Join us to celebrate author Jaclyn Desforges, 2023-24 Writer in Residence. This event will also include select readings from community members who worked with Jaclyn during her residency. The event will be held in-person at the Lyons Family Studio (formerly called Black Box Theatre) in L.R. Wilson Hall, including light refreshments.  

6:30 p.m. Doors open 
7:00 p.m. Celebration and Readings 
8:00 p.m. Reception 

Register for the event here! 

The Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer in Residence program is funded by the McMaster Provost, McMaster Library, Hamilton Public Library and Faculty of Humanities. Learn more here. 

About Jaclyn Desforges 

Jaclyn Desforges is the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press/Anstruther Books), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's picks for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She's also the author of Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), which was shortlisted for a Chocolate Lily Award and selected for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club.  

Jaclyn is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of a 2022 City of Hamilton Creator Award, a 2020 Hamilton Emerging Artist Award for Writing, two 2019 Short Works Prizes, and the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Jaclyn’s writing has been featured in literary magazines across Canada. She holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter. 

Transformative Stories: Year of Gender and Justice is presented by McMaster University Library in collaboration with campus and community partners and will feature a lineup of free, public programming from fall 2023 through summer 2024. The series is part of McMaster University Library’s biannual “Year of” celebrations, which are aimed at highlighting the library’s unique collections, resources, and expertise and emphasizing its vital role in supporting the research, teaching, and learning mission of the university.