On Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 7:00 pm EDT, Jean Van Loon read from her latest collection of poetry, Nuclear Family published in April 2022.  

Rooted in memory and history, Van Loon’s poems carry the reader into the sense of impending nuclear doom and the explosions of material wealth that shaped her childhood.  Violent events, both global and familial, permeate a girl’s coming of age in a story of cataclysm and, ultimately, recovery.

After graduating from Carleton and Queen’s universities, Jean Van Loon had a lengthy career as a public servant and industry trade association head. Her previous book of poetry Building on River, an imagined account of the life of Ottawa lumber baron J.R. Booth, was published to great acclaim and was shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Prize.