George’s Reading Room
November 14th, 2024
UBC Library is launching a new project that will offer readers, writers, students, and academic researchers an immersive experience in Canadian literature.
The George Bowering Collection and Reading Room will recreate the creative space of celebrated Canadian poet George Bowering. Featuring his personal library, which he donated to UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections in 2022, the Reading Room will showcase Bowering’s books, art, and the environment that inspired his work. With tables and chairs for study, the space will allow faculty, students, and visitors to work among the same volumes and artwork that shaped Bowering’s career.
A poet, novelist, essayist, teacher, and editor, George Bowering is one of Canada’s most influential literary figures. He has published over 100 works, won the Governor General’s Award twice, and been shortlisted for numerous prestigious prizes, including the Griffin Poetry Prize and the BC Book Prize. In 2002, he became Canada’s inaugural Parliamentary Poet Laureate and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
The George Bowering Collection at UBC Library includes 6,245 items, offering a rich archive of Canadian literary history. The collection features all of Bowering’s published works, books by other writers, portraits and photographs of Bowering by Canadian artists, and a rare complete run of the Canadian poetry newsletter TISH.
The George Bowering Collection and Reading Room is scheduled to open in 2025, contingent on securing the necessary funding by December 31, 2024. The project goal is $500,000. To date, UBC Library has secured $137,750+ in donations and pledges. Commitments of any amount are much appreciated and all donations will receive a tax receipt issued by UBC.
Learn more about this project and make a pledge here: https://www.georgebowering.com/archives/
George Bowering in his Kerrisdale home office, circa 1960s.
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