The Faculty of Education presents the Joan Pedersen Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Lectures will be given by Cornelia Hoogland, Professor in Western’s Faculty of Education, and Sandra L. Beckett, Professor at Brock University and member of the Royal Order of Canada. This lecture will take place from 4:30pm to 6:00pm in the Community Room (1037) in the J.G. Althouse building at Western.

With her cloak and basket, Little Red Riding Hood has been going into the woods for centuries. This well-known fairy tale, whose heroine has become a universal icon, still haunts the collective imagination. The Red Riding Hood story has been retold and recast by numerous authors, illustrators, and media artists around the globe. With a forthcoming anthology on international retellings of the Red Riding Hood story, Beckett will present on how this remarkably versatile tale has been adapted to new social and cultural contexts. Hoogland will give a reading from her recent fairy tale revisioning, entitled Woods Wolf Girl (2011).The Joan Pedersen lecture series is made possible through the generous contribution of Dr. George Pedersen, surviving husband of Joan Pedersen (1931-1988). Joan Pedersen was a beloved elementary school teacher, curriculum materials author, and supervisor for primary-junior student teachers at Western. Dr. Pedersen remembers his wife as a person whose “generosity and cheerfulness made her everyone’s favourite.” This annual lecture event pays tribute to Joan Pedersen’s great vitality, outstanding accomplishments, and contributions to enriching the lives of so many others.

The Joan Pedersen lecture is one of many informative and stimulating outreach events of the Faculty of Education that will interest members of the university and the public. There is no charge for the lecture, and free parking is available in the north lot.

For more information, or for an interview opportunity, please contact Professor Cornelia Hoogland at chooglan@uwo.ca.

Hoogland will be reading at several locations throughout the spring and summer. Confirmed dates and locations are below. Additional readings will be updated shortly.

Spring, 2012:

April 12, 2012 @ 1 pm: Community Arts Council of Vancouver (CACV)

April 12, 2012 @ 7 pm: The On the Edge reading series, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC

April 13, 2012:  Planet Earth Poetry Victoria BC

April 13-17, 2012:  AERA Vancouver academic conference (reading)

April 19-21, 2012: Festival of Faith and Writing Ann Arbour Michigan USA

Summer, 2012: 

August 7-12, 2012: ALECC Conference: Space + Memory = Place. University of British Columbia, Kelowna BC

August 15 – 21, 2012:  Women Playwrights’ International, Stockholm Sweden

Congratulations, Cornelia!

Cornelia Hoogland (born 1952) is a Canadian poet. She is currently a professor at the University of Western Ontario and lives in London, Ontario. However, she attributes her childhood on densely wooded Vancouver Island, B.C.. Hoogland has performed and worked internationally in the areas of drama and poetry. “The land inside Coyote: Reconceptualizing human relationships to place through drama” (In D. Booth & K. Gallagher (Eds.), How Theatre Educates: Convergences & Counterpoints, 2003) marked Hoogland’s research into place-based education.  

Woods Wolf Girl (Wolsak and Wynn, 2011) is Hoogland’s 5^th book of poetry, and is based on the fairy tale, Red Riding Hood .  Crow (Black Moss Press, 2011), released a month after Woods Wolf Girl, is Hoogland’s 6^th book.  Her newest selection, a chapbook titled Gravelly Bay (Alfred Gustav Press, 2012), is forthcoming. Hoogland’s poetry has been shortlisted for the CBC literary awards; the nominations include selections from her books Cuba Journal as well as her second and third books of poetry You Are Home and Marrying the Animals. Her recent awards include finalist placements for the Stephen Dunn Poetry Award, The Broome Review (USA); the Malahat Review Long Poem Competition; and Descant’s Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem.  Her writing in the area of Aboriginal, place-based education was recently featured in the Huffington Post.

Hoogland is the founder and the co-artistic director of Poetry London (www.poetrylondon.ca), an organization that brings prominent writers into lively discussion with London writers and readers.  She can be reached at chooglan@uwo.ca. Hoogland divides her time between London, ON., and Hornby Island, B.C.