On March 12, 2024 the Calgary Women’s Literary Club hosted Francine Cunningham. She is the current Canadian Writer-In-Residence of the University of Calgary Distinguished Writer Program.
Her debut book of poems On/Me (Caitlin Press) was nominated for The BC and Yukon Book Prize, The Indigenous Voices Award, and The Vancouver Book Award. Her debut book of short stories God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing) is out now and is a book of speculative fiction and horror and was longlisted for The inaugural Carol Shield’s Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award, and won the 2023 ReLit award for short fiction. Her first children’s book What if bedtime didn’t exist (Annick Press) will be out in March 2024. Francine also writes for television with credits including the teen reality show THAT’S AWSM! among others and was a recipient of a Telus StoryHive grant to make a web-series. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have also appeared in The Best Canadian Short Stories, The Best Canadian Non-Fiction, in Grain Magazine as the 2018 Short Prose Award winner, on The Malahat Review’s Far Horizon’s Prose shortlist, and on the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist among others. You can find out more about her at https://www.francinecunningham.ca/about. (Biographical information courtesy of F. Cunningham).
Ms. Cunningham read two of her poems and one short story, connected by the theme of loss and mourning. First, she read “On Grief/Hospital Visit“, a moving piece about the illness and death of her mother. We felt her grief and rage over the racism within the healthcare system that delayed her mother’s diagnosis, and the pain of losing a loved one too soon.
Next, she read “On Family/Grandmother“, which dealt with her grandmother’s experience as a residential school survivor.
The two poetry readings were followed by a discussion session, with members and guests asking questions about her writing process (“she always has ideas bubbling in her back brain”); how her poetry is now being used to make nursing students aware of systemic racism (“you never know where your words will go”); how she organized her book of poetry; and how she visualizes her work before it’s written.
Next, she read the short story “Asleep Til You’re Awake“. This ghost story reflects loss, grief, the difficulty of reaching back to a lost parent, and anger with a ‘dead-eyed’ medical system. After the reading, Cunningham answered more questions about her work. In particular, she discussed the use of lavender and lemons to tie together her short stories and future works in the fictional universe she is developing.
On behalf of the club, Robin S. thanked the speaker for the moving readings she shared and for generously addressing questions from the group.
Next Tuesday, member Sandra E. will present on author Zadie Smith. Curious? Click on Contact Us. We welcomed 7 guests and a new member at our last meeting.