Guyanese-born Canadian poet and writer Janet Naidu will read from her new collection of poetry, Sacred Silence, on Thursday, Jan. 21, presented by the Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean, the Department of Humanities and the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program.
She will read from 2 to 3:30pm in the Founders Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus.
Born in Covent Garden, East Bank Demerara, south of the Guyanese capital Georgetown, Naidu immigrated to Canada in 1975. 
Her first collection of poems, Winged Heart (Greenheart, 1999), was shortlisted for the Guyana Prize for Literature in the poetry category in 2000. It is a collection of poems of love, power and ancestral memories set in Guyana and Canada. The weaving of the emotional connections is captured in layers of meaning that illuminate an understanding of .jpg)
migration, tragedy and resilience. The healing elements of human survival and continuity form a thread throughout the poems.
Naidu has been published in the Guyana Journal and elsewhere. Her second collection, Rainwater (Greenheart, 2005), deals with issues of migration, identity and struggle. There is a pervasive sense of love, despair, endurance, exile and settlement in all three of Naidu’s collections as she conjures up events and scenes, as well as places in her memory, from Guyana and Canada.
In addition, Naidu promotes and leads workplace diversity issues and programs, and is a strong advocate for equality and human rights.
For more information, call ext. 88705 or e-mail cerlac@yorku.ca.