Sonnet L’Abbé and Ecko Aleck will be reading at the Stan Hagen Theatre at NIC’s Comox Valley campus Friday, January 12, starting at 7 pm. Admission is free and all are welcome.
L’Abbé is the author of A Strange Relief and Killarnoe, and was the 2014 guest editor of Best Canadian Poetry. Her chapbook, Anima Canadensis, recently won the bpNichol chapbook prize. In her forthcoming collection, Sonnet’s Shakespeare, L’Abbé “writes over" all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets.
L'Abbé lives on Vancouver Island and is a professor of Creative Writing and English at Vancouver Island University.
Aleck was born into the Nlaka’pamux Nation and adopted into the shíshálh Nation. Her traditional name Kawaya, or Blue Jay, represents laughter. She is a spoken word artist with a vision to be a voice for her people. She is trained in both Interior Salish and Coast Salish protocols. Since the age of 13 she has travelled with her father, Terry Aleck, to discuss the intergenerational traumas of residential schools as well as perform and teach Indigenous songs and dances to elementary and secondary students.
“I aspire to combine my love for First Nations culture with audio and visual media arts and focus my performances on current issues that affect Aboriginal people,” said Aleck. “Art in any creative form is an essential part of my life.”
NIC’s Write Here Readers Series showcases the richness of literary arts in our region, offering students and community members the opportunity to hear from some of Canada’s top writers. The series is made possible through the Canada Council of the Arts.
“The goal of the Write Here Readers Series is to encourage creativity and provide opportunities for the public and students to meet and discuss literature with writers, both local and from other regions,” said Nick Van Orden, NIC English instructor and series organizer.
He is also active in organizing the North Island Writers Conference, January 26-27 at NIC’s Comox Valley campus.
For more information on this event or the Write Here Readers Series, visit www.nic.bc.ca/ut or contact Nick Van Orden at nicholas.vanorden@nic.bc.ca.
