On Edge Reading Series: Fall 2024

The On Edge Reading Series showcases the work of writers who are doing the freshest, most interesting, and relevant work, writers who are also artists, volunteers, literary award winners, social justice organizers, prison abolitionists, literary organizers, dancers, managing editors, filmmakers, creative writing instructors, and scholars. On Edge programming serves to enrich literary and writing communities both inside and outside of the Emily Carr University Community.

The series is support by the Emily Carr Writing Centre with grateful acknowledgement to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Coast Salish First Nations whose traditional lands we are on.

All readings are FREE and open to the public. ASL interpretation is provided for all readings.

On Edge is organized and hosted by Mercedes Eng and assisted by Joanna.

On Edge on social media: Follow On Edge on Instagram to stay up to date.
For any other inquiries: Please email onedge@ecuad.ca

FALL 2024 SEASON LINE-UP:

Jenny Heijun Wills
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 5:30PM PT in the Aboriginal Gathering Place
Livestream link: Register for Zoom Room here

Jenny Heijun Wills (she/her) is the author of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related: A Memoir (McClelland and Stewart, 2019). It won the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the 2020 Manitoba Book Awards’ Best First Book Award. Everything and Nothing At All (Knopf Canada, 2024) is a collection of personal essays about race, gender, literature, adoption, and kinship. Wills was born in Korea and raised in Southern Ontario. She is professor of English at the University of Winnipeg. For more information about Jenny: University of Winnipeg profile
_{Photo: courtesy of Jenny Heijun Wills}

Saeed Teebi + Vance Wright
Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 5:30PM PT
in the Aboriginal Gathering Place
Livestream link: Register for the Zoom Room here

Saeed Teebi is a writer and lawyer based in Toronto. His debut collection of short stories, Her First Palestinian, was a finalist for several awards, including the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Prize and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. The title story “Her First Palestinian” was shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. He is currently at work on two projects, a book of non-fiction entitled You Will Not Kill Our Imagination, and a debut novel. For more information about Saeed: Saeed’s X

Vance Wright is a reconnecting two-spirit member of the Tl’azt’en Nation, and was raised on the unceded territories of the Sinixt Nation in what is colonially known as Nelson BC. Currently residing in the occupied and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver, they are a writer, and emerging artist & curator. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University, with a major in Critical and Cultural Practices and a minor is Curatorial Studies.
_{Photos: courtesy of Saeed Teebi + Vance Wright}

Cassandra Blanchard + andrea bennett
Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 5:30PM PT
in the Aboriginal Gathering Place
Livestream link: Register from Zoom Room here

Cassandra Blanchard was born in Whitehorse, Yukon and is a part of the Selkirk First Nation.

She is the author of Fresh Pack of Smokes which won the 2020 Relit Award. She currently lives on Vancouver Island. For more information about Cassandra: ROOM Magazine interview

andrea bennett is a National Magazine Award-winning writer, a senior editor at The Tyee, and the author of six books. the berry takes the shape of the bloom (Talonbooks) was one of CBC’s picks for 30 Canadian books to read in Winter 2024. Points of Interest, co-edited with

David Beers, has spent fifteen weeks on the BC Bestseller list. Their most recent book of essays, Hearty: On Cooking, Eating, and Growing Food for Pleasure and Subsistence, just came out with ECW Press. For more information about andrea: Official Website
_{Photos: courtesy of Cassandra Blanchard + andrea bennett}

Jane Shi
Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 5:30PM PT
in the Writing Centre
Livestream link: Register for Zoom Room here

Jane Shi lives on the occupied, stolen, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəýəm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Her writing has appeared in the Disability Visibility ProjectBlog, Briarpatch Magazine, The Offing, CV2 Magazine, ROOM Magazine, The Ex-Puritan, Canthius, and Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press), among others. She is the winner of The Capilano Review's 2022 In(ter)ventions in the Archive Contest and author of the chapbook Leaving Chang'e on Read (Rahila's Ghost Press, 2022). echolalia echolalia (Brick Books, 2024) is her debut poetry collection. She wants to live in a world where love is not a limited resource, land is not mined, hearts are not filched, and bodies are not violated.
For more information about Jane: Official website
_{Photo: Joy Gyamfi}