Description
Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m. for an evening reading with award-winning poet Arleen Paré to celebrate her new collection, Encrypted.
Encrypted is a tribute to family and youth in a time of complex anxiety and loneliness. In September 2020, Arleen’s almost 20-year old grandson moved into the basement of her home to attend courses nearby. After suffering a bout of severe anxiety and depression, he was forced to drop out of his second-year computer science program after one month. In an effort to quell her own feelings of helplessness and growing anxiety about the situation, Paré turned to poetry.
Both a tender tribute to a beloved grandson and an elegy for coming of age in our modern, online society, Encrypted is an honest and illuminating narrative of a life arrested and a home haunted by grief. Arleen will be joined in conversation by Raoul Fernandes.
This event is free, but please RSVP here to reserve your spot.
More about Upstart & Crow:
Upstart & Crow is a not-for-profit creative studio and literary incubator that champions writers, readers and stories, and the role they play in shaping our lives. We develop original programs, support artists and revel in creative projects focused on literature in translation, climate solutions, poetry, civic dialogue, community and skills building, all with the aim of elevating the role of literature and storytelling in our lives. Find us on Granville Island, Gibsons and online at upstartandcrow.com.
Accessibility:
The main studio of our shop is accessible for folks with mobility aids. There is a washroom on the main floor available for attendees.
Questions: hello[at]upstartandcrow.com.
Encrypted
“Encrypted contextualizes the chaos of anxiety and depression in terms that both clarify and mollify the anguish of her helpless witnessing with poetry rich in allusions and unafraid of dark unknown spaces. Alongside books by Carson and Crozier, this collection belongs in the Canadian canon.” — Antony Di Nardo
“We enter Arleen Paré’s Encrypted through the door of her twenty-year-old grandson who comes to live in their basement. In this compelling narrative poem, Paré’s intelligence, attention, kindness, love, and struggle to understand her grandson’s anxiety, depression, and night-time gaming addiction come together to create a vivid portrait of reality for a sizeable portion of youth today.” — Jane Munro
