Literary Biographies

What is a literary biography, you ask? Well, it is a biography of a writer – could be fiction, plays, poetry, non-fiction, whatever. We will read 5 biographies and discuss them as to the writing, the picture drawn of the subject, information on the period, and its ideas, prejudices, etc. Members of the workshop will pick one or two works of the writer to present to the others and there will be more discussion – we're big on that. The biographies chosen are ones on Leonard Cohen, Edith Wharton, Stieg Larsson, Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas and C. S. Lewis.

Facilitators:

Sheilagh Hickie, shickie@bell.net, was born in Montreal, graduated from Sir George Williams College (now Concordia) and spent most of her working years in publishing, on the advertising side. She is fascinated by the literature that shaped us.

Ellen Edmonds, edmonds@interlog.com, was born in Denmark, where she taught Danish, English and Latin. She immigrated to Canada in 1966, received a BA from York University and an MA from U of T. She taught English until retirement.