Book Launch: My Mother Joins the Resistance

Thursday Apr 30th, 2026

7:00 PM

ABOUT THE BOOK

All there is, is light and darkness and wonder.
And in that moment, there is no difference, either,
between love and the memory of love. – “Up Above the World”

In this latest collection Richard Harrison has created a companion to his Governor General Award–winning collection On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood. In My Mother Joins the Resistance, Harrison considers his mother’s life – from her time as a child during WWII’s Operation Pied Piper, up until its end, in 2017, when terminally ill with cancer, she chose MAiD – with elegant, deeply felt poetry. These are beautiful poems, ones that piece together a person, a life and a family over generations. These are poems that examine the wounds passed down through a family, alongside the love, and see the echoes of both – the wounds and the love – in the world around us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Harrison is the author of seven books of poetry, including the winner of the 2017 Governor General’s Award for On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood. Last year, he was honoured with the Writers Guild of Alberta’s Golden Pen for Lifetime Achievement. Currently Professor Emeritus of English at Mount Royal University, Richard is a full-time poet, essayist, editor, and writing mentor in Calgary where he has hosted the Thursday Group poetry workshop for the past 25 years.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER: 

Kit Dobson is the author/editor/co-editor of ten books, ranging from novels to literary analysis and author interviews. His writing on Canadian literature has been hailed as “foundational.” Kit teaches English at the University of Calgary and serves on the editorial boards of NeWest Press and Ariel: A Review of International English Literatures.