Literature Matters

We’re thrilled to invite you to Literature Matters, featuring Nahlah Ayed, Billy-Ray Belcourt, and Kyo Maclear on Friday, April 25, at Isabel Bader Theatre. This event, hosted by Smaro Kamboureli, marks the final event of her tenure as the Avie Bennett Chair in Canadian Literature—don’t miss it!

📍 Location: Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West, Toronto, ON)
⏰ Doors open at 7:00 PM | Event begins at 7:30 PM
🎟 Reserve your free ticket here

Nahlah Ayed – A Family of Words: Reviving the Past
Nahlah Ayed is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and the host of CBC’s Ideas. A former parliamentary reporter for The Canadian Press and a graduate of Carleton University's Master of Journalism program, she also holds a Master's degree in interdisciplinary studies (Philosophy, English and Science) and a Bachelor of Science in genetics from the University of Manitoba. For two decades, Ayed worked in hot zones around the globe—from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to Russia’s annexation of Crimea—and has won many awards for her coverage of Middle Eastern politics. Her first book, A Thousand Farewells, was a finalist for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Awards. Her latest book, The War We Won Apart, was an instant #1 Canadian national bestseller.

Billy-Ray Belcourt – An Autobiography of Northern Alberta
Billy-Ray Belcourt is from the Driftpile Cree Nation in northwest Alberta. An Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, he was awarded the 2019 Indspire Award, the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows on its own leaders. His first book of poetry, This Wound is a World, won the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize and was a finalist for many awards, including the 2018 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. His second book of poetry, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field (2019), was similarly a finalist for many awards and a national bestseller, as was also his first book of prose, A History of My Brief Body (2020), essays about colonia violence, love, and queerness. A Minor Chorus (2022) won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. His most recent title is Coexistence: Stories (2024).

Kyo Maclear – Something of a Mess
Kyo Maclear is an essayist, novelist and children’s author. Her nonfiction books include the hybrid memoir Birds Art Life (2017), a #1 Canadian bestseller, finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and winner of the Trillium Book Award, and Unearthing (2023), a Canadian bestseller and winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. She holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies from OISE and a doctorate in Environmental Humanities and teaches writing at the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA. In 2023 she was the recipient of the Vicky Metcalf Award for Young People in recognition of her many children’s books. She is also the author of two novels, The Letter Opener (2007) and Stray Love (2012).