The event is at 7:00 pm, at the Public Art Centre, at 301 Talbot St., St. Thomas.
Algoma University and the St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre will jointly present Poetry Night at the Art Centre. This unique event will feature readings from four distinctive voices, including two past winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize, Karen Solie and Ken Babstock. Current Algoma University writer-in-residence Jacob Scheier, winner of the 2008 Governor General’s Award for poetry, will take the stage as well. Rounding out the lineup is highly regarded St. Thomas poet Julie Berry.
Ken Babstock is one of the finest poets in Canada. Born in Burin, Newfoundland, he was raised in the Ottawa Valley and now lives in Toronto. His fourth collection of poetry, Methodist Hatchet, won the 2012 Griffin Prize. Babstock is a past winner of the Milton Acorn Award, the Atlantic Poetry Prize, and the Trillium Book Award for Poetry.
Karen Solie was born in Moose Jaw and grew up in southwest Saskatchewan. Her third collection of poems, Pigeon, won the Pat Lowther Award, the Trillium Poetry Prize, and the Griffin Prize. A volume of new and selected poems, The Living Option, was published recently in the U.K. and is a 2013 Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is an associate director for the Banff Centre's Writing Studio, and lives in Toronto.
Jacob Scheier is a poet, creative non-fiction writer and journalist from Toronto. His debut collection, More to Keep Us Warm (ECW Press), won the 2008 Governor General’s Award for English language poetry. He is a regular contributor to Toronto’s NOW Magazine and was recently a resident in the Banff Centre’s prestigious literary journalism program. His latest poetry collection, Letter from Brooklyn, was published in Spring 2013 with ECW Press. Scheier is currently the writer-in-residence at the St. Thomas, Ontario location of Algoma University.
Julie Berry has published two collections of poetry – worn thresholds (Brick, 1995, 2006) and the walnut-cracking machine (Buschek, 2010). Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Canadian Forum, The New Quarterly, Grain, The Malahat Review, The Literary Review of Canada, and many others. An award-winning CBC program entitled The Poetry of the Woods features her poetry along with the poetry of her grade 6 students. Julie lives in St. Thomas, Ontario.