Let's Talk About It: A Conversation with Author Suzette Mayr

York University Libraries is pleased to invite you to an evening with Suzette Mayr, award-winning author and celebrated voice in Canadian literature, as part of our Let’s Talk About It series.

Mayr is the author of six acclaimed novels, including her most recent, The Sleeping Car Porter—winner of the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. This groundbreaking novel, which brings to life the experiences of a Black, queer train porter in 1920s Canada, has also received international recognition, having been shortlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award and the 2023 Governor General’s Award for Fiction, among others.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Killam Laureate, Mayr teaches Creative Writing at the University of Calgary. Her work spans disciplines, with collaborations in theatre and visual arts, and her academic writing has appeared in journals such as Horror Studies and Studies in Canadian Literature. She is also a past President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

Joining Suzette on the discussion panel are Lisa Sloniowski, Alana Wilcox and Larissa Lai.

Lisa Sloniowski, is an Associate Librarian at York University in the Student Learning and Academic Success department with particular responsibility for teaching and liaison with the department of English Literature, the School of Gender. Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and the graduate program in Social and Political Thought. Her research interests include feminist libraries and archives, the affective labour of librarians, and critical librarianship.

Alana Wilcox is the editorial director at Coach House, Wilcox has acquired and edited such books as the Giller prize-winning novels Fifteen Dogs and The Sleeping Car Porter. She has also served on the boards of the Literary Press Group and the Ontario Publishers’ Association and is currently on the board of the Association of Canadian Publishers.

Larissa Lai has authored nine books including: The Lost Century, The Tiger Flu, and Salt Fish Girl. Recipient of the Duggins Prize, the Lambda Award, and the Astraea Award, and finalist for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, she is currently Richard Charles Lee Chair of Chinese Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto. Les Soeurs de la Muée, the French translation of The Tiger Flu, just won the 2025 Governor General's Award in the Translation category.