Celebrate Women 2026!
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CFUW - Sudbury, in partnership with the YWCA Sudbury and LEAF Sudbury present the 30th annual Celebrate Women on Tuesday, May 5 at 7:00 pm, at Sudbury Secondary's Sheridan Auditorium (154 College Street).
Celebrate Women includes a reception, book signing, and free parking - all for only $20. Tickets are available at Adoro Olive Oils and Vinegars, Jett Landry Music, on Eventbrite, at the door or from any CFUW member. Books will be available in both hard cover and paperback. Book SponsorshipsFor a $130 charitable donation, a hard copy of Invisible Prisons by Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen will be placed in a secondary, post-secondary or public library of your choice. Your donation will be acknowledged in the book.
Please mail this form with a cheque for $130 payable to "YWCA Sudbury"; by April 21st, 2026 to: Christine Tworo, 747 Dry Pine Bay Road, Alban, ON, P0M 1A0 For more information or other payment options, contact Christine at 705-691-0935 or email her at [email protected]. |
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Major Sponsors
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About the book:
WINNER OF THE 2024 BMO WINTERSET AWARD • WINNER OF THE 2025 NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR NON-FICTION BOOK AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE 2024 HILARY WESTON WRITERS’ TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • The Globe and Mail’s Best Books of 2024 • CBC Books’ Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024
Riveting nonfiction from multi-award-winning author Lisa Moore, based on the shocking true story of a teenaged boy who endured abuse and solitary confinement at a reform school in Newfoundland, but survived through grit and redemptive love.
Invisible Prisons is an extraordinary, empathetic collaboration between the magnificent writer Lisa Moore, best-known for her award-winning fiction, and a man named Jack Whalen, who as a child was held for four years at a reform school for boys in St John’s, where he suffered jaw-dropping abuses and deprivations. Despite the odds stacked against him, he found love on the other side, and managed to turn his life around as a husband and father. His daughter, Brittany, vowed at a young age to become a lawyer so that she could seek justice for him. Today, that is exactly what she is doing—and Jack's case is part of a lawsuit currently before the courts.
The story has parallels with Unholy Orders by Michael Harris about the Mount Cashel orphanage, and with the many horrific stories about residential schools—all of which expose a paternalistic state causing harm and a larger society looking away. Yet two powerful qualities set this story apart. As much as it is about an abusive system preying on children, it is also a tender tale of love between Jack and his wife Glennis, who saw the good man inside a damaged person and believed in him. And it is written in a novelistic way by the great Lisa Moore, who makes vividly real every moment and character in these pages.
Riveting nonfiction from multi-award-winning author Lisa Moore, based on the shocking true story of a teenaged boy who endured abuse and solitary confinement at a reform school in Newfoundland, but survived through grit and redemptive love.
Invisible Prisons is an extraordinary, empathetic collaboration between the magnificent writer Lisa Moore, best-known for her award-winning fiction, and a man named Jack Whalen, who as a child was held for four years at a reform school for boys in St John’s, where he suffered jaw-dropping abuses and deprivations. Despite the odds stacked against him, he found love on the other side, and managed to turn his life around as a husband and father. His daughter, Brittany, vowed at a young age to become a lawyer so that she could seek justice for him. Today, that is exactly what she is doing—and Jack's case is part of a lawsuit currently before the courts.
The story has parallels with Unholy Orders by Michael Harris about the Mount Cashel orphanage, and with the many horrific stories about residential schools—all of which expose a paternalistic state causing harm and a larger society looking away. Yet two powerful qualities set this story apart. As much as it is about an abusive system preying on children, it is also a tender tale of love between Jack and his wife Glennis, who saw the good man inside a damaged person and believed in him. And it is written in a novelistic way by the great Lisa Moore, who makes vividly real every moment and character in these pages.
About the Author:
LISA MOORE is the author of the bestselling novels Alligator, February, and Caught; the story collections Open and Something for Everyone; and a young adult novel, Flannery. Her books have been finalists for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, CBC Canada Reads, the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the Man Booker Prize, among many other honours and accolades. Lisa lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.