The SMU Reading Series brings writers to campus to share their work with students, staff, faculty, and our wider community. Admission is free and all are welcome.
‘Here is life, rendered with precision and insight.’ — Sharon Bala
The SMU Reading Series
and Arts with Impact
present
a public reading by our Saint Mary’s University 2025 Writer in Residence
Souvankham Thammavongsa
Winner of the Giller Prize
Thursday, 6 March 2025 | 7 pm | Atrium 101 (SMU Campus)
Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books and the short story collection How to Pronounce Knife, winner of the Giller prize and Trillium Book Award. Her stories have won an O. Henry prize and appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, and Granta. She lives in Toronto.
Admission free | All welcome | Book sales courtesy of Bookmark
https://eventscalendar.smu.ca/smuhalifax/detail/4696/1741302000000
Past events:
While some say cavalry, others infantry,
and still others will say a fleet of ships is the most beautiful
thing on the spring-dark earth, I say it is
what you love. (Sappho 16, trans. Annick MacAskill)
Three Poets at SMU, Thurs. Jan. 23rd, 7 p.m. —
Annick MacAskill, Clare Goulet, Brian Bartlett
Kjipuktuk/Halifax — The SMU Reading Series is back for our winter season, with a triple header featuring three local poet-stars — Annick MacAskill, Clare Goulet, and Brian Bartlett. All three of these poets had new books out in 2024: come help us welcome their words into the room.
Atrium room 101 | SMU Campus
Admission is free and all are welcome.
This event is supported by the League of Canadian Poets; books will be available for sale courtesy of Bookmark.
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Annick MacAskill is the author of four full-length poetry collections, including Shadow Blight (Gaspereau Press, 2022), winner of the Governor General's Award, and, most recently, Votive (Gaspereau Press, 2024). Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies across Canada and abroad and have recently been translated into French. She has been a contract professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Saint Mary's University since 2017.
Brian Bartlett’s eight collections of poetry include The Watchmaker’s Table, The Afterlife of Trees and, most recently, The Astonishing Room (Frontenac House, 2024). He has also published several books of nature writing and a gathering of his prose on poetry. Bartlett taught Creative Writing and many fields of literature for three decades at Saint Mary’s University, and founded our SMU Reading Series.
Clare Goulet’s writing has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Grain, Room, Collateral, Poetry Canada Review, and The Dalhousie Review. She is also the co-editor (with Mark Dickinson) of Lyric Ecology: An Appreciation of the Work of Jan Zwicky (2010). She lives in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, NS and teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University.