Laurier to host a virtual conversation with 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Souvankham Thammavongsa

Sept. 16, 2021
For Immediate Release

Brantford – Join Wilfrid Laurier University and 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Souvankham Thammavongsa in a virtual conversation on Sept. 22.

While teaching creative writing at Laurier’s Brantford campus, Thammavongsa won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2021 Trillium Book Award for her short story collection, How to Pronounce Knife.

Join Thammavongsa and Eleanor Ty, professor of English, for a virtual chat exploring her work, including the ways the author takes seemingly small events and elevates them into great literature.

The event, “Aesthetics of the Small,” runs from 7 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 22. To register, visit laurieralumni.ca/homecoming. The event is sponsored by the Office of the Senior Executive Officer, Brantford campus and is part of Laurier’s 2021 Homecoming celebrations.

How to Pronounce Knife (McClelland & Stewart) is a collection of stories focused on characters struggling to make a living, including the daily lives – both humourous and tragic – of immigrants. Thammavongsa highlights the hopes, endeavours and hardships of unforgettable characters caught between cultures, languages and values.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize jury citation said How to Pronounce Knife “is a stunning collection of stories that portray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose. The emotional expanse chronicled in this collection is truly remarkable. These stories are vessels of hope, of hurt, of rejection, of loss and of finding one's footing in a new and strange land. Thammavongsa's fiction cuts to the core of the immigrant reality like a knife – however you pronounce it."