Three authors will be reading at the Fanny Bay Hall next Wednesday, including award-winning First Nations author Philip Kevin Paul.
The event on May 28 is part of the Fat Oyster Reading Series sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, Laughing Oyster Books and local oyster businesses.
Paul is a member of the WSÁ,NEC Nation from the Saanich Peninsula and the author of two acclaimed books of poetry including Taking the Names Down from the Hill which won the 2004 BC Book Prize, Dorothy Livesay Award. The second, Little Hunger, was short-listed for the 2009 Governor General Awards.
Paul’s father, the late Philip Christopher Paul, was a long-time chief and co-founder of The Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the National Native Brotherhood (now AFN). Kevin grew up surrounded by politics, culture, art and family.
Paul worked with the Institute of Ocean Sciences, in Sidney, BC, as an instructor at University of Victoria, and a researcher with UVic and the University of Northern Texas in Linguistics.
The other two authors slated to read at the event are Derek Hanebury and Mary Ann Moore.
Hanebury authored the novel Ginger Goodwin: Beyond the Forbidden Plateau about the union organizer and anarchist Ginger Goodman who is a colourful figure in the history of Cumberland. Hanebury has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from UBC and teaches at North Island College.
Moore lives in Nanaimo and just launched Fishing for Mermaids (Leaf Press), her first full-length book of poetry. It is a sensuous journey that evokes the ghosts of Pablo Neruda, Frida Kahlo and her monkey Fulang Chang, D.H. Lawrence, Emily Dickinson, Rilke, Sappho, the Queen of Sparta.
The event starts at 7 p.m. and costs $5 at the door. The hall is located at 7793 Island Hwy in Fanny Bay.
For more information visit www.fannybaycommunity.com/fat-oyster-reading-series.
—News Staff/Submitted by Zoe Lambert