Author Wayde Compton will follow a free public reading from his work with a lecture on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 16.

Compton is chair of the creative writing program at Douglas College in New Westminster, B.C. In 2006 he co-founded Commodore Books, western Canada’s first Black Canadian literary press.

Compton has written five books, including the short story collection The Outer Harbour, which won the City of Vancouver Book Award, and his latest, The Blue Road, a fantasy graphic novel for young adults. He is currently working on a re-imagining of The Argonautika by Apollonius of Rhodes as a surrealist slave narrative set on the west coast of North America in the 18th century.

Thursday’s reading will begin at 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by a talk. Attendance is welcome in person in room 359, Dillon Hall, or online in Microsoft Teams.

These events are part of the series “Engaging the Social: Literary Events & Readings” sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing and by the Office of the Vice-President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.