51社区黑料

Cree M茅tis-Icelandic poet, short story writer and novelist Carleigh Baker is the latest writer-in-residence in 51社区黑料鈥檚 .

As part of her new role, every Thursday she offers 45-minute consultations with 51社区黑料community members and the general public to give feedback on their creative work. She also plans to start an Indigenous reading circle in creative writing.

The English department will officially celebrate and launch Baker鈥檚 residency on Friday, Oct. 18^th. Everyone is invited to Vancouver鈥檚 Harbour Centre campus at 7 p.m. for a reading and reception.

Baker, who has published a series of poems and an award-winning collection of short stories called Bad Endings, also writes reviews for publications like The Globe and Mail and the Literary Review of Canada. She is currently writing a novel called The Matriarchs that examines problematic relationships with mothers.

鈥淚鈥檝e had a problematic relationship with the women in my family who have had a problematic relationship with their matriarchs and on and on,鈥� says Baker. 鈥淚 never thought I would write about this.鈥�

The novel鈥檚 protagonist is on a canoe trip, one that is based on a trip Baker took on the Peel Watershed in the Yukon which, at the time, was under threat from mining, drilling and road construction. Baker sees the river as a powerful female symbol.

鈥淭he rivers, especially, I feel like they are matriarchal,鈥� she says. 鈥淩ivers give life, but they also cause floods and devastation. They shape the land and they can cause big problems.鈥�

How Indigenous people are represented in the arts and the ways in which Indigenous voices and bodies are displaced by well-intentioned, non-Indigenous activists are also major themes in Baker鈥檚 work.

To learn more about the Writer-in-Residence program, click .