Video available all weekend July 23rd-25th
Henry Adam Svec reads and performs from Life is Like Canadian Football and Other Authentic Folk Songs (Invisible Publishing), a grossly inaccurate “memoir” about CFL folk legends. It’s comical and touching, and, above all, a quest for authenticity, just like all good folk songs.
Henry Adam Svec has been pushing boundaries in Canadian folklore since he unearthed songs (a hoax) by CFL players in Library and Archives Canada, thrusting himself into the scene—and the media spotlight. Those spartan poems are finally included in this anthology, in addition to the fruits of his subsequent expeditions as a folklorist.
Henry Adam Svec is the author of American Folk Music as Tactical Media. His writing has appeared in The New Quarterly, C Magazine, and elsewhere, and his musical performances have been presented in galleries and festivals including 7a*11d, FADO, and Sappyfest. Raised on a cherry farm near Blenheim, Ontario, he has also lived in New Brunswick and Mississippi. He currently teaches at the University of Waterloo. Life is Like Canadian Football and Other Authentic Folk Songs is published by Invisible Publishing.
“Life is Like Canadian Football and Other Authentic Folk Songs is deeply personal as much as it is a rich performance—like the best folk songs are.”—Kate Beaton, author of Hark! A Vagrant