WRITER/STORYTELLER-IN-RESIDENCE
The writer/storyteller-in-residence position is an annual residency that brings a writer or storyteller to the University of Manitoba to give public performances, to speak in classrooms, and to offer one-on-one mentorship and advice on the craft of writing and/or storytelling.  The writer/storyteller is also enabled to work intensively on her or his own creative projects.


MÉIRA COOK

The Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture (CCWOC) is pleased to introduce its Winter 2011 Writer-in-Residence, MÉIRA COOK.

Méira Cook is an award-winning poet, novelist, and literary critic.  She was born in Johannesburg where she worked as a freelance arts and culture correspondent before moving to Winnipeg.  Dr. Cook holds a PhD specializing in Canadian literature from the University of Manitoba and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.  Poetry collections include A Fine Grammar of Bones (Turnstone 1993), Toward a Catalogue of Falling (Brick 1996), Slovenly Love (Brick 2003), and A Walker in the City (forthcoming with Brick in 2011).  She has published a novel, The Blood Girls (NeWest 1998), a book of literary criticism, Writing Lovers: Reading Canadian Love Poetry by Women (McGill-Queen's UP, 2005), and edited and introduced a selection of Don McKay's poetry entitled Field Marks: The Poetry of Don McKay (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2006).  Her poetry won first place in the CBC Literary Awards in 2007, has been published in The Best Canadian Poetry of 2008, and has been featured in Winnipeg Transit's "Poetry in Motion" program.  She has been the poetry editor of Prairie Fire Magazine and has taught creative writing classes at the University of Manitoba.

To hear Méira read from her work, please click here. 
To read a selection of articles about Meira, please click here.

For help with your creative writing or storytelling, please contact Méira at ccwocwir@cc.umanitoba.ca or at 480-1067 to arrange a FREE on-on-one meeting with her.  Click here for detailed information about consulting Méira.

To view photos of Méira's inaugural reading as the U of M's Winter 2011 Writer-in-Residence, please click here.

The Centre wishes to thank its outgoing Fall 2010 writer and storyteller-in-residence, Ignatius Mabasa.  

Past Writers/Storytellers-in-Residence:

Ignatius Mabasa - Fall 2010

Roberta Kennedy - Winter  2010

Jan Andrews - Fall 2009

Armin Wiebe - Fall 2008

Rody Gorman  - Fall 2008

Gregory Scofield - Fall 2007