Events

I’ve shared my writing and research at a number of public events in Canada and the UK.

March 2020 – a new exhibition – What Carries Us: Newfoundland and the Black Atlantic (curated by Bushra Junaid) at The Rooms. So many intersections with my own work, and a treat to be able to share them as part of The Rooms Engaging Evenings series. Later in March, I’ll present as part of the SPARKS literary festival!

In February 2020, I gave a presentation on speculation at the very end of a workshop on Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity in Politics. This talk took place in the Nexus Centre on the Memorial University campus.

December 2019 – an unexpected but very welcome invitation drew me to the Netherlands, where I presented talks at Radboud University in Nijmegen and also as a keynote for Unhinging the National Framework, a conference on transnational life writing in Amsterdam! I’ve written a blog post about that trip to the Netherlands here.

In September 2019, I visited Winnipeg for the first time in decades! What a delight to present as part of Thin Air, the Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival, and how wonderful it was to spend a bit more than a day exploring a city I’d only ever visited as a child.

On April 15, 2019, I was in Toronto sharing an excerpt from What the Oceans Remember as part of The Platform Reading Series, organized by the Creative Writing Program, University of Toronto. Other readers include finalists of the Marina Nemat Award, as well as students in the Creative Writing program. Interested in going? It runs from 6-8 pm at the Duke of York (39 Prince Arthur Avenue).

In October 2018, I read an excerpt of What the Oceans Remember: Searching for Belonging and Home at “And the winners are….” an event hosted by the Toronto International Festival of Authors. I was awarded the Marina Nemat Prize from the Creative Writing program, School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. This prize is for the first third of Water Music, which I submitted as the final project for my Certificate in Creative Writing.

In September 2018, I sat down with author and MUN Creative Writing faculty member, Lisa Moore, to talk about all things research and, in particular, about the research project behind What the Oceans Remember. That interview can be viewed here.

In January 2018, I spoke on silenced voices in the archives, and my role as a researcher. This conversation was part of a larger panel about silenced voices that took place in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

In November 2017, in a panel at Memorial University, St. John’s, I shared insight into the vulnerabilities of the family history research process, talking about my current project – about tangled histories and complicated belongings – more than any other archival research project I’ve undertaken, has unmoored me.

In July 2017, I travelled to Bristol, UK, to a conference about creative histories. How can we do history differently, and what might that look like? I attended panels that featured museum staff, community-based researchers, novelists, and more. I talked about vulnerability and the role of the researcher.

In April 2017, I was in Chester, UK, to talk about ethics and research: considering my own research process, I asked: if stories are webs that include not only my immediate family, but also my ancestors, then what right do I have to tell them? Whose stories am I telling and what are my responsibilities?

In October 2016, I went to a conference about the Guyanas in London, UK, where I shared my story, “Telling Stories with Gold,” about the role that gold has played in my family histories. This essay will appear in print sometime in 2019. I learned a lot at the conference, particularly about cricket in Guyana!