Evelyn Lau in conversation with Jen Sookfong Lee

Renowned Canadian poet and our 2024 Writer in Residence, Evelyn Lau, will be giving a public talk on March 6 in the T Building Gallery from 6:00 to 7:30pm, with a reception to follow until 8:30pm. 

Evelyn is a lifelong Vancouverite who has authored 14 books – two bestselling memoirs, a novel, two short story collections and nine volumes of poetry. Her memoir Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid (1989), published when she was 18, was made into a CBC movie starring Sandra Oh in her first major role.

She will be joined by fellow renowned author and former CBC Radio columnist Jen Sookfong Lee, who also co-edited the anthology Whatever Gets You Through: Twelve Women on Life After Sexual Assault.

This event is open to the community but there is limited capacity. Please RSVP below to secure your place. Both Evelyn and Jen's books will be available to purchase and folks will have an opportunity to have them signed. 

Wednesday, March 6
T Building Gallery (Campus map)
Doors open: 5:30pm
Program: 6:00–7:30pm
Book signing and reception: 7:30–8:30pm

About Evelyn 

Evelyn Lau's prose books have been translated into a dozen languages worldwide; her poetry has received the Milton Acorn People's Poet Award, the Pat Lowther Award for best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, and a National Magazine Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award and a BC Book Prize. From 2011–2014, Evelyn served as Vancouver's Poet Laureate. Her most recent collection, Cactus Gardens (2022) was named one of CBC's Top 20 poetry books, and was shortlisted for the Vancouver Book Award.

Evelyn has worked with emerging writers/students for decades at SFU Continuing Studies, as well as through previous writer-in-residencies at UBC, University of Calgary, Kwantlen University and Vancouver Community College. She has served on many local and national literary prize juries, and published in over a hundred journals and anthologies over the course of her writing life.

About Jen 

Jen Sookfong Lee was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby.

Her books include Superfan, named a Best Book of 2023 by the Globe and Mail and Apple Books, The Conjoined, nominated for International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, The Shadow List, and Finding Home. 

Jen acquires and edits for ECW Press and co-hosts the literary podcast Can’t Lit.

Event Registration