Here’s what some of our alumni have been up to recently. Have a story you want to share, or want to receive our alumni newsletter for all the latest at King’s? Update your information to connect.
Sue Holler a finalist for a 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award
Sue Farrell Holler, BJ(Hons)’84, an Alberta-based journalist, literacy advocate and an author of picture books and middle-grade fiction, was a finalist for a 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature for her latest book Cold White Sun.
Cold White Sun tells the story of a young Ethiopian boy named Tesfaye who lives with his family in the country’s capital. After violence breaks out and his activist father is arrested, Tesfaye’s family makes plans to send him out of the country. He’s sent on a perilous trip across Africa, Europe and finally to North America where he must learn more about his new home—while still longing for the family he left behind.
The Governor General’s Literary Awards are one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious prizes.
Janice Landry releases her fifth book
Janice Landry, BJ(Hons)’87, has released her fifth book called Silver Linings: stories of gratitude, resiliency and growth through adversity. While penning Silver Linings, Landry used it to manoeuvre through a series of devastating losses. The journalist set out to ask a group of remarkable people one question: “What are you most grateful for?”
Silver Linings offers readers moving personal accounts (including the author’s own story of loss), science-based evidence, as well as tips for coping and resiliency-building from top international experts, including Dr. Robert Emmons, from the University of California, Davis, the world’s leading researcher in the study of gratitude. It took Landry five months to land his interview, which she did as a tribute to her late King’s professor, Ian Wiseman. You can purchase a copy of Landry’s latest book at www.janicelandry.ca.
Marnie Hay publishes scholarly account of Irish nationalist youth organization
Marnie Hay, BJ’91, a history lecturer at Dublin City University in Ireland, has published her latest book, Na Fianna Éireann and the Irish Revolution, 1909-23: Scouting for Rebels, with Manchester University Press.
It provides a scholarly yet accessible account of the Irish nationalist youth organization Na Fianna Éireann and its contribution to the Irish Revolution in the period 1909-23. Covering topics like Irish Revolution, youth culture, paramilitarism and twentieth-century Ireland, this recount of Na Fianna Éireann’s history and impact will interest historians, students and the general reader with an interest in the history of the Irish Revolution. You can buy Hay’s book at the King’s Co-op Bookstore.
Helena Moncrieff wins the Heritage Toronto Book Award
Helena Moncrieff, MFA’16, has won Heritage Toronto’s Book Award. Moncrieff’s book The Fruitful City examines our relationship with the various fruit trees found on our streets and in Toronto backyards. It traces the rise, fall, and resurgence in the popularity of fruit trees in the GTA, while sharing the cultural heritage of Toronto’s indigenous roots and the stories of recently arrived communities.
Colin Seymour competes in UK edition of RuPaul’s Drag Race
Seymour, who goes by Crystal on stage, is one of 10 Queens competing on the first-ever United Kingdom edition of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Originally from Halifax, Seymour was a FYP student in the early 2000s before moving to London, UK, where he’s lived for the past 10 years. In an Aug. 21, 2019 interview with BBC, he said, “I do aerial circus, I can crack a whip, put cigarettes out on my tongue—it’s a freak show.”
