UPEI English Graduate to Launch First Book, Feb. 17

Wayne Gretzky has said that nothing beats hard work except hard-working talent. Steve McOrmond, a UPEI English graduate raised on PEI, is the latest unbeatable literary talent from the Island. He will be launching and reading from his first book, Lean Days, at Confederation Centre Library on Thursday, February 17 at 7:30 pm.

McOrmond earned his Masters in Creative Writing and English at the University of New Brunswick, working with Governor-General's Award-winners Don McKay and Jan Zwicky. He now lives in Toronto, and returns home every year.

Novelist Helen Humphries writes, "Lean Days is testament to Steve McOrmond's honest and originality," and Newfoundland poet and novelist John Steffler says, "The poems in Lean Days range from deft meditations on the art of Glenn Gould to disarmingly honest lyrics about the gravitational pull of hometown and the rocket fuel of desire that blasts young hearts painfully across continents."

Reading with McOrmond is another of Canada's finest new poets, Sue Sinclair, who grew up in Newfoundland and lives in Toronto. In Mortal Arguments and Secrets of Weather and Hope, Sinclair addresses issues of profound philosophical and political importance such as consumerism, privilege, and our ability to respond to the suffering of others. She writes with mature depth.

This celebration of a new Island writer, and evening of some of the finest new poetry in the land, is sponsored by the UPEI English Department with generous support from the Canada Council of the Arts and Confederation Centre Library. For further information phone 566-0389.