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 - July 2024

Join us for Coast Lines and Coffee, featuring Perry Chafe (Closer by Sea, BA’92) and Michael Crummey (The Adversary, BA'87) 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.

Get your tickets today!

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 starringJason 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 Light which 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 23^rd, 2023. Published by Simon and Schuster Canada, it became an Instant National Bestseller.

Perry was born in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Previous Selections:

March/April Selection

Rage the Night
By Donna Morrissey

Donna Morrissey (BSW’92) is the author of the nationally bestselling memoir Pluck, which was a finalist for the Atlantic Book Awards' Non-Fiction Award, and of six acclaimed and bestselling novels. Her latest novel, Rage the Night, is a riveting account of the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disaster. Among her honours are the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Fiction for The Fortunate Brother; Sylvanus Now was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; and The Deception of Livvy Higgs was a One Read pick for Nova Scotia in 2017. Her fiction has also won awards in the US and the UK, and has been translated into several languages. Born and raised in Newfoundland and a graduate of Memorial University, she lives in Halifax.

January/February Selection

Soft Serve
By Allison Graves

Allison Graves’ (MA'17) edgy debut collection of short fiction scrutinizes unconventional and confused attachments between people and the reasons they last. The extraordinary becomes the ordinary as people navigate the weird, the quirky, and the sad aspects of everyday life.

Allison Graves received her BA in English literature from Dalhousie University and her MA in creative writing from Memorial University, where she wrote this collection of short stories. Her fiction has won Room magazine’s annual fiction contest and the Newfoundland Arts and Letters Award. She is the current fiction editor of Riddle Fence. She is doing a PhD at Memorial and likes to play drums and climb Signal Hill.

Purchase your copy from Memorial University bookstore and receive a Coast Lines discount.

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