As part of a tour for her new book Following the River, Traces of Red River Women, Dr. Lorri Neilsen Glenn will stop at the U of L on Feb. 27 to speak to students in the Faculty of Education and do an evening public reading.
Neilsen Glenn, professor emerita at Mount Saint Vincent University and former Poet Laureate for Halifax, lived in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan before moving to Nova Scotia in 1983. She is the author and editor of 14 books of poetry, nonfiction and scholarly work.
Following the River is a collection of portraits of Indigenous women whose lives history rarely celebrates. Prompted by learning about her great-grandmother’s untimely death and at her 100-year-old aunt’s urging, Neilsen Glenn traces back to 1758 to discover compelling stories of her Indigenous grandmothers and their contemporaries.
“It’s an exercise in negative space — old newspapers, books, community histories and archives rarely mention women unless they murdered someone, were wealthy and privileged or were at the centre of a sex scandal,” she says. “The women in Following the River were strong, resilient and memorable. They were resisters before we even used the term. We need to keep their stories alive.”
Dr. Robert LeBlanc, a professor in the Faculty of Education, calls Neilsen Glenn a mentor and a front runner in the field of poetic inquiry in education.
“Dr. Neilsen Glenn is a leading voice in the teaching of writing in Canada and It’s an incredible privilege for my students to hear from her,” says LeBlanc. “Hearing a renowned poet and educator speak about her work will help them, as future English teachers, learn how a variety of forms of writing can be used to learn, share, and generate knowledge in Alberta schools.”
Neilsen Glenn is available for media interviews on Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Interested media are asked to meet in TH404 in Turcotte Hall.
The book reading at the U of L’s Dr. Foster James Penny Building, located at 324 5 St. S., begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.
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Contact:
Caroline Zentner, public affairs advisor
403-394-3975 or 403-795-5403 (cell)
