Winter's Tales Authors Reading series presents Newfoundland Author Michelle Butler Hallett
The Winter’s Tales Authors Reading Series presents a public reading by Newfoundland author Michelle Butler Hallett. The reading takes place 7:30 pm, Tuesday, March 15 at in the Dawson Lounge, room 520 of UPEI’s SDU Main Building. Originating from St. John’s, where she currently resides with her family, Michelle is known as a literary risk-taker.
Butler Hallett is a master of many writing forms. She has published a short story collection entitled The shadow side of grace and has since been a prominent contributor to various short story anthologies. She is also a poet, playwright, and novelist. Her published novels are Double-blind (shortlisted for the 2008 Sunburst Award), Sky Waves, and deluded your sailors.
She is the kind of writer who does not brush aside her own struggles or the human suffering surrounding her; rather, she uses strife and stress to fuel her writing and the journeys of her characters. As a writer, Butler Hallett is enticed by crossroads, believes in asking “What if?” to spark a great story, and has said that the “mystery of suffering” compels her to create rich and powerful fiction. Her stories have high stakes and conflict, making her work striking and memorable.
Butler Hallett’s last novel was issued five years ago, but readers’ anticipation for a new book will soon be met, as her latest novel, This Marlowe, will be released this March. This Marlowe is set in England in 1593, the year that Christopher Marlowe mysteriously died. Marlowe was the greatest English playwright of his era and a major influence on the next great playwright, Shakespeare. The novel will explore faith, duty, love, and politics, and the difficult choices which Marlowe and, indeed, all of us face. It can be described as historical fiction with a contemporary edge, and you can hear more about it from the author herself on March 15.
The reading is sponsored by the UPEI Faculty of Arts and The Canada Council for the Arts. Refreshments will be provided. A reception and book-signing by the author will follow.
