The Write Here Readers Series will present Matt Rader and Renée Sarojini Saklikar, who will read from their works Nov. 26 at the Stan Hagen Theatre in Courtenay.
Rader's most recent collection of poems is A Doctor Pedalled Her Bicycle Over the River Arno (House of Anansi, 2011). His poems and stories have appeared in magazines and journals around the world, most recently The Walrus, The New Quarterly, The Malahat Review, 32 Poems (US), All Hollows (US/RO), and B O D Y (CZ).
His first collection of stories is forthcoming from Nightwood Editions in 2014. He lives in the Comox Valley.
Saklikar was 23 years old when her aunt and uncle were murdered on June 23, 1985 in the bombing of Air India Flight 182.
In her first book of poems, Children of Air India: un/authorized exhibits and interjections (Harbour Publishing, 2013), Saklikar's powerful, deeply personal work offers a fresh perspective on a heartbreaking chapter in Canada’s history.
The bombing of Air India Flight 182 killed all 329 passengers and crew, including 82 children under the age of 13.
Her poems ask us to confront and contemplate the nature of loss, the impact of terrorist acts, and the response of our nation to these events.
“One of the most significant books of poetry produced in this place. A place it remakes. The scope of Children of Air India goes beyond event and into the realm of thought, knowledge, and how we must read and write absences forever present.” — acclaimed poet and writer Wayde Compton.
The Stan Hagen Theatre is at North Island College's Comox Valley campus. Readings Nov. 26 start at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
— Write Here Readers Series