Poetry

Convocation 2024

Alumni

School of Continuing Studies

Film

Subheadline

"My goal is to keep telling stories that shed light on humanity, especially on the struggles that so many of us have faced"

Kudakwashe Rutendo is a born storyteller who has taken on several different roles in her own life: an actor in film, theatre and television; aspiring novelist; and a passionate student of English, philosophy and classics.

The recent �ؿ�ζSM graduate was named one of 2023’s Rising Stars by the Toronto International Film Festival and starred in the Canadian feature film Backspot. She also has several other stage and screen credits.

As a writer, she’s already completed her first novel, is drafting a second and was recently a panelist on CBC’s Canada Reads.

Writer spoke Cynthia MacDonald recently caught up with Rutendo, who was a member of Victoria College, to talk about her experiences – and her plans for life after U of T.

You were raised in Fort McMurray, Alta. and came to acting and writing through poetry. How did that happen?

Growing up, my mom put me in Girl Guides, swimming, soccer and dance. But then I heard about poetry competitions and said to myself: “I want to do this!” It felt very powerful. I started out reciting Shel Silverstein, but moved on to Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as well as writing speeches. By the time I got to high school, I was working on my associate diploma in speech and drama at the Royal Conservatory. When you’re bringing words to life – well, that’s acting, right? And I said to myself, “I don’t know who I’d be without this. I guess it’s something I have to continue to do.”

What was it like to be named a Rising Star at TIFF?

That outside acknowledgment was very special. The program connected me with industry professionals and some of the top casting directors, and I also got to participate in workshops. It’s nice to be able to have those connections, because the acting industry is a community – one that you really need.

Can you tell us about your first novel, which is tentatively titled Dancing Against the Night and is now being considered for publication?

One of the main things I wanted to do was combine prose and poetry. The book is set in Toronto and follows a ballerina who struggles with depression. It’s inextricably tied to U of T because I conceived of it here and workshopped a lot of the early parts in various creative writing classes. I worked with some amazing professors – for example, Robert McGill, Ian Williams and Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer. It touched on a really formative part of my life, and on an important subject. I wanted to write about mental health and the struggle we all have to feel seen.

On Canada Reads, you championed Tea Mutonji’s Shut Up You’re Pretty. Who are some of the writers who inspire you?

I really like James Baldwin — I finished Giovanni’s Room a few months ago and it haunted me. I honestly don’t think he wrote enough. I’ve connected with Toni Morrison as well. I recently read Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept and thought it was phenomenal. When I first read it, I didn’t connect with it – but I think I was approaching it the wrong way. I was reading it like a narrative when it’s really a prose poem. As a reader, when you go into a book with expectations, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

You graduated with a major in English and a double minor in philosophy and classical civilizations. Why did you choose that program?

I chose my degree based on the subjects I’m passionate about – and I do think that’s how I like to live my life. I love to read and I always knew I would study English. In every lecture I was invested. I wanted to push myself. I was fascinated by what I was doing. When it came to philosophy, I loved the structure – dissecting arguments and studying reason. I also think studying philosophy is a great way to get to know yourself. Finally, I studied classics because they’ve inspired so much of everyday life. You can see references to them throughout literature.

Sometimes people ask why I didn’t study drama. I think the fact that I didn’t makes me much more of a well-rounded performer. The more you can pull from different life experiences, the stronger you are as an actor.

What are some of your career goals?

Growing up within the Black diaspora in Canada, I would say that telling Black stories was always at the forefront of my mind. When I was young there was almost no media showcasing Black people – in the books I was reading, the TV shows I was watching, there was nobody who looked like me. When you grow up and you never see yourself, you start to hate yourself. You feel invisible.

I’m happy for the strides we’ve made in representation since then. I have a bunch of little sisters and I don’t want them to have the same experiences I did. To create art is to represent things that might be uncomfortable – that’s the artist’s creed. My goal is to keep telling stories that shed light on humanity, especially on the struggles that so many of us have faced.

Students from U of T Mississauga's first spoken-word course take the mic for live performance

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 18:22:12 +0000

Students from U of T Mississauga's first spoken-word course take the mic for live performance

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/10/2023 - 14:22

Topic

U of T Mississauga

Students at the �ؿ�ζSM Mississauga had the chance to take a unique course this past semester, learning all about the art of spoken word.

The course, taught by poet and U of T Mississauga lecturer Andrea Thompson, aims to cultivate students' skill in the "empowering art form," Thompson says.

Andrea Thompson

“The goal is to create a transformative experience that changes students’ lives.”

The students in the third-year course are set to show off what they learned at a showcase at the MiST Theatre on April 11.

Thompson had previously taught spoken word at U of T’s School of Continuing Studies, but the U of T Mississauga class – offered as a special topics in creative writing course – is the first credit course in spoken word offered at that campus.

“There aren’t a lot of spoken-word courses being taught [anywhere] as credit courses,” Thompson says. “I was really excited about this, and so were the students.”

Sumyia Hashmi, who will be performing at the showcase, says the course has enhanced her writing and poetry skills.

“I hope it’s a recurring course at the university,” says Hashmi, a fourth-year student studying English with a minor in creative writing.

Hashmi had been writing short stories and prose since Grade 9, but didn't become interested in poetry until coming to U of T Mississauga. After taking a series of courses on poetry and literature, including Thompson's spoken-word class, Hashmi says she's "come out of her shell."

The course taught her not just how to write poetry and recite it, she notes, but also to collaborate with other students, develop critical thinking and articulate her ideas.

Instead of a typical lecture format, Thompson gives her students weekly assignments and writing prompts, encouraging them to work interactively and share their work in open discussions before they perform their poetry.

“A lot of us were nervous at first,” Hashmi says, adding that after hearing Thompson read from her own work and inviting discussion, the students became more comfortable with spoken word as an art form.

A spoken-word performance involves much more than reading words on a page, Thompson says. There is a dramatic element to reciting the poem that involves body language, word choice, pauses, gestures and more.

“You want to use everything in your physicality,” she says. “You use stance breaks, line breaks, word choice – all these tools."

Thompson, who recently released her own spoken-word album, The Good Word, says she's excited to see her students' takes on performing the work they developed in the course.

"Your voice is the number-one tool to take what’s in your head and heart – and on the page – and make that come alive.”

Samantha Martin-Bird began writing as a pandemic pastime – and won an award

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 15:01:42 +0000

Samantha Martin-Bird began writing as a pandemic pastime – and won an award

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 09/28/2021 - 11:01

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Samantha Martin-Bird, a U of T alumna who is a member of Peguis First Nation, recently won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished poetry in English (photo by Sarah McPherson)

Sarah MacFarlane

Topic

Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies

Indigenous Studies

Alumni

Humanities

Indigenous

St. Michael's College

�ؿ�ζSM alumna Samantha Martin-Bird began writing during the pandemic – and it wasn’t long before her work was noticed.

She recently won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished poetry in English for “the indian (adultery) act & other poems.”

But Martin-Bird’s poetry wasn’t destined to remain unpublished for long. ROOM, Canada’s oldest feminist literary journal, recently featured “the indian (adultery) act” in its Indigenous Brilliance issue, lauding the poem for its use of “humour and a calm severity to expose the racist policies enacted by the Indian Act.”

A member of Peguis First Nation, Martin-Bird grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo and Upstate New York before moving to Toronto to attend U of T. She majored in Indigenous studies and diaspora and transnational studies, earning her honours bachelor of arts in 2014 as a member of St. Michael’s College. She then completed a bachelor of education program focused on Indigenous pedagogy at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

In 2019, Martin-Bird joined the Thunder Bay Public Library to help lead its decolonization initiative and, last year, she began her current role as program partner at the Mastercard Foundation, where she works on the Canada Programs team with a focus on Indigenous youth education and employment.

How important was winning the Indigenous Voices Award to your work?

I was very surprised to win the award because I only started writing in the past year as a pandemic hobby. The recognition from this award has led to a few unexpected opportunities to share my work with others at poetry events, and so I’m thankful for that.

What inspired you to write “the indian (adultery) act & other poems”?

The poems are about men, the land and the languages – specifically Cree and Anishinaabemowin. I started with the poem, “the indian (adultery) act.” I drew inspiration from a conversation I had with a nêhiyaw man, who shared with me that he wished he had married a Cree girl. The irony of this confession was that he had – his wife was Cree, and, more importantly, she was a 6(1) Status Indian. However, she didn’t grow up in her community, or even in Canada. She was raised in Europe. As such, her demeanour, sense of humour and cultural identity were not Cree.

As someone who has often contemplated the extent to which status should influence who I start a family with, I was struck by the way in which finding a 6(1) partner can still end in immense marital discord and loneliness. I started the poem with the line, “i shoulda married a cree girl,” and built the poem out from there. In a way, this poem is about the way the Indian Act continues to wreak havoc on Indian relationships.

What drew you to U of T for your undergrad, and how was your experience?

I chose the �ؿ�ζSM for its program in Indigenous studies. Although I didn’t know it existed until my second year, I also thoroughly enjoyed the diaspora and transnational studies program.

My experience as a U of T student was transformative. Before moving to Toronto, I was living in a small semi-rural town in Upstate New York. I spent much of my first year quite culture-shocked, but I am so thankful for the time I spent at U of T. I enjoyed my programs, especially the Anishinaabemowin courses I took.

I lived on campus for my entire degree, so I was also able to participate in many campus experiences, such as dorm life and student clubs, where I formed a lot of lifelong friendships.

Can you tell us about your work in developing and leading initiatives that focus on Indigenous engagement and education?

During my time working as the Indigenous relationships supervisor at the Thunder Bay Public Library, I was able to work in a variety of ways to continue the decolonization work of the library. I focused on trying to create spaces that were welcoming and safe for Anishinaabeg. I organized events that featured Indigenous speakers, authors, poets and writers. I started an Indigenous book club exclusively for Indigenous library users. I also helped deliver a program with Sheridan College that led to the co-creation of Indigenous furniture for the library.

For the past year, I have been working at the Mastercard Foundation on the EleV program. This work is focused on addressing inequities in employment and education so that Indigenous young people can realize their visions of Mino-Bimaadiziwin, the good life. Our work prioritizes systems change by partnering with post-secondary institutions and Indigenous-led organizations. Across the country, young people are the drivers of change in their communities; my role at the foundation is to ensure Indigenous young people are included in the ongoing design and delivery of our partnerships.

How did your degree in Indigenous studies and diaspora and transnational studies help prepare you?

My experience in Indigenous studies in university was one of the first times I had the opportunity to learn about Indigenous history, including the history of residential schools and colonization, and to study an Indigenous language (Anishinaabemowin). The program also helped me better understand my own family history. I did not understand the ways in which colonialism and intergenerational trauma affected us before that program. Ultimately, it helped me understand the ways in which colonialism is the root of many of the challenges Indigenous communities face today, which has helped me in my career working with Indigenous communities.

What’s next for you?

I hope to continue to work for Indigenous young people through my role at the Mastercard Foundation.

Paradise found: 'Miltonist' John Rogers says U of T is the place to study the 17th-century poet

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 15:37:06 +0000

Paradise found: 'Miltonist' John Rogers says U of T is the place to study the 17th-century poet

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/16/2021 - 10:37

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After teaching at Yale for three decades, John Rogers joined U of T's department of English last summer and in is the process of writing a book about poet John Milton's influence on 19th-century American religions (photo courtesy of John Rogers)

Sean McNeely

Topic

English

For John Rogers, an esteemed scholar of 17th-century poet John Milton, the �ؿ�ζSM is paradise found.

Rogers joined the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of English last summer as a professor, having taught at Yale University for 30 years before deciding to come north of the border.

“It was an extraordinary opportunity that presented itself,” says Rogers. “I had spoken here a few times and had always known that U of T was one of the – if not the – greatest centre for the study of Milton and other 17th-century English poets.

“It was a thrill to be able to move to an institution that has such a long and storied commitment to the teaching of Milton.”

A proud “Miltonist,” Rogers says he still finds Milton’s biblical 11,000-line poem about the fall of man, Paradise Lost, endlessly inspiring.

“I remember reading it as a first-year student at college and I remember my head exploding. I was completely blown away,” he says.

Gustave Doré, Depiction of Satan, the central character of John Milton's Paradise Lost c. 1866. Image: Gustave Doré, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

“I admired the sheer conceptual ambition behind the poet’s project. He tries to explain, in verse, almost everything that he took to be important or consequential. Milton worked to explain the origin of every fact, every detail and every idea that really mattered in that remarkable epic.”

Rogers is teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses on Milton, though he’s yet to meet any of his students – and many of his colleagues – in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have absolutely loved my teaching here so far – it's been incredibly exciting,” says Rogers, adding that his wife, Associate Professor Andrea Walkden, is also teaching in the English department. “We have never seen any of our students in person. Everything takes place over Zoom. But about 15 minutes into any given class experience, I forget there’s a monitor and not actually a roomful of students.

“You're looking at students' faces and they're looking at your face. There're no distractions. There’s an intellectual connection that seems more easily communicated in the Zoom universe. I haven’t found it nearly as alienating as many others over the last several months.”

When Rogers isn’t teaching, he’s writing. He is author of The Matter of Revolution: Science, Poetry, and Politics in the Age of Milton, as well as numerous essays on a range of 17th-century literary and cultural topics.

He now has his sights set on launching a new research project that will become the foundation of his next book.

“That project will be a study of the remarkable and surprising impact that Milton's great epic poem had on 19th-century American religion,” says Rogers.

Called Latter-day Milton: Paradise Lost and the Creation of America’s God, Rogers’s book will explore the unlikely role that Milton’s work played in the inception of two of America’s 19th-century religions, Mormonism and Seventh-Day Adventism.

“Scholars have always thought of Milton as being the very embodiment of high culture: sophisticated, literate, educated, invested in all things classical, all things literary and intellectual,” says Rogers. “There were some very pious, evangelical thinkers and preachers in the early and middle 19th century who found themselves devoted to the reading of Paradise Lost and treating it as if it were scripture itself.

“No one has ever really thought of a work of literature being capable of spawning an actual religion. There's been resistance from a number of scholars to making this identification. But I'm committed to making it, and I'm looking forward to bringing this into a research project that some graduate students can commit to as well.”

Rogers, who was also recently named Canada Research Chair in Early Modern Literature and Culture, says he is looking forward to helping put together one of his favourite literary events of the year.

“Every year the �ؿ�ζSM sponsors one of the great international conferences about Milton called the Canada Milton Seminar,” says Rogers. “It's a sizable conference and the prospect of helping to shape this seminar is really exciting.”

In the meantime, Rogers will resume exploring his most treasured poem.

“I learn something that I consider to be important and new every time I teach Paradise Lost,” he says. “My students find things, make connections and understand strange aspects of the poem that I've never understood before. It's still such a thrill.”

'Why don’t I just write?': Souvankham Thammavongsa on winning the Giller and her time at U of T

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 17:58:39 +0000

'Why don’t I just write?': Souvankham Thammavongsa on winning the Giller and her time at U of T

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/26/2020 - 12:58

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Souvankham Thammavongsa, who studied English literature at New College, said going to school at U of T gave her the confidence to follow her dream of being a writer (photo by Sarah Bodri)

Topic

Literature

New College

Souvankham Thammavongsa, an alumna of the �ؿ�ζSM’s Faculty of Arts & Science, recently won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her book, How To Pronounce Knife.

The book was informed by her experiences growing up in Canada, where she arrived at the age of one. Her Laotian parents brought her to Toronto from a refugee camp in Thailand.

The collection of short stories is on Time magazine’s list of 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 and was named one of the best books of spring 2020 by the New York Times, Salon, the Millions and Vogue.

All of which has brought new-found attention to Thammavongsa, who earned her bachelor of arts degree from U of T in 2003 as a member of New College.

While this is her first short story collection, Thammavongsa is also the author of four books of poetry, including the 2013 Trillium Book Award for Poetry winner Light. The other three books are Found, Cluster and 2004 ReLit Award-winner Small Arguments, which she wrote as an undergraduate student at U of T.

Thammavongsa’s fiction has appeared in Harper's, Granta, the Atlantic, the Paris Review, Ploughshares, the Best American Nonrequired Reading, the Journey Prize Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories.

Writer Peter Boisseau recently chatted with Thammavongsa about the Giller, her writing and time at U of T.

Congratulations for winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize! How does it feel?

It feels kind of strange because there's what you want, what you wish for and what you hope for – and often they don't arrive at the same time.

What does it mean for your writing to be recognized in this way?

I do notice that people outside of literature, people whose lives don't revolve around books or publishing or writing – they're paying attention. I've seen tweets from Canadians living in Tanzania about how excited they are. It’s lovely seeing people say they're so proud to be Canadian in the same way that I feel proud to be Canadian.

Tell us about your writing process?

I've been doing this for 25 years. I care about the word after the word after the word. I think about it all the time.

In the forms that I work in, poetry and short fiction, there's this idea that these things don't sell. But as a writer, I'm not afraid of those market forces. All I care about is that readers who read what I write, feel what I write.

I get asked a lot, “What is the difference between a short story and a novel?” And I always say, “A short story can give you anything a novel can, but it doesn't take up your time.”

Writers, when they talk about process, they're always talking about how they do it all the time, like they have to prove they’re nine-to-five. But I feel it's okay not to write, to have a life. Just because you don't put pen to paper nine-to-five doesn't mean you're not a writer.

How did U of T help prepare you? Have you kept any lessons from U of T in mind as an author?

I majored in English literature because that's what I wanted to do, but I also took courses in geography, epistemology and metaphysics. I loved that about U of T; because arts and science are together, when you're an arts student, you can take some of those science classes.

It made me love literature more. Maybe in science it's good and wonderful to be able to bring dinosaurs back to life, but it's English literature that tells you maybe that's not a good idea. It’s English literature that teaches you to think about humanity.

We had an anthology called 15 Canadian Poets x 2, and I just thought it was amazing that some of the people we were reading were working in the English department at U of T. Or I could walk on campus and I might run into Margaret Atwood, because she was giving a reading or something, and I just thought how young and alive Canadian literature was. That was such joy.

I went to the best school in the country, and that made me so confident. I wanted to be a writer and I thought, why don’t I just write?

When you're at U of T, you have the best professors in the country and I just felt I could do so much. My first book was published when I was an undergrad there. And I am really proud to be to have been a New College student.

What's next for you? Are you working on anything new?

I'm working on a novel. I wrote it in six weeks, a year ago. I watched a Margaret Atwood video and she said, “Just get it down and keep going.” So that's what I did. Now I have a draft and I know what's wrong with it, what I have to fix. But the other thing is, now there's an expectation. I feel like readers are waiting and I've never written under that kind of attention or scrutiny.

U of T's Stefania Hurko was a poet and political activist who 'believed the individual could move mountains'

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:06:09 +0000

U of T's Stefania Hurko was a poet and political activist who 'believed the individual could move mountains'

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 02/10/2020 - 11:06

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Stefania Hurko, pictured here circa 1996, worked for U of T Libraries for more than 25 years and contributed to the cataloguing of U of T’s extensive Slavic and East European collection, the largest of its kind in Canada (photo courtesy of Marijka Hurko)

Richard Blackwell

Topic

Stefania Hurko, a longtime employee at �ؿ�ζSM Libraries, was an accomplished poet and activist – she once belonged to an underground liberation movement – who passionately supported Ukrainian culture and political freedom.

Hurko, who died in November at the age of 95, survived the occupation of western Ukraine by the Soviets and Nazis, worked underground for Ukrainian independence and then came to Canada where she established a career at U of T that would last over 25 years. Yet, she still managed to maintain her close ties to Ukrainian culture, publishing poetry in her native language and actively working to free political prisoners.

In 1991 she was finally able to celebrate Ukraine’s independence.

A skilled linguist, Hurko spoke English, Ukrainian, Polish, German, French and Russian and worked in book acquisitions and processing. Her knowledge of Ukrainian culture and her language skills meant she was a valuable contributor to the cataloguing of U of T’s extensive Slavic and East European collection, which numbers over 500,000 titles and is now the largest of its kind in Canada. Hurko also worked with academics interested in Slavic culture and history.

Paul Robert Magocsi, a U of T history and political science professor who is also chair of Ukrainian studies at U of T, said Hurko was supportive of his work and once helped him with complex research for a book he was writing – a section of text needed to be translated into the Galician dialect of western Ukraine.

“She had a sweet, soft-spoken and pleasant personality,” he said. “She was always smiling and upbeat and outgoing.”

While working at the library, Hurko continued her lifelong interest in writing poetry. She admired the famous 19th-century Ukrainian writer and poet Taras Shevchenko and emulated his style.

Hurko managed to be innovative while following the traditional Ukrainian poetic style, said her U of T library colleague Wasyl Sydorenko. “She was able to take her poems beyond simple literary realism to higher levels of philosophical and symbolic expression. She could be surrealistic or expressionistic.”

Hurko's poetry was published in the Ukrainian press in Canada and the United States, and she continued to write plays, poems and political satire long after her retirement from U of T.

Works by Stefania Hurko are part of U of T Libraries' collection (photo by David Lee)

Hurko was active in her support of dissidents – especially Ukrainians jailed or oppressed by the Soviet Union – and she was a member of Amnesty International’s U of T group. In 1974, she participated in a hunger strike in front of the Soviet embassy in Ottawa over the treatment of a Ukrainian dissident held in a Moscow prison. In a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star following the strike, she insisted that “there is nothing free in the Soviet Union; no free press, no free enterprise, no free thought.” The dissident was in prison “just because he wanted to act as a free man,” she wrote.

Hurko was born Stefania Deychakiwska in 1924 in the village of Yamnytsia, in an area of what is now western Ukraine, but was at the time under Polish control. After high school and teachers’ college, she worked briefly as a teacher. But the start of Second World War brought enormous upheaval to the region, which was occupied by the Nazis before later coming under Soviet control.

After the outbreak of the war, she joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and worked in an underground movement in German-occupied eastern Ukraine building support for Ukrainian independence. Later in the war, and after it ended, she worked in western Europe as a courier for the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council, an umbrella organization for Ukrainian nationalists.

In 1948, she met and married Eugene Hurko in a displaced persons camp in Germany. The following year the couple moved to Australia and settled in Adelaide, where their first two children were born. Then, in 1956, the family moved to Canada, where they had relatives and saw greater opportunities.

After settling in Toronto in 1963, Hurko joined U of T and worked in the Sigmund Samuel Library before moving to the Robarts Library.

Hurko had grown up in a household where art and literature were important, and she loved being around students and books, said her son Roman. “I remember once, when we were growing up, my brother getting an earful from my mother because he had put a coffee cup on a book.”

Hurko’s husband died in 1979 at the age of 65, but Stefania continued her work at the library until she retired in 1989. One day during that period, she was processing a box of books that had come in from Vienna, where her husband had gone to university and earned a PhD in law. The box contained a book from the 1930s – with her husband’s signature on the front. It was like her husband was speaking to her from the past, Roman said, but she also recognized that the book still belonged to the library.

“She made a photocopy of the page and put the book back into the system.”

A poem written by Stefania Hurko is translated to English by Roman Hurko and set to music in this YouTube video.

Hurko’s extraordinary language skills were put to good use translating poetry or text for anyone who needed it, Roman said, and after he began working in opera she would help him translate librettos.

She could recite lengthy epic poems by Shevchenko and others, Roman said, “Even into her 90s, when much of the past was in a fog, she could recite these things by heart, they were so deeply embedded in her.”

He described his mother as a “structured person” who liked to have her time and space under control, but at the same time was very artistic and loved the theatre and opera. “She was an artist by nature and organized by necessity” because of her busy job and three children, he said.

Her daughter Marijka said that Hurko’s “life of the mind” would come alive late in the evening after she returned home from work and made dinner for her family. That’s when she would write – sometimes late into the night. “She was creative, very energetic and had a strong sense of her rights. And for a woman of her time, she had an innate sense of equality for women.”

Hurko’s intense interest in human rights was often translated into action, Marijka said. “She believed that the individual could move mountains, and she was an immovable force if she really believed in something.”

Hurko saw her dream of an independent Ukraine finally realized in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. She travelled to the country that year to do volunteer work translating documents for a cultural commission within Ukraine’s new parliament, and even bought an apartment in Kyiv so she could return regularly. She was also able to reunite with a brother and sister who had spent time in Soviet labour camps.

While her human rights work was a central part of her life, Roman said, the activism caused some misgivings in the family.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is my mother against the Soviet Union,” he said. “But as I look back on her life, I have to say, she won.”

Stefania Hurko leaves her children Marijka, Andrew and Roman.

As new writer-in-residence, Gary Barwin brings lifetime of creative energy to U of T Scarborough

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 21:09:26 +0000

As new writer-in-residence, Gary Barwin brings lifetime of creative energy to U of T Scarborough

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 01/21/2020 - 16:09

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Gary Barwin, U of T Scarbourgh's new writer-in-residence, has authored 23 books throughout his career, including novels, children's works and books of poetry (photo courtesy of Gary Barwin)

Topic

Gary Barwin has a passion for creativity – wherever he goes.

Whether as a writer-in-residence at a local public library, or researching Jewish pirates during the Spanish Inquisition for a novel, exploring the creative process has always been one of his great interests.

Now, Barwin is looking forward to adding the University of Toronto to his lengthy resume as U of T Scarborough’s writer-in-residence for 2020.

“I’ve heard so many great things about the creative writing program here,” says Barwin. “It encourages participation and really helps writers to explore what’s essential and authentic to their individual voice.”

He’s an artistic polymath in the true sense of the word, having authored 23 books during his career including novels, works for children and young adults, chapbooks, pamphlets and books of poetry. He’s also a multimedia artist working in visual poetry and he’s composed music for computers, live performances and sound works, to name a few.

“I’m still involved in many of these different things,” says Barwin, whose book Yiddish for Pirates won the 2017 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

“I think that being creative is about exploring and taking risks – it doesn’t matter what medium you’re using. I’m always trying to discover new outlets for creativity.”

Barwin also brings considerable experience as a teacher and mentor, having spent time in writer-in-residence roles at the Toronto, London and Hamilton public libraries, as well as McMaster University, Wilfred Laurier University and Western University. He’s also taught creative writing at King’s University College (Western), McMaster and Mohawk College.

He says he’s constantly amazed by the creative energy he encounters in these roles, having seen “astounding poetry” written by mathematicians and discovered a collaborator for a writing project – fellow poet Tom Prime, who he met during his time at Western.

Barwin hopes to connect with aspiring writers and artists at U of T Scarborough throughout the semester, while also looking forward to the chance to work on his next project.

“This means that I’m going through the same kinds of experiences of exploring, struggling, finding inspiration and bewilderment that aspiring writers are going through,” he says.

“I think it’s useful to be practicing writing while being a mentor because it means you have to be humble, and hopefully the discussions will resonate even more.”

Started in 2013, U of T Scarborough’s writer-in-residence program brings students into contact with accomplished writers. The writers hold regular office hours, run in-class workshops and host a weekly creative writing group. Past writers-in-residence include Miriam Toews, Nino Ricci, Helen Humphreys, Zoe Whittall, Aisha Sasha John and Carrianne Leung.

U of T alumnus Ian Williams on poetry, teaching and his Giller Prize-winning novel

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 15:11:30 +0000

U of T alumnus Ian Williams on poetry, teaching and his Giller Prize-winning novel

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 11/19/2019 - 10:11

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Ian Williams, a three-time graduate of U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his debut novel, Reproduction (photo courtesy of the Scotiabank Giller Prize)

Topic

Humanities

Trinity College

When Ian Williams learned his debut novel Reproduction had been shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, he says it felt like multiple rows had lined up in Tetris.

“It starts pinging and flashing,” he says. “It felt like everything had clicked – slightly surreal, slightly by chance and slightly by skill.”

Whatever it was, it worked. On Monday, Williams was named the winner of the Giller, considered Canada’s top literary award for works of fiction.

The jury described Reproduction, Williams’s fourth book and first novel, as many things at once: “It’s an engrossing story of disparate people brought together and also a masterful unfolding of unexpected connections and collisions between and across lives otherwise separated by race, class, gender and geography.”

Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, says Reproduction “resonated deeply with the jury, evoking time, place and character that only the best works of art can achieve.”

Williams, a three-time graduate of U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science, initially planned to be a doctor. His first-year undergraduate schedule was full of science courses – and one English course. Professor Julia Reibetanz taught the introduction to poetry class and had such an impact on Williams that he switched to a double major in psychology and English after his first year.

“Ian was a joy to have in the class because he always responded so genuinely to the poetry we were reading,” says Reibetanz. “I tried to show my students that reading poetry is – must be – a very personal act if it is to be meaningful. The classes where students were willing to take risks with their readings were quite wonderful. And Ian was one of the students who made that happen. He was the kind of student who makes a class come alive.”

Williams went on to obtain his master’s degree from the department of English, followed by his doctoral degree under the supervision of Professor George Elliott Clarke.

“It was a pleasure to work with him as a student, and now to watch his work become de rigueur for anyone who wishes to engage with the best of contemporary, African-Canadian letters,” says Clarke.

After graduating, Williams began teaching English literature, but soon realized he was more interested in creative writing.

“In my undergrad English classes, Professor Reibetanz would be talking about Blake and in the margins, I would be scribbling a little poem to Blake,” Williams recalls. “I always was responding to the canon as a creator, not just an interpreter, so I’ve always wanted to have a poetic interaction with them rather than an analytical one.”

Now an assistant professor of poetry at the University of British Columbia, Williams teaches students ways to interact with poetry beyond analysis. “It's not something that needs to be fixed or even understood or analyzed. I try to reconnect them to art and literature as pleasure.”

One of Williams’s strategies is asking students to choose a poem and carry it around with them for a week. “You read it every day, and every time something occurs to you about the poem, you jot it down. You just live with it and slowly it starts to unfold beside you; as you learn more about yourself in the world, you learn more about the poem, too.”

The result? Students reported understanding the poem better, even memorizing it, says Williams. Some shared it with their friends while others found themselves reaching for it instead of their phones. “There’s this friendship that they form with the poem, which is just such a beautiful thing.”

Williams moved from poetry to prose with Reproduction. “It taxes different kinds of creative muscles compared to poetry,” he explains. He describes the ability to switch between the two genres as a form of bilingualism. “Bilingual people might sometimes dream in English or they might have certain relationships in French, and I feel that way about genres. I feel comfortable enough in each of them that I can respond to them when they call me.”

His last book, a poetry collection called Personals, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, and his short story collection, Not Anyone’s Anything, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. His first book of poetry, You Know Who You Are, was a finalist for the ReLit Award for poetry.

Each book corresponds to a different stage in life and relates to the progression of identity over time, according to Williams.

“The first one dealt with identity and becoming yourself,” he explains. “The second one was a kind of repudiation of those things. My last book was about partnerships, about dating and romance and finding love.”

Reproduction, he says, marks the next stage: starting a family. “The next intellectual and personal progression was towards families and how they're formed. I think that men think a lot about children even though we don't often express that. And so, as a mid-30s man, I was thinking, ‘Where do babies come from?’”

“It’s a very complex book structurally,” says Williams, “and then there’s this other part of it that's just a good book to pick up in an airport and read.”

So what follows Reproduction?

“Disappointment,” he laughs. “That feels like the big, middle-aged novel.”

U of T graduate Dede Akolo, a writer and poet, on why it's 'important to find a community'

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 13:43:50 +0000

U of T graduate Dede Akolo, a writer and poet, on why it's 'important to find a community'

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/06/2019 - 08:43

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Dede Akolo, who is graduating with a double major in equity studies and literature and critical theory, poses with their 2019 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award (photo courtesy of �ؿ�ζSM)

Topic

Originally from Vancouver, Dede Akolo graduated from the �ؿ�ζSM this week with a double major in equity studies and literature and critical theory. A member of University College, Akolo was also the recipient of a 2019 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award and editor-in-chief of the University College newspaper The Gargoyle.

Akolo is also an avid writer, with a particular interest in composing and performing poetry.

“University College has open mics every month and I used to perform readings there all the time,” Akolo says.

We spoke to Akolo about their experiences at U of T, plans for the future and the importance of finding one’s community – in school and in life.

What has been your most memorable experience at U of T?

I think it was my first year and everyone I met while living in residence. Moving across the country from Vancouver, Toronto was so different in so many ways. So, I think having a good foundation of relationships was important.

In my second year, I befriended some [senior] people as a younger student, and then when I became a fourth- and fifth-year student, I started mentoring younger people myself, through The Gargoyle and as a don in residence.

Tell us a little bit about your major in equity studies and what your plans are after graduation.

It was really cool to see a lot of mature students in equity studies – people who worked in the field, in non-profits and with certain communities. It’s very interdisciplinary in that way. There are so many people coming from different backgrounds.

I know I want to do something of service to people. I think I want to go to graduate school, but I don't know yet. I'm taking this year off and applying to schools for next fall.

My family is still in Vancouver and I do miss them. I have a lot of roots and a really huge support system there, but I also have a community here, so I think I’d like to stay in Toronto and figure out how to build my roots here. While I love Vancouver, it doesn't have the same opportunities that I'm looking for as Toronto does, such as in the arts or non-profit worlds.

Toronto is a very diverse city. What has your experience living and studying here been like?

Toronto’s different from Vancouver in a lot of ways. In Toronto, people walk faster, they’ve got places to be. The transit system works so differently. Toronto’s just bigger and faster and has more concrete!

Also, while I wouldn't call myself an activist necessarily, it definitely comes into the kind of work that I want to do – for social justice and for the betterment of people. And there’s a real hub for that in Toronto, as well as such a history of really amazing social movements because of the city’s diversity. And from within Toronto, you can make big connections to all across the world.

How did you develop your interest in writing? What role does writing play in your life, and what do you hope to keep doing with writing?

I got interested in writing at a very early age, so I've been writing for a really long time. My parents really believed in making us into citizens of the world, so they put us in a lot of arts programs and we did a lot of travel. So, when I was a kid, they really encouraged my writing.

Writing has been an expressive creative outlet for me. It’s a way to put my thoughts into imagery and make them more concrete. It plays a huge part in how I process emotions and it’s a way for me to express my views on the world.

Writing is actually a big part of why I want to stay in Toronto. The writing community here is really beautiful and blossoming. University College has open mics every month and I used to perform readings there all the time.

As editor-in-chief of The Gargoyle, there was actually a lot of office stuff to do as opposed to writing – like payments, budgeting, managing people, making sure that editors were doing things on time.

If you had any pieces of advice for younger students, what would it be for them to get the most out of their U of T experience?

It’s important to find a community. Find the people who can help you with advocating for yourself. You have to know your rights as a student.

Mental health is important. I personally had good experiences with some of the services that I’ve sought, but that’s not the case for everyone. I want people to know that while there are systems that feel like they bog you down, there are also communities and people in place that want to change those systems and want to do so much good.

Mental health ties into things like financial security, housing security and accessibility, so organizing a community around yourself is so important for dealing with those things. You'll find a community if you look.

I also think it’s important to be purposeful with the people you want to see, the things they say and do, and the communities that you want to be a part of – in order to create the goodness that you want to put out into the world.

Organizing with students around issues that are meaningful to you can give you a sense of agency in an atmosphere like a big university that can sometimes be isolating.

It’s so much more fruitful to build a community that is purposeful.

Gwen Benaway and two other U of T community members win Governor General's Literary Awards

perry.king — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:22:05 +0000

Gwen Benaway and two other U of T community members win Governor General's Literary Awards

perry.king Tue, 10/29/2019 - 14:22

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Gwen Benaway won the award for Holy Wild, which explores the intersection of Indigenous and transgender identities through autobiographical narratives (photo courtesy of Gwen Benaway)

Topic

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education