Coast Lines Book Club
Coast Lines Book Club encourages Memorial University alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends to connect through a common love of reading and of literature from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Coast Lines’ highlights both the importance of lifelong learning for the Memorial University community, and the role of our hugely successful creative writing program based in the Department of English, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The program has played and continues to play a key role in the development and in the careers of Newfoundland and Labrador writers, most of whom have either graduated from the program or taken individual classes.
Coast Lines and Coffee - Fall 2024
Join us for Coast Lines and Coffee, featuring Marjorie Doyle (Mary Foley, Mary Doyle: Unravelling a Mother's Secrets, MA’87) and Willow Kean (Eyes in Front when Running, BFA'99) in conversation with Angela Antle (BA’91). We look forward to welcoming you to our latest event in our series celebrating the Newfoundland and Labrador literary landscape. The Memorial University Bookstore will be onsite with various Coast Lines titles for sale and our guests of honour will be happy to sign copies of their books following the panel discussion.
Register here.
November/December Selection
Eyes in Front when Running
By Willow Kean
Willow Kean (BFA'99) is an actor and writer originally from Labrador West. She’s co-written several children’s plays that have toured provincially, and her five-woman comedy Supper Club premiered at the LSPU Hall in 2021. She’s beenshortlisted for the Cuffer Prize and longlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award, and she won the Percy Janes First Novel Award in 2018. Willow lives in St. John’s with her partner, the filmmaker Justin Simms, and their son, Jude. Eyes in Front When Running is her first published novel and is a book about the collision of fear and longing, how the thing you fear the most is often the one thing you need to set you straight.
September/October Selection
Mary Foley, Mary Doyle: Unraveling a mother's secrets
By Marjorie Doyle
Marjorie Doyle (MA'87) has published four books of non-fiction. Her columns and essays have appeared across Canada in the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, National Post, Fiddlehead, Geist, Calgary Herald, Queen’s Quarterly, Antigonish Review.
Her broadcast career included hosting the national CBC radio show That Time of the Night. Marjorie has been awarded a National Magazine Award and (with her brother John W. Doyle) two CBC Radio Awards for Programming Excellence and a Golden Sheaf nomination for the documentary Regarding Our Father.
A former Chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, she has read across Canada and was writer in residence at Haig Brown House on Vancouver Island.
Previous Selections:
July/August Selection
The Adversary
By Michael Crummer
Michael Crummey (BA '87) has published 13 books of fiction and poetry.
His first novel, River Thieves, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and his second novel, The Wreckage, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His third novel, Galore, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and the Caribbean) and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. His fourth novel, Sweetland, was also a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. His novel, The Innocents, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award. His most recent novel is, The Adversary.
He lives in St. John's with writer and marine biologist, Holly Hogan.
May/June Selection
Closer by Sea
By Perry Chafe
Perry Chafe (BA'92) is a television showrunner, writer, producer, novelist and songwriter.
Perry was the co-creator and co-showrunner for the TV series Republic of Doyle, which ran for 6 seasons on the CBC. He was also an executive producer and writer for the Netflix/Discovery series Frontier starring Jason Momoa. In addition, Perry was an executive producer and writer for Caught, a CBC limited series based on Lisa Moore’s award-winning novel of the same name. Perry is currently a writer and producer on the hit CBC series Son of a Critch, based on the best-selling memoir from Mark Critch.
Perry has also co-written a number of songs with partner Maureen Ennis of the JUNO award-winning music group The Ennis Sisters, including Shine Your Lightwhich was part of a campaign to promote mental wellness for the Canadian Mental Health Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Perry released his debut novel Closer By Sea on May 23rd, 2023. Published by Simon and Schuster Canada, it became an Instant National Bestseller.
Perry was born in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Recordings of Past Live Events:
- Michael Crummey (BA(Hons.)'87): The Innocents
- Kevin Major (B.Sc.'87, D.Litt'11): One for the Rock
- Megan Gail Coles (BA'03): Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club
- Sonja Boon: What the Oceans Remember
- Alan Doyle (BA'92): All Together Now: A Newfoundlander's Light Tales for Heavy Times
- Us, Now
- Aimee Wall (BA Hons. '08): We, Jane
- Anne Budgell (BA'95): Dear Everybody
- Michelle Porter (PhD'16, MA'20): Approaching Fire
- Lisa Moore: This Is How We Love
- Rick Mercer: Talking to Canadians
- Wayne Johnston (BA’79, D.Litt.’07): Jennie’s Boy and William Ping (BA’18, MA’20): Hollow Bamboo
- Holly Hogan (B.Sc.’87, M.Sc.’97): Message in a Bottle and Shelly Kawaja’s (BA’02, MA’04): The Raw Light of Morning
- Donna Morrissey (BSW’92): Rage the Night and Allison Graves (MA'17): Soft Serve
- Perry Chafe (BA'92): Closer by Sea and Michael Crummey (BA'87): The Adversary