Five Things Literary: Sudbury, with Julie Dupuis

As part of our mapping of literary Ontario, we're highlighting five things about literary life in communities throughout the province. What do our cities, towns and villages have to offer writers, readers and the curious? Follow Five Things Literary to find out.

Today's feature on literary life in Sudbury was contributed by writer Julie Dupuis. Her travelogue/memoir Memories of a Carnivore, which follows Julie's quirky journey from rural francophone Northeastern Ontario to exotic locales, bizarre meals and attempts at vegetarianism, was just published with Found Press Quarterly's Spring 2011 release.

For more information about Memories of a Carnivore and the other stories published this spring, please visit the Found Press Quarterly website.

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1. Sudbury's poet laureate, Roger Nash, launched a literary eZine in 2010. Terra north/nord publishes poems, short-fiction, book-reviews, short essays and information for writers in both official languages. The third issue, set for release in the fall, will be a special multi-media issue featuring photography gathered by members of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury and creative writing on those photos.

 

2. The Greater Sudbury Public Library offers a very special service to members of the community who need assistance forming book clubs — the Book Club in a Bag. Each bag contains five copies of the same book, a discussion guide and links to useful websites, and comes with a six-week loan period. Available titles are listed in the library's catalogue.

 

3. Your Scrivener Press publishes high quality books by Northeastern Ontario writers. In its first ten years, it published mainly poetry and local history, but since 2005 it has expanded to include short stories and novels.

 

4. Laurentian University's LUminaries Reading Series presents poetry readings several times per year. Each poet reads for about 30 minutes, after which time is allocated for discussion, books sales and signings. A half hour at the end is reserved for an open mic period when members of the community can read from their own works.

 

5. The first annual Sudbury International Festival of Authors took place in the fall of 2010. It showcases some of the authors from Toronto's International Festival of Authors. In the future, the festival will cluster other events around the international speakers' presentations in an effort to make the festival more well-rounded.

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Julie Dupuis holds an M.A. in English literature from the University of Toronto and did post-graduate work in Creative Book Publishing at Humber College. She has been working as a writer since 2006, has published four travel articles and is the associate editor of PublicValues.ca and Valeurspubliques.ca. She is an avid hiker and traveller. Would you like to contribute five things about literary life in your community? Send an email with your ideas to erin@openbookontario.com.