Shelagh Rogers O.C. is the 16th Chancellor of Queen’s University., succeeding the 15th Chancellor, The Honourable Murray Sinclair. A veteran broadcast-journalist, she most recently was the host and co-creator of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, the award-winning program devoted to writing in Canada.
In 2011, Rogers was inducted as an Honorary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; she has since devoted her focus to amplifying Indigenous voices and narratives. That same year, she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. Rogers has been recognized with honorary doctorates from eight universities, and served as Chancellor of the University of Victoria for two terms spanning from 2015 to 2021.She is a member of the Métis Nation of Greater Victoria and was the 2022 Symons Medalist. Rogers lives in Winnipeg, the same city as her cuzzin Murray Sinclair.
There’s a hole in the ozone layer. Are teenage girls to blame?
Floods and wildfires, toxic culture, billionaires in outer space, or a purse-related disaster while on mushrooms—in today’s hellscape world, there’s no shortage of things to worry about. Last Woman, the new collection of short fiction by award-winning author Carleigh Baker, wants you to know that you’re not alone. In these 13 brilliant new stories, Baker and her perfectly-drawn characters are here for you—in fact, they’re just as worried and weirded-out as everyone else.
A woman’s dream of poetic solitude turns out to be a recipe for loneliness. A retiree is convinced that his silence is the only thing that will prevent a deadly sinkhole. An emerging academic wakes up and chooses institutional violence. A young woman finds sisterhood in a strange fertility ritual, and an enigmatic empath is on a cleanse. Baker’s characters are both wildly misguided and a product of the misguided times in which we live. Through them we see our world askew and skewered—and, perhaps, we can begin to see it anew.
Baker’s signature style is irreverent, but her heart is true—these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging with sharp wit and boundless empathy. With equal parts compassion and critique, she brings her clear-eyed attention to bear on our world, and the results are hilarious, heartbreaking, and startling in their freshness.
GET THE BOOK
Owl’s Nest Books | Calgary Public Library | Audio
BE CURIOUSER
HOSTED BY
Pam Rocker
WHAT TO EXPECT
90-minute storytelling and interviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
