Rising Tides

This inaugural event in the series "Where the Waves Take Us: Art, Identity, and the Sea," will feature novelist Christine Lai, whose acclaimed novel Landscapes centres on an archivist cataloguing art after environmental disaster. Landscapes was longlisted for the 2024 Republic of Consciousness Award (US and Canada) and was a finalist for the 2024 CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature.

Christine and her host, Clara Kumagai, Green College's 21st writer in residence, will be in conversation, discussing shared themes in their work, including: memory, nature, and time.

This event will be followed by a reception in the Piano Lounge, Graham House.

Clara Kumagai is from Ireland, Japan, and Canada. Catfish Rolling, her debut novel, was a 2024 YOTO Carnegie Medal nominee, and winner of the 2024 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year. Her second novel, Songs for Ghosts, is out in 2025. She lives and writes in Ireland.

Clara will be in residence at Green College for three months, beginning in September 2025. Learn more about Clara and her work on her website.

Christine Lai is a novelist and essayist who writes primarily on art and images. Her debut novel, Landscapes, was named a best book of the year by NPR and CBC, and longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Christine’s essay on the history and art of picture postcards, originally published in Geist magazine, was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. Christine holds a PhD in English literature from University College London. She is currently at work on a second novel, which engages with photography and the urban culture of Tokyo.

Series image: Gustave Courbet, The Calm Sea, 1869. The Met; public domain.