Empowering the next chapter

As an SFU student in the 1970s, Kearnon O. Kanne developed a passion for English, writing, and psychology that would forever shape her personal and professional journey.

Now, through both a current gift and a gift in will to SFU, she hopes to inspire the creative experiences of future generations of students, writers, and the greater community.

“Simon Fraser University had an amazing impact on me as an adolescent and in my early 20s,” Kearnon says. “It was exciting and intellectually stimulating, all bell bottoms and tie dyes and that kind of stuff. I had some great teachers, had some very wild times, and made lasting friends. It was truly foundational for me.”

Kearnon fondly recalls being exposed to ideas and many compelling voices that continue to embolden her own writing and thinking today: Betty Lambert, George Bowering, John Mills, James Marcia, Sandra Djwa, and Robin Blaser, to name a few.

“SFU was an introduction into a broader community of writing, a connection to minds across the centuries, an understanding that I was not alone in my predilections,” she explains. The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ezra Pound, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Duncan, she notes, were a far cry from the Ontario farm where she was raised with access to only the Bible and a few issues of Readers Digest.

Opening a world of possibilities

SFU would lead Kearnon to many other adventures in literature and life. In addition to her own writing, she became very engaged with numerous literary activities including the Vancouver Poetry Festival, the Federation of B.C. Writers, the B.C. Book Prizes (now the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes), and Poetry in Transit. She also pursued graduate studies in fine arts and creative writing at Mills College in California, inspired by Mills alumnus Ellen Tallman, the distinguished literature instructor-turned therapist who, along with her late husband, Warren, hosted numerous idea-filled parties and gatherings that invigorated Kearnon and many other students.

Kearnon would eventually go on to have a lengthy career as an English teacher with British Columbia Open University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and Thompson Rivers University; she retired in 2022.

Now in her early 70s and a stepmother and grandmother, Kearnon reflected deeply on her SFU experience while she and her partner were contemplating their legacy and estate, choosing to support SFU’s Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence program through a gift in her will.

The Writer-in-Residence program plays a vital role in SFU’s creative and intellectual life and strengthens a vibrant, interconnected literary community at the university. Delivered by the English department, the program brings practicing writers to SFU to consult and connect with community—students, faculty, alumni, and the public—through dialogue, networking, readings, and more. Writers-in-residence can hone their craft while supporting the growth of emerging voices and fostering the broader creative collective.

Giving from the heart and soul

“My giving is so aligned with the deepest part of me in terms of passion, caring, and contributing,” Kearnon says. “After taking care of my friends and my family, there is a sense of being able to have a lasting impact through SFU. It’s like the ripple effect, of dropping a pebble into a lake and keeping it going. When I think about being on the farm, working so hard, and then ending up being able to do this and have this kind of impact… it’s nice to know that you can make of nothing something.”

In addition to her planned gift, Kearnon also recently gave to SFU to establish the k. o. kanne Graduate Award in Creative Writing Endowment.

“I was given bursaries all the way through my education out of need,” she explains. “Without that support, I may not have been able to make it. As it was, I had three jobs when I was in grad school! I wanted to be able to support some other students so they can devote more time to their studies.”

She encourages others to consider how they too can fulfill their legacy, noting the incredible difference philanthropy makes not only to the SFU community but also to donors themselves.