The Church of Books: How Literature Can Disrupt Fundamentalism

Name: The Church of Books: How Literature Can Disrupt Fundamentalism
Start: 2024-9-29T10:30-4:00
End: 2024-9-29T11:15-4:00

29sep10:30 am11:15 amThe Church of Books: How Literature Can Disrupt FundamentalismDaniel Allen Cox, Michelle Syba, KR Byggdin, moderated by Blair Hurley10:30 am - 11:15 am(GMT-04:00)

Event Details

Faith in something is an ever-present human trait—whether that’s faith in a higher power, in your community, or your own tenacity and spirit. But faith can be co-opted as a tool of control, used to set rigid lines around acceptable behaviours and even to prohibit independent thinking. How can placing faith in literature, of all things, help to break open the spaces where doctrine and high-control groups reign? The authors on this panel have personal histories with Pentecostalism, Mennonite culture, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Join them alongside moderator Blair Hurley as they engage in a nuanced, compassionate discussion about how literature can disrupt fundamentalist ways of thinking and invite a broader, more balanced worldview.

Speakers for this event

Blair Hurley

Blair Hurley

Moderator
Blair Hurley is the author of THE DEVOTED, which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her second novel, MINOR PROPHETS, was published in 2023. Her work is published in New England Review, Electric Literature, The Georgia Review, Guernica, Paris Review Daily, and elsewhere. Her story “The Telepathist” was listed as a “Distinguished Story” in Best American Short Stories 2022. She is a Pushcart Prize winner and an ASME Fiction award finalist.

Moderator
Daniel Allen Cox

Daniel Allen Cox

Daniel Allen Cox is the author of four novels and I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah’s Witness, shortlisted for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal and named one of the Best Books of 2023 by Publishers Weekly. Daniel’s essays have appeared in The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Electric Literature, and The Malahat Review and have been recognized by the National Magazine Awards, Best Canadian Essays, and The Best American Essays.
K.R. Byggdin

K.R. Byggdin

K.R. Byggdin is the author of Wonder World, a ReLit Award finalist and winner of the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Their writing has appeared in journals and anthologies across Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. Born and raised on the Prairies, they currently divide their time between Halifax and Toronto as an MFA candidate at the University of Guelph.
Michelle Syba

Michelle Syba

Michelle Syba was born in Toronto and grew up Pentecostal. Her story collection, End Times (Freehand Books, 2023) was a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Concordia University First Book Prize. End Times explores the lives of people variously entangled with evangelical culture, from a hipster megachurch pastor to a management consultant on the verge of a nervous breakdown at Davos. At a time when the end feels nigh for many, End Times assembles an expansive cast that includes immigrants, the elderly, the burned-out, and the lonely, examining our hidden anxieties and longings.