This annual interdisciplinary celebration of a work of Canadian literature reaches into classrooms across the university.
Students and faculty members explore a book written by a Canadian author through workshops, readings, a Wall of Fame reception, a student contest and more. Events typically include opportunities for students to engage with the author, including through classroom visits.
Since its inception in 1997, the Book of the Year program has been guided by a committee of faculty, staff and students. After robust deliberations and discussion, the committee recommends a title for the MacEwan Book of the Year to the Provost & Vice-President, Academic.
Meet Scott Alexander Howard
Scott Alexander Howard lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where his work focused on the relationship between memory, emotion and literature. The Other Valley is his first novel.
About the novel
Sixteen-year-old Odile Ozanne is an awkward, quiet girl, vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decree who among the town’s residents may be escorted deep into the woods, who may cross the border’s barbed wire fence and who may make the arduous trek to descend into the next valley over. It’s the same valley, the same town. But to the east, the town is 20 years ahead in time. To the west, it’s 20 years behind. The only border crossings permitted by the Conseil are mourning tours: furtive viewings of the dead in towns where the dead are still alive.
Masterful and original, The Other Valley is an affecting modern fable about the inevitable march of time and whether or not fate can be defied. Above all, it is about love and letting go, and the bonds, in both life and death, that never break. (From Simon & Schuster)
Events
Have you read a great book recently? Nominate your choice for the next MacEwan Book of the Year.
