say "Wool-in-gong" not "Wall-en-gong"
On Sunday evening I met up with Shady Cosgrove to chat about the University of Wollongong Creative Writing PhD program. She is a professor of Creative Writing there, and has been here in Calgary for about a month on an exchange-- Nicole Markotic went to represent the U of C's writing program over in Wollongong. Shady was also doing a reading that night, along with Robyn Read and Caleb Zimmerman. (If Robyn Read ever appears on the same bill as Christian Bok, I hope she's listed first so that is says "Robyn Read Christian Bok." They'd get a very different audience I bet. Ha ha.)
The University of Wollongong (UOW) sounds great. Shady's partner mentioned the word means "place of surf" and that it is right on the beach. The city is small (200 000, Saskatoon-sized as Paul pointed out-- though I am sure he meant the city and not the berry ha ha) and Shady made a point of mentioning that readings, community happenings etc. aren't as common in Wollongong as they are in Calgary, but it makes sense-- a much smaller pool of audience members to draw on as well as fewer writers. I always get a little misty-eyed when people praise the Calgary writing scene and the energy and support we have for each other. Maybe that's to do with the fact that I so rarely hear positive things about Calgary from people from elsewhere otherwise.
I have to love my hometown-- I can't help it. Maybe that's one of the reasons I try so hard to be a writing-scene-booster-- but the problem with that is that there are always things I miss, and then I feel guilty. Shady, Robyn and Caleb's reading was a great one to not miss-- I met three new writers and the readings were terrrific. Caleb's was first. He described it as a children's story, which made me think he'd have a lot in common with Andre Rodrigues, but as he read, I thought maybe Chris Ewart should meet this guy. Robyn read second, and her story had a little in common with writer XXXXX XXXXX, but was a lot funnier, and a lot more fun. Shady read a non-fiction bit about a trip to Graceland-- that in itself was unusual-- who in Calgary writes non-fiction that reads like a story? I can't think of anyone... But maybe I missed them reading last night. Now I feel guilty.
The University of Wollongong is on the top of my list. The University of Queensland in Brisbane also looks good. I'll keep you masses of people reading this informed of my progress researching programs and funding.
The University of Wollongong (UOW) sounds great. Shady's partner mentioned the word means "place of surf" and that it is right on the beach. The city is small (200 000, Saskatoon-sized as Paul pointed out-- though I am sure he meant the city and not the berry ha ha) and Shady made a point of mentioning that readings, community happenings etc. aren't as common in Wollongong as they are in Calgary, but it makes sense-- a much smaller pool of audience members to draw on as well as fewer writers. I always get a little misty-eyed when people praise the Calgary writing scene and the energy and support we have for each other. Maybe that's to do with the fact that I so rarely hear positive things about Calgary from people from elsewhere otherwise.
I have to love my hometown-- I can't help it. Maybe that's one of the reasons I try so hard to be a writing-scene-booster-- but the problem with that is that there are always things I miss, and then I feel guilty. Shady, Robyn and Caleb's reading was a great one to not miss-- I met three new writers and the readings were terrrific. Caleb's was first. He described it as a children's story, which made me think he'd have a lot in common with Andre Rodrigues, but as he read, I thought maybe Chris Ewart should meet this guy. Robyn read second, and her story had a little in common with writer XXXXX XXXXX, but was a lot funnier, and a lot more fun. Shady read a non-fiction bit about a trip to Graceland-- that in itself was unusual-- who in Calgary writes non-fiction that reads like a story? I can't think of anyone... But maybe I missed them reading last night. Now I feel guilty.
The University of Wollongong is on the top of my list. The University of Queensland in Brisbane also looks good. I'll keep you masses of people reading this informed of my progress researching programs and funding.
posted by Jill at 1:06 PM
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