherokee
Nation. He lives with his husband near Georgian Bay in southern
Ontario, and teaches Aboriginal literatures and Aboriginal Studies at
the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous essays on
Indigenous literature and cultural studies, as well as the scholarly
book, Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History. He is
also the author of Way of Thorn and Thunder, an Indigenous epic
fantasy trilogy, which is forthcoming in an omnibus edition from the
University of New Mexico Press in spring 2011.


The Play Chthonics Reading Series showcases innovative poetry,
narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative,
interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and
community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada
Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the
International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department
of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for
Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty
Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Contact us at play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Fabiola Nabil Naguib Reads at UBC Green College

VANCOUVER — The second session of Play Chthonics promises to be another evening filled with inspiration as Fabiola Nabil Naguib share her energy, art, and creative thought. Please arrive on time as seating is limited.

Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Fabiola Nabil Naguib is an artist, writer, and activist and she profoundly integrates these roles in all of her work. Her first book, Uninhabiting the Violence of Silencing: activations of creativity, ethics, and resistance (Creativity Commons Press, 2007), fuses poetry, critical essays, and art work. She has published in multidisciplinary anthologies and journals such as Collision: Interarts Practice and Research (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008), Fuse, Yishu, Writing for Our Lives and Transdisciplinary Journal of Emergence, and her work is also forthcoming in collections such as Planetarity, Creativity and Social Justice: An Intra/International Collection of Critical and Creative Writings (Creativity Commons Press, 2011). Naguib has contributed to numerous projects and interventions in Cairo, New Delhi, Havana, Paris, Oujda, Dhaka, Florence, Pasadena, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal. In 2010, Naguib was awarded the Usamah Ansari Creative Justice Award.

***Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lee Maracle is unable to attend.

The Play Chthonics reading series showcases innovative poetry, narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative, interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Check http://playchthonics.blogspot.com/ or contact us at play.chthonics@gmail.com.

Coyote and Raven in Conversation: Acclaimed Writers and Environmental Justice Scholars Peter Cole and Pat O’Riley Read at UBC Green College

VANCOUVER— Awaken your mind and engage with these two special guests for the first reading of the Fall. The Play Chthonics Reading Series and the greater UBC community welcome Peter Cole and Pat O’Riley to read their work and to unfold trickster discourse and narrative shapeshifting.

Date: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Graham House at Green College, 6201 Cecil Green Park Road
Cost: Free

Peter Cole is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at UBC, and a member of the Douglas First Nation ( Southern Stl'atl'imx). Peter also has Celtic (Welsh/Scottish) heritage. His research interests include orality, narrativity, Aboriginal education, environmental thought, Indigenous self-determination, and Aboriginalizing methodology. He is the author of Coyote and Raven go Canoeing: Coming Home to the Village (McGill-Queen’s UP 2006) and co-editor, with Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Pat O’Riley, and Julian Agyeman of Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada (UBC Press 2009).

Pat O’Riley is a visiting associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at UBC, and an associate professor in the Department of Equity Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University. She is of Irish, French, and Mohawk heritage and married into Douglas First Nation. Her research interests include Environmental education, Indigenizing research methodology, Indigenous education, Indigenous technologies, community and environmental sustainability. Professor O’Riley is the author of Technology, Culture and Socioeconomics: A Rhizoanalysis of Educational Discourses (Peter Lang 2003), and co-editor, with Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Peter Cole, and Julian Agyeman of Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada (UBC Press 2009).

The Play Chthonics Reading Series showcases innovative poetry, narrative, and cross-genre writing. We encourage creative, interdisciplinary conversations among writers, students, faculty, and community members in Vancouver. The series is supported by the Canada Council and the following UBC institutions and programs: the International Canadian Studies Centre, Green College, the Department of English, the First Nations Studies Program, the Program for Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry. We gratefully acknowledge their assistance.

Contact us at play.chthonics@gmail.com.