UBCO Creative Writing Professor and author Michael V. Smith will host the Sharon Thesen Lecture on Wednesday, September 24. Photo credit: Lise Guyot.
What: Annual Sharon Thesen Lecture: The Embodied Word for Word
Who: UBCO Creative Writing Professor Michael V. Smith
When: Wednesday, September 24 at 7 pm
Where: Online via Zoom
UBC Okanagan’s sixth annual Sharon Thesen Lecture will feature Creative Writing Professor and author Michael V. Smith.
Smith will give a virtual lecture titled The Embodied Word for Word. The live broadcast will be streamed from the Corbishley Family Reading Room in UBC Okanagan’s Special Collections and Archives (OSC), located in The Commons building.
In this dynamic lecture, Smith discusses writing and living poetically between genres. He explores timeless questions many parents ask, such as: What can film teach us about poetry? Why do warmongers target poets? Can science save us from a burning planet and an uncertain future?
And, really, why should we care about anything?
Smith, who first read Sharon Thesen’s work as an undergraduate, is excited to take part in the series and speak on this topic.
“I spent an entire course studying the long poem anthology Sharon edited, so giving a talk in her name feels surreal to my younger self,” he says. “I’m bringing together ideas I’ve had over the years—about writing, genre and empathy—and weaving them into a coherent through line.”
Smith is a creative writing professor, writer, filmmaker and performer, who has spent more than 25 years publishing books, performing drag and making video poems. He has published seven novels and poetry anthologies. His latest book, Soundtrack: a lyric memoir, is set to launch this fall.
This spring, he was named UBCO’s Researcher of the Year for the Social Sciences and Humanities, recognized for his creative research spanning poetry, fiction, non-fiction, experimental films, collaborative photography projects, live YouTube performances and stand-up improv.
Sharon Thesen, a renowned Canadian poet and editor, was the first full professor in UBCO’s Department of Creative Studies and is now a professor emerita. This lecture series honours her contributions to Canadian and British Columbian literature and to UBCO’s creative writing program. Each year, a different writer is invited to speak on key topics in contemporary writing, poetics and Canadian literature.
A selection of publications from Thesen, Smith and other UBCO authors from OSC’s collection will be displayed as a backdrop to this year’s lecture in the Corbishley Family Reading Room. Everyone is invited to view the exhibition starting in October. OSC will be open for walk-ins starting in October. It will be open Monday to Thursday from 11 am to 3 pm, or by appointment. Please contact osc-contact@lists.ubc.ca for more information about access to the exhibition.
To register for the September 24 event, or learn more about the Sharon Thesen Lecture Series, visit fccs.ok.ubc.ca/authors.
