Rawi hage in Vancouver Public library
Visual artist, photographer and award-winning Canadian author Rawi Hage has been named Vancouver Public Library’s ninth writer in residence.
The author of three highly acclaimed novels began his residency this week (August 14) by inspiring and sharing his vast experience with young writers at the Library’s annual Writing and Book Camp.
During his four-month tenure, Hage will spend 25 percent of his time mentoring emerging writers, appearing at library and community events and conducting workshops that encourage participants to explore the importance of the visual in narrative prose and creative writing. His remaining time will be focused on working on his new collection of short stories.
Born in Beirut, Hage grew up in Lebanon. He moved to New York City in 1984 and relocated to Montreal in 1991. He holds an MFA from the Université du Québec à Montréal and is a faculty advisor for the City University of Hong Kong’s MFA program. He has taught fiction master classes and has held visiting writer positions at various universities around the world.
Published in 2006, Hage’s first novel, De Niro’s Game, was nominated for several prizes in Canada and abroad. It won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the McAuslan First Book Prize and the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. It has been translated into 29 languages. Depicting the life of an immigrant in Montreal’s underground, his second novel, Cockroach, was published in 2008 to similar critical acclaim. Released in 2012, his most recent novel, Carnival, is a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Award and won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize.
Hage’s inaugural public reading on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. at the central library’s Alice MacKay room, was attended by over 100 persons,including members of the Lebanese community as well as the President of the Lebanese Canadian Society Eng Camille Louis and the board of directors of the LCS of BC and the WLCU-BC council represented by Dr Nick kahwaji.
A nice reception at the end was offered by the LCS of BC and the WLCU-BC council,and highly acknowledged by the Vancouver Public library staffs .