We're excited to announce the first Dead Poets Reading Series event of 2025! It will be on January 12th at 3pm at a new (temporary) venue: Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre! Thanks to SFU for hosting us while we search for a new permanent home!
This will be the stellar lineup:
Carolyn Nakagawa will read Roy Miki (1942-2024)
Ken Klonsky will read Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)
Holly Flauto will read Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
Selina Boan (poet to be decided)
Location:
Simon Fraser Univeristy (515 W Hastings St) Room 2065.
Dead Poets Bios:
Roy Miki
Roy Miki was born in 1942 on a sugar beet farm in Manitoba where his second-generation Japanese Canadian parents were forcibly settled during the Second World War. He moved to Vancouver in 1967. He has published widely on Asian Canadian writing, Canadian literature, cultural activism, and contemporary poetry, and has edited works by George Bowering, bpNichol, and Roy K. Kiyooka. He is the author six books of poetry, and his third book of poems, Surrender (2001), received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Roy taught in the English department at Simon Fraser University for over thirty years. He received the Order of Canada in 2006 and the Order of British Columbia in 2009.
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (born 21 September 1934 in Montreal, QC; died 7 November 2016 in Los Angeles, California) was one of the most iconic Canadian artists of the 20th century. A sage, mystic, bohemian and romantic, he built an acclaimed body of literary work and a revered career in pop music. In his poetry, novels and music, he constantly probed the human condition, exploring themes of love, loss, death and his commitment to his art. As a poetic and unlikely pop star, his narrow-ranged, gruff voice, which deepened and darkened with age, and his reliance on simple, singsong melodies were complimented by the intense imagery and depth of his lyrics. A Companion of the Order of Canada, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the US Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Folk Music Walk of Fame. He also received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the Glenn Gould Prize, eight Juno Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and numerous other honours.
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker, orig. Dorothy Rothschild, (born Aug. 22, 1893, West End, near Long Beach, N.J., U.S.—died June 7, 1967, New York, N.Y.), U.S. short-story writer and poet. She grew up in affluence in New York City. She was a drama critic for Vanity Fair and wrote book reviews for The New Yorker (1927–33). Her poetry volumes include Enough Rope (1926) and Death and Taxes (1931). Her short stories were collected in Laments for the Living (1930) and After Such Pleasures (1933). She also worked as a film writer, reported on the Spanish Civil War, and collaborated on several plays. A member of the Algonquin Round Table, she is chiefly remembered for her wit.
More info to come!
