The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize finalist reading
Wednesday, April 10th, 2024
7:00pm MST
Shelf Life Books
1302 4th Street SW, Calgary
Please join us for The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize finalist reading event! You can expect light catering and in-person readings from finalists Natalie Meisner and Clem Martini. The event will also feature a special pre-recorded reading from Jann Arden! See you there.
About the Readers
Natalie Meisner (www.nataliemeisner.com) is a lgbtaiq2s+ playwright and poet who was born and raised on the Mi’kma’ki / South Shore of Nova Scotia and began her work in the indie theatre and spoken word poetry scenes of Halifax. After studying literature and theatre at Kings/ Dalhousie, she trained as an actor at the National Theatre School then headed west coast for a MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, and Ph.D at the University of Calgary. She has seven full length books in various genres to her name and was Calgary/ Mohkinstsis’ 5th Poet Laureate. She is a wife, a mom to two great boys, and a full professor of creative writing at Mount Royal University where she loves helping other writers find their voice.
Her books: It Begins In Salt Speed Dating For Sperm Donors BADDIE ONE SHOE Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother & Me Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family Growing Up Salty
Clem Martini is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter with over thirty plays, and thirteen books of fiction and nonfiction to his credit, including the W.O. Mitchell Award-winning Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness, The Unravelling, and The Comedian. His most recently premiered plays, Cantata (Rumours of My Crazy, Useless Life) and The Extinction Therapist were published together in a book in 2023. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and teaches in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary.
Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, author and actress. She is best known for her signature ballads, “Could I Be Your Girl” and “Insensitive”, which is her biggest hit to date, as well as other ballads, such as “Cherry Popsicle” and “I Would Die for You”.