Event Cancellation Update
In-person delivery events has been cancelled due to recent guidelines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are evaluating options in terms of online delivery or rescheduling. Should alternative options be made available, information will be posted on the event page.
For further information on UBC’s response to COVID-19, please visit covid19.ubc.ca.
Join us for a special evening as we create joy and IGNITE change. IGNITE Book Club presents critically acclaimed author Randy Boyagoda for an evening of discussion and connection.
IGNITE is an ongoing series of engagements with racialized authors at UBC’s Vancouver campus, Boyagoda will share insights into his works and finding joy amidst his experience of living as a racialized individual, author, and academic.
Hosted by Ian Williams, Assistant Professor at UBC Creative Writing, this is an opportunity to hear one of Canada’s leading authors reflect on his lived experiences and signature works, including Original Prin.
Boyagoda’s literary genius and expertise seeks to ignite joy and illuminate a discussion on critical issues facing racialized individuals and opportunities for systemic change.
Writer, critic and scholar Randy Boyagoda is the author of three novels, a SSHRC-supported critical biography, and a scholarly monograph. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017. His third novel, Original Prin, was published in 2018.
Designed to open up space and stimulate dialogue and discussion around race and leadership, IGNITE is one of several key initiatives this year to recognize and embrace the diversity of our faculty community, and provide an intentional space for racialized faculty to share their experiences. The IGNITE Book Club has been designed with and for racialized faculty to allow for the exploration and discussion of memoirs written by renowned racialized authors.