Controversy at Noon: Separating the Writer from the Work

We live in an age of enlightenment, with more access to knowledge than we know what to do with; however, the abundance of information available on anyone and anything, past and present, brings with it a new set of problems. One of the most pertinent literary matters we face today is the issue of separating the writer from the work they create. Can we? Should we? Many books have been - and will continue to be - called into question because of their creators. How do writers and readers reconcile the idea that an author’s personal beliefs and defining life moments may not align with their own world view and experience? Are we to recognize the differences but accept the work as a separate entity, or does a writer’s essence inevitably infiltrate, inform, and even mar their words? Is it our duty as writers and readers to take a stand against certain authors, regardless of how impactful, canonically important, and/or personally affecting their stories are perceived to be? Where is the line, really, when it comes to separating the author from the work? Tune in this August to hear our panelists discuss this timely topic.
About The Panelists
Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison is the author of 7 books of critically praised poetry, most recently On NotLosing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, which won both the 2017 Governor General’s Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Prize. A Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Mount Royal University, Richard has also hosted the Thursday Group poetry workshop, which has met weekly for over 20 years, has the talents of scores of poets, and been the source work for over a dozen books of poetry in the last decade. Currently Richard is a freelance editor, reviewer and essayist for Alberta Views and manuscript reader for the Alexandra Writers’ Centre.
M.L. Martin
M.L. Martin is an interdisciplinary poet and translator whose translation of the proto-feminist Anglo-Saxon poem, W & E: a refracted translation of “Wulf and Eadwacer,” will be published by Action Books in 2025. Their work appears in Black Warrior Review, The Capilano Review, The Fiddlehead, The Literary Review, Massachusetts Review, Prism International, Poetry Magazine and many other American, Canadian, and Australian journals.
Their language-based installation, Journey to Shoshone Falls, uses archival material and found texts to create textual interventions in the archival landscape of a masterwork, and was shown at The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma from October 2019-March 15, 2020. Their micro-chapbook of the same name is available from Walls Divide Press.
An editor for Asymptote and MacEwan University’s most recent Writer in Residence, with grants from Bread Loaf, the Center for Book Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and Vermont Studio Center, they’re the founder of the Translation Now! symposium.
Website: M-L-Martin.com
IG: @m_litgeek_martin
Moni Brar
Moni Brar comes from a long lineage of illiterate subsistence farmers and spends her time contemplating land, loss, language, and longing. Her creative work aims to open space for class, gender, and racial equity. She is the winner of writing awards from Grain, The Fiddlehead, PRISM, Room, CV2, and The Ex-Puritan. Her work appears in Best Canadian Poetry, The Literary Review of Canada, Hobart, and elsewhere. She believes art contains the possibility of healing.
Facebook: @moni.brar.5
Instagram: @monibrar
MelVee X
MelVee X is a triple threat - she’s a spoken word poet, burlesque dancer and visual artist who’s shared her work across Canada - Turtle Island for the last eight years. She’s CEO of MVX STUDIOS - a multidisciplinary hub for bold and empowered artistic expression based out of Calgary AB.
It is her vision and practice to cultivate spaces for unapologetic storytelling, particularly from underserved and marginalized communities whose voices have been silenced and repressed. MelVee’s work is rooted in her own experiences as a mixed-race Black woman who thrives at the intersections and implosions of multiple identities. Yet somehow, she makes the pieces fit.
The struggle is real and the resistance has never looked so damn good.
Website: www.mvxstudios.com
IG: @melveex
FB: MelVee Artistry