In the mid-twentieth century, Canada experienced a literary explosion unlike anything the country had experienced before. The CanLit Boom changed the literary and cultural face of the country, creating both a national literature and the infrastructure that still supports Canadian writing today. This illustrated course offers an introduction to—or a reminder of—the lives and early works of six of the most prominent writers to emerge in Canada in this period, between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. We’ll explore the streets of Montreal with Mordecai Richler and Leonard Cohen. We’ll relive the bohemian spirit of '60s Toronto with Margaret Atwood. We’ll experience the great writers, stories and characters of CanLit as we’ve never seen and heard them before.

Led by Nick Mount, a professor of Canadian literature at the University of Toronto, winner of the 3M National Fellowship, and author of Arrival: The Story of CanLit.

September 26: Mordecai Richler  October 3: Marie-Claire Blais  October 10: Al Purdy  October 24: Margaret Atwood and key Toronto works of the 1960s October 31: Leonard Cohen November 7: Alice Munro

Please note, there is no class on October 17

Six-week course: $63 (Members: $54, $42, Free)  Single class: $21 (Members: $17, $14, Free)

Sponsored by Hollywood Suite