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The 240 sq ft piece, titled
un/settled, can be found on the windows of Belzberg Library, at the intersection of West Hastings and Richards Street.
un/settled by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek and Chantal Gibson (SFU)
un/settled features poetry by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek and portraiture by Chantal Gibson, in collaboration with Mily Mumford and Adrian Bisek. Okot Bitek is the 2020 Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence with SFU’s Department of English while Gibson is an award-winning writer and artist, as well as a lecturer at SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology.
un/settled by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek and Chantal Gibson (SFU)
Otoniya Okot Bitek is a poet in the tradition of the Acholi from northern Uganda.
Acholi poets, painters, singers and dancers bring people together through their art which usually involves social commentary.
“The poet in the Acholi tradition, is not just someone who says the flower is beautiful because it s beautiful, but gathers people to think and talk about whatever it is they re doing and what’s happening around them,” she says. “For me, as an Acholi poet, the poem is the container, the space and opportunity for people to gather in community.”
Okot Bitek began writing when she was very young to win the attention of her father, an internationally recognized poet who was exiled from Uganda when he drew the ire of the government.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to announce the scholars selected to the 2020-21 Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities Program. The program increases the visibility of the contributions of the humanities and arts to the university community. It also engages the wider community through publicly involved scholarship and creativity.
The Shadbolt Fellows will engage with Metro Vancouver communities through exhibits, performances, artworks, workshops and events that realize the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ values of advancing reconciliation; equity, diversity and inclusion; and collaboration.
Join us online at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 to meet the Shadbolt Fellows in a panel discussion moderated by Stephen Collis (Professor, SFU Department of English) and June Scudeler (Assistant Professor, SFU Indigenous Studies). This event is hosted with the support of SFU Public Square. Register on Eventbrite.
Credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry
Inquisition,
The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award;
The Fortieth Day;
Bright Felon and
Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published
The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir
Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and
Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. After a career in public policy and organizing, Ali taught at various colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Davidson College, St. Mary’s College of California, and