• Laura Secord Homestead to once again play host to literary speaker series, starting September 13th
• Series highlights outstanding Canadian female authors and their contributions to Canadian literature
• Each event features lectures, passage readings, open discussion and wine and cheese

Queenston, ON – Niagara Parks is pleased to announce the return of its popular four-part literary speaker series, Coast to Coast: Canada’s Diverse Women, a celebration of the unique and extraordinarily talented, female literary voices found within Canada.

This four-part speaker series highlights Canadian female authors, their unique perspectives and published works, at the home of one of Canada’s best-known heroines, Laura Secord. The series will be taking place on the second Thursday of each month, beginning on Thursday, September 13, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Laura Secord Homestead. Each event will include a wine and cheese reception, with lecture and open discussion, highlighting a different Canadian female author and a feature novel they have written. The following authors will be taking part in this series:

Thursday, September 13: Maia Caron

The first literary speaker will be Maia Caron, the Métis author of Song of Batoche, a historical novel that was #11 on CBC’s 95 must-read books of 2017.

Born and raised in the mountains of British Columbia, Maia has had short stories and essays in The Dalhousie Review, The Nashwaak Review, the Women Awakening series, and Skeptic Magazine.

Song of Batoche is her first novel and was chosen by Raven Reads as their spring 2018 Read for Reconciliation. Maia lives in Toronto, writing with a passion to resurrect remarkable women of Canada’s past, whose stories have been left out of the historical narrative. She is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario.

Thursday, October 11: Suzette Mayr

Suzette Mayr is the author of five novels, including her most recent, Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall. Her fourth novel, Monoceros, was longlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize and has been translated into Italian.

Suzette’s novels have won the ReLit Award, and the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize, and have been nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book in the Canada-Caribbean region, the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s Best First Book and Best Novel Awards, and the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction.

Ms. Mayr teaches Creative Writing at the University Calgary.

Thursday, November 8: Ann Y.K. Choi

Originally from South Korea, Ann Y.K. Choi immigrated to Canada in 1975. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and the Creative Writing Certificate Program at the University of Toronto. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at National University in San Diego, California. Published by Simon & Schuster Canada, her novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, was a Toronto Book Awards finalist and One of CBC Books 12 Best Canadian Debut Novels of 2016. It was also longlisted for the 2017 Frank Hegyi Award (Ottawa Independent Writers) and a finalist for the 2017 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in the literary fiction category.

Most recently, the Korean Canadian Heritage Awards committee recognized Ann for promoting Korean culture within Canada. The award was presented to her by the Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Toronto.

Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety is set in the 1980s and was inspired by Ann’s experiences working in her family-run variety store. Her debut children’s book, Once Upon An Hour, will be released in the fall of 2020. A teacher with the York Region District School Board, Ann lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

Thursday, December 13: Michelle Winters

Michelle Winters is a writer and painter from Saint John, New Brunswick, living in Toronto. Her written and visual work embraces the absurd, explores the lushness of the industrial, and anthropomorphizes with gay abandon. Her stories have been published in THIS Magazine, Taddle Creek, Dragnet, and Matrix, and she was nominated for the 2011 Journey Prize. Her debut novel, I Am A Truck, was shortlisted for the 2017 Giller Prize.

Admission to each of the series events is only $10.00, with an all-series pass available for $30.00. Seating is limited, for more information and to reserve your seat, please visit www.niagaraparks.com/coast or contact Laura Secord Homestead at: (905) 262-4851. A cash bar will be provided onsite as part of the wine and cheese.