Canadian Studies

Killam Professor of Canadian Studies

The BSC Canadian Studies Program is proud to host Mr. Nino Ricci, award-winning Canadian author, as the inaugural Killam Professor of Canadian Studies. Mr. Ricci will be in residence at the college during the fall 2009 semester. He has agreed to teach a fiction writing workshop (ENGL 228-002)--an exciting opportunity for BSC students--as well as speaking both on campus and off, and attending local and national Canadian Studies events.

The Killam Professorship of Canadian Studies has been established at BSC to infuse new and exciting Canadian content into the curricula and courses at the college, elevate the understanding of Canadian issues and culture in the region, and provide opportunities for interaction between students and a person of expertise and stature in Canadian issues, and collaboration between BSC faculty and Canadian scholars on an extended basis.

The first endowed chair at a Massachusetts state college, the professorship is funded principally by the Constance Killam Trust and the Elizabeth Killam Rodgers Trust, the enduring legacies of the sisters of Izaak Walton Killam, a Canadian financier who ultimately became one the the country's wealthiest men and greatest philanthropists of the early 20th century.

Nino Ricci's first novel, Lives of the Saints, garnered international acclaim,

appearing in fifteen countries and winning a host of awards including, in Canada,

the Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel

Award, and in England, the Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Prize.

It was followed by In a Glass House and Where She Has Gone, which completed

the trilogy. The Lives of the Saints Trilogy was adapted for a miniseries starring

Sophia Loren, Sabrina Ferilli, and Kris Kristofferson.
Born in Leamington, Ontario, to parents from the Moise region of Italy, Ricci completed studies at York University in Toronto, Concordia University in Montreal, and the University of Florence. He has taught both in Canada and abroad, and is a past president of the Canadian Centre of International PEN.

Nino Ricci's most recent novel, The Origin of Species, won the Governor General's Award. He is also the first recipient of the Alistair MacLeod Award for Literary Achievement.

 

 

For more information on the Killam Professorship of Canadian Studies, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Modified: July 16, 2009