42 Land of Plenty

Peter Behrens

Quebec / United States

Clark Blaise

Canada / United States

Ling Zhang

Ontario

Peter Behrens, Quebec / United States

Peter Behrens is the author of the Governor General’s Award-winning novel The Law of Dreams, published around the world to wide acclaim, and a collection of short stories, Night Driving. His short stories and essays have appeared in Atlantic, Tin House, Saturday Night and the National Post. He was born in Montreal and lives on the coast of Maine with his wife and son. His new novel, The O’Briens, follows the family from The Law of Dreams two generations later. Read more

Clark Blaise, Canada / United States

Clark Blaise is the author of 20 books of fiction and non-fiction. A long-time advocate for the literary arts in North America, Blaise has taught writing and literature at numerous colleges and universities. Internationally recognized for his contributions to the field, Blaise received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2003 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2009. Blaise now divides his time between New York and San Francisco, where he lives with his wife, American novelist Bharati Mukherjee. Read more

Ling Zhang, Ontario

Ling Zhang is a senior audiologist and fiction writer. She was born in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province in China and came to Canada in 1986 to pursue an M.A. in English at the University of Calgary. She obtained her second degree—an M.A. in communication disorders at the University of Cincinnati. She has published three novels and two collections of short stories and was recognized in 2006 with the People’s Literature Award in China. Her most recent book is Gold Mountain Blues. Read more

Host: John Burns
Friday, October 21, 2011 - 10:00am - 11:30am
Studio 1398
$17 / $8.50 for student groups

Canada is populated largely by immigrants, all with stories that carry shadows of what they’ve left behind, and how they’ve been welcomed to their new land. In his new novel, Peter Behrens transports the O’Briens introduced in his award-winning first novel from Ireland to Canada. Clark Blaise’s collection of short fiction tackles the struggle between tradition and modernity faced by Indian immigrants to America. And Ling Zhang, whose last novel became the highest-grossing film in Chinese history, gives voice to Chinese immigrants to Canada’s West Coast in her multi-generational saga. Join three compelling storytellers whose fiction embraces the possibility of success in a new land, where roots are shallow and cultural identity and personal identity are often at odds.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the door 45 minutes before the event begins.

42 Land of Plenty

2011 Festival