Toronto Reference Library Blog

You are invited to join us Monday, April 3 at 7 pm, in Beeton Hall at Toronto Reference Library, for Human Connections: Roo Borson and Phoebe Wang. Wang is a prize-winning poet and ESL teacher, and Borson a critically-acclaimed, prize-winning poet with more than 15 books to her name. They are appearing in celebration of National Poetry Month, as well as part of the spring 2017 eh List Author Series, Toronto Public Library’s celebration of writers from across Canada. They will be introducing us to their latest poetry collections, followed by an interview with Toronto's poet laureate, Anne Michaels. 

Anne Michaels is a novelist and poet. Her books are translated and published in over forty-five countries and have won dozens of international awards, including the Orange Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and the Lannan Award for Fiction. She has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize (twice), the Governor-General’s Award, and longlisted for the IMPAC Award (twice). Her novel Fugitive Pieces was adapted as a feature film. Her latest book of poetry, Correspondences, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2014. She is Toronto’s Poet Laureate.

Roo Borson has won the Governor General’s Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 1990, she helped form the collaborative poetry group Pain Not Bread, with Kim Maltman and Andy Patton. Her work is included in a number of anthologies, such as The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, the Norton Introduction to Poetry, and the Norton Introduction to Literature. She is here at this time to introduce us to her latest poetry collection, Cardinal in the Eastern White Cedar, completing her triptych which began with Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida and Rain; Road; an Open Boat.

Born in Berkeley, California, Borson moved to Canada to attend the University of British Columbia in the 1970s. She has an MFA from UBC, and has served as the Writer in Residence at both Concordia and Western. She lives in Toronto.

Pheobe Wang’s first chapbook, Occasional Emergencies, was published in 2013 and her second, Hanging Exhibits, in 2016. In 2015, she won the Prism International Poetry contest. Her work has also appeared in many journals such as Arc Poetry, Canadian Literature, Descant, and Malahat Review, as well as the anthology TOK 6: Writing the New Toronto. She is here at this time to introduce us to her debut poetry collection, Admission Requirements.

A first generation Canadian born in Ottawa, and educated in Toronto, Wang has a Honours BA in English from York University and a MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto.

We send thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of the eh List series, as well as our media partner, The Toronto Star.

Please come back to the Toronto Reference Library on Thursday, April 13 to meet Kerry Clare; on Wednesday, April 19 (in the Atrium) to meet Barbara Gowdy; on Monday, April 24 to meet Ian Hamilton; on Monday, May 8 to meet Elise Levine; and  finally, on Thursday, June 22 to meet Andrew Pyper.

You can find out more about the spring eh List Author Series on our What's On blog, or follow the conversation online using the hashtag: #ehList.