CMU School of Writing Announces Spring Literary Festival

Readings by Mary-Ann Kirkby, Sandra Birdsell, David Bergen and Others

WINNIPEG, Man. — David Bergen, Mary-Ann Kirkby and Sandra Birdsell are three of the authors who will headline the new CMU Spring Literary Festival.

The Festival, which is sponsored by the School of Writing at CMU, will run May 20, 22 and 23 and includes three public readings. The first, on May 20, will feature Sandra Birdsell (The Russländer), Margaret Sweatman (When Alice Lay Down with Peter) and John Weier (Under the Wings of Africa).

The second, on May 22, will feature David Bergen (The Time in Between), Mary-Ann Kirkby (I Am Hutterite) and Victor Enns (Lucky Man).

The Festival concludes with a special public address on May 23 with poet Tim Lilburn, who will address the topic of place and faith. Lilburn is author of Living in the World as If It Were Home, as well as Thinking and Singing: Poetry and the Practice of Philosophy.

All of the readings begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Great Hall at CMU, North Campus, 500 Shaftesbury Blvd. Admission to all the readings is free. Click here for a schedule.

Last year the School of Writing at CMU presented readings by Méira Cook, Maurice Mierau, and Armin Wiebe, Rudy Wiebe, Sarah Klassen and David Elias. It also featured a presentation by Rudy Wiebe and Robert Kroetsch, two key figures in Canadian Literature. Click here to read about their conversation. Click here to learn more about the School of Writing at CMU, which runs from May 19-23.

The Spring Literary Festival is made possible with the support of the Manitoba Writers Guild and The Canada Council for the Arts through The Writers’ Union of Canada.

Posted April 12, 2008. Revised April 19, 2008.