LitFest 2025 Panel: On Language and Meaning (a.k.a. The Smartypants Panel)

Item details

Date

Friday, Oct 17, 2025 5:00p.m.

Location

EPL - Stanley A. Milner

Name

LitFest 2025 Panel: On Language and Meaning (a.k.a. The Smartypants Panel)

Description

What is conscious and unconscious in how we utilize language? How do we use language to create meaning? For anyone who has a love for the construction and utilization of language, this panel is a must-attend at this year’s festival! Lovingly referred to as The Smartypants Panel, this event brings together language scientists and poets to talk all things related to language. 

Featuring: Joel Katelnikoff, Canisia Lubrin, and Julie Sedivy 

Moderator: Alice Major 

Tickets: $5 (student/low income), $15 (regular) 

A limited number of tickets have been set aside for Students and Low-Income individuals. Those tickets may be accessed here.

JOEL KATELNIKOFF holds a PhD in literary theory from the University of Alberta. His book Recombinant Theory is a new approach to critical writing that applies cut-up techniques to the complete works of ten contemporary poet-theorists: Annharte, Charles Bernstein, Christian Bök, Johanna Drucker, Lyn Hejinian, Steve McCaffery, Erín Moure, Sawako Nakayasu, Lisa Robertson, and Fred Wah. These cut-ups are then compiled into new essays, each refracting the concepts of the original text while producing new lyrical and theoretical formulations. 

CANISIA LUBRIN’s work has been recognized with accolades including the Griffin Poetry Prize, Windham-Campbell Prize, and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin now lives in Whitby, and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. 

JULIE SEDIVY is a writer and linguist whose work straddles scientific and literary worlds. Her book Memory Speaks (Harvard University Press) was shortlisted for two Alberta Literary Awards and was named by The Economist as one of the top five books about language in a “golden age” of language writing. She has contributed writing to outlets such as Nautilus, Discover, Scientific American, the Literary Review of Canada, LA Review of Books, EuropeNow, Aeon + Psyche, and Politico. She is the co-editor (with Rona Altrows) of Waiting, a collection of personal essays (University of Alberta Press), and the co-author (with Souad Shehab) of Ayah and the Big World Outside, a forthcoming children’s book to be published by Orca Books in 2026. Her most recent book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), was named by The New Yorker as one of the best books of 2024 and won the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. Julie is a citizen of three countries.  

 ALICE MAJOR (Moderator) has published 12 collections of poetry and the essay collection: Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science. Among other creative projects, she has been a participant in “Reimagining Fire”, a project to bring visual artists, writers and scientists together to create work related to climate change, and was invited to read at the UN’s COP15 conference on biodiversity in Montreal.   

Alice’s previous work has been recognized by the Pat Lowther and Stephan G. Stephansson poetry awards as well as a National Magazine Award Gold Medal. She also served as the City of Edmonton’s first poet laureate and has received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta. Her work with the writing community has included founding the Edmonton Poetry Festival. 

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