Montreal, September 24, 2015 — Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) was home to Mordecai Richler for only a few years, but his spirit lingers and inspires a new generation of Concordia students. The latest gift to the university from the Richler Estate is support for the creation of a three-year Writer in Residence program in the late author’s name.
The first writer in residence will be Canadian author, Gemini Award winning actor and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald. MacDonald has just been named one of nine finalists for the 24th edition of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
MacDonald’s first novel, Fall on Your Knees, was short-listed for the Giller Prize, and won the People’s Choice Award and the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year in 1996. Her second novel, The Way the Crow Flies, was also an international bestseller and finalist for the Giller Prize. MacDonald’s latest book, Adult Onset, was also a national #1 bestseller. MacDonald is also known to many as the host and narrator of CBC’s Doc Zone and, prior to that, as host of the CBC documentary series Life and Times.
“I am thrilled to be offered this opportunity to work with writers discovering their voices and stories surrounded by the legacy of one of Canada’s great writers”, says MacDonald, who is a great Richler admirer and wrote the preface to the 2005 edition of Penguin Modern Classics’ The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz.
This fall, MacDonald will be working from the Mordecai Richler Reading Room, interacting with creative writing students. She will also be issuing digital dispatches reflecting on her experience working from Richler’s desk, surrounded by many of his artifacts, some of which were loaned this past summer to the Segal Centre for its musical production of Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
The Richler Reading Room was established by the Richler family in 2013. “Concordia was the ideal place to keep Mordecai’s memory alive.” says his widow Florence. “Creating the Richler Writer in Residence program is a logical next step because it will provide mentorship as well as inspiration”.
“The generosity of the Richler family is truly inspiring”, adds Alan Shepard, president and vice-chancellor of Concordia University. “They understand what this kind of support means to future generations of Canadian writers, and to the country’s literary landscape”.
The Writer in Residence program will include digital dispatches on topics as wide ranging as the influence and importance of Richler’s work, the experience of working from his writing environment, and the geography of Richler’s Montreal. People interested in interacting with these dispatches will be able to do so through The Walrus magazine website. Concordia will also host a public talk featuring Ann-Marie MacDonald at the close of her residency in 2016.
MacDonald’s acting talents will be spotlit in a public event on September 25. The works and words of Mordecai Richler will feature dramatic readings of Richler’s works alongside a lecture to be delivered by the author’s son, journalist Jacob Richler.
Homecoming 2015 keynote lecture
Friday, September 25 - 6 to 8:30 p.m.
D.B. Clarke Theatre, Henry F. Hall Building
1455 De Maisonneuve Boulevard West
Complimentary admission includes lecture and cocktail
