Novelist Terry Fallis will appear as the final guest in the 18th annual Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series when he shares insights from his 2015 book Poles Apart on March 21.
The series, presented by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), runs Tuesday evenings from 7 to 10pm in 206 Accolade West Building.
Fallis is an award-winning author with five national bestsellers, including Poles Apart, and has earned the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour two times.
He has also earned acclaim as the 2011 winner of CBC Canada Reads for his debut novel The Best Laid Plans, which was later aired on CBC as a six-part miniseries. In 2015, it was adapted for a stage musical.
The book was also a finalist for the 2016 Leacock Medal.
Poles Apart is a CanLit comedy that explores the fictional tale of the overnight success of a feminist blog written by a male.
Fallis has been awarded the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Author of the Year (2013), and has been listed on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list numerous times.
He has a bachelor of engineering degree from McMaster University (1983), and has extensive experience in federal politics as a member of former prime minister Jean Chretien’s full-time staff for the 1984 federal Liberal leadership campaign. His interest in politics continued with posts serving former Liberal minister of state for youth, the Honourable Jean Lapierre, and former prime minister John Turner. He later served as legislative assistant to the Honourable Robert Nixon, former treasurer (now called finance minister) in the Liberal Ontario government led by then-premier David Peterson.
Later, he co-founded Thornley Fallis, a communications consulting agency, and created the popular business podcast “Inside PR.”
The Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series runs as part of a degree credit course on Canadian literary culture through the LA&PS Culture & Expression program. Members of the York community not enrolled in the course can also enjoy the readings, which are free and open to the public.
This year’s lineup featured a unique selection of writers who explore a diverse range of topics and geographical and cultural landscapes. Authors included poets, playwrights, fiction writers and more.
The 2016-17 series concludes with this event.
For more information, email gailv@yorku.ca or leslie@yorku.ca.