Join North Island College in welcoming Can’t Lit podcasters Daniel Zomparelli and Dina Del Bucchia to its Comox Valley campus Thursday, March 1 as part of NIC’s Write Here Readers Series.
“Dina, Daniel and Jennifer are a talented and diverse trio and we are thrilled to have them join our series,” said Nick Van Orden, NIC English instructor and series organizer.
Vancouver writers Daniel Zomparelli and Dina Del Bucchia co-host the popular Canadian literary podcast, Can’t Lit, described by Nuvo magazine as one of the top five Canadian podcasts to know.
Zomparelli is the founder of Poetry Is Dead magazine. His first book of poems, Davie Street Translations, is a documentary of gay male culture in Vancouver, which The Georgia Straight describes as “utterly charming and disarming.”
His first collection of short stories, Everything is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person, came out in the spring of 2017.
“Zomparelli’s book – like his body of work – does the smart and risky thing of trying the same questions on for size over and over again, probing the edges of our hang-ups with agitation and admiration,” said a Quill and Quire reviewer.
Dina Del Bucchia is the author of three poetry collections: Coping with Emotions and Otters, Blind Items and Rom Com, the latter co-written by Zomparelli. She is an editor of Poetry Is Dead magazine and the artistic director of the Real Vancouver Writers’ Series. Her first short story collection, Don’t Tell Me What to Do is an offbeat book about strange, imperfect people doing strange, imperfect things. Publishers Weekly calls it “a confident collection of 15 witty, tightly crafted tales of theft, artisanal doghouses and funeral crashing.“
Comox Valley author Jennifer Spruit’s work has appeared in Arc, The Antigonish Review and Prairie Fire Magazine among others. Her debut novel, A Handbook for Beautiful People (October 2017) is called “wonderful, heartfelt, heartbreaking” by Canadian writer Annabel Lyon. “I can’t recommend this novel highly enough,” she adds.
NIC’s Write Here Readers Series showcases the richness of literary arts in our region, offering students and community members the opportunity to hear from some of Canada’s top writers. The series is made possible through the Canada Council of the Arts.
The series continues April 5 with Nisga’a writer Jordan Abel, the Canadian winner of the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Each semester, NIC offers a wide selection of university transferrable English and creative writing courses, many of which are available at reduced rates to learners ages 55 and older through NIC’s Joy of Lifelong Learning program. To find out more about NIC’s programs and courses visit www.nic.bc.ca.
For more information on this event or the Write Here Readers Series, visit www.nic.bc.ca/artssciences or contact Nick Van Orden at nicholas.vanorden@nic.bc.ca.