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Book Launch: Yosef Wosk, 'New Life Joke Shop: Travels and Observations'
Date: 16 October 2025
Time: 1730-1900
Location: The Buttery, Wolfson College
Join OCLW for an evening with scholar and writer Yosef Wosk as we celebrate the launch of his latest book, New Life Joke Shop: Travels and Observations.
A sweeping odyssey of thought, travel and adventure, defying conventional form and ideas.
— Sasha Colby, author of The Matryoshka Mysteries; Director, Graduate Liberal Studies, Simon Fraser University
New Life Joke Shop is the second volume in Wosk’s autobiographical trilogy. Through essays and vignettes that fuse travel writing, memoir and cultural critique, he offers what he calls “a confectionary, a philosophical variety store, a word emporium of observations on Ageing, Arts, Books, Charity”, and more. Written through a lens he terms psychogeography—“the cosmos becoming conscious of itself through the agency of human awareness”—the collection treats streets, interiors, archives and objects as catalysts for thinking about memory, technology, conflict and care.
Wosk will read from New Life Joke Shop and reflect on its form, themes and key contentions. An audience Q&A will follow.
Speaker details
Yosef Wosk is an Adjunct Professor in Humanities, a Simons Fellow and former Director of Interdisciplinary Programmes in Continuing Studies at Simon Fraser University, where he developed programmes including The Philosophers’ Café and the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars. An ordained rabbi, he holds two honorary doctorates, PhDs in Religion and Literature and in Psychology, and Master’s degrees in Education and Theology. He is president of Kolbo Holdings.
Widely travelled—including expeditions to the North and South Poles—Wosk is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He has founded hundreds of libraries and supported museums on all seven continents, endowed Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, and taught thousands of students worldwide. Identified as one of the top ten thinkers and most thoughtful citizens in the province, he is included in Canadian Who’s Who and has received numerous awards, including the Order of British Columbia, the Freedom of the City of Vancouver, the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, and a Culture Beyond Borders Medal from the United Nations. In 2020, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Active in communal affairs—especially in education, libraries, museums, the arts, social services, heritage conservation, gardens, philanthropy and religion—Wosk is a media commentator, public speaker, and published author.
Further Details and Contacts
After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception.
This hybrid event is free and open to all. Registration is recommended for in-person attendance and required for hybrid attendance.
The seminar will be recorded and made available on the OCLW website soon after. Registration is not required to access the recording.
Registration will close at 14:30 on 16 October 2025.
Queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.
Date: 16 October 2025
Time: 1730-1900
Location: The Buttery, Wolfson College
Join OCLW for an evening with scholar and writer Yosef Wosk as we celebrate the launch of his latest book, New Life Joke Shop: Travels and Observations.
A sweeping odyssey of thought, travel and adventure, defying conventional form and ideas.
— Sasha Colby, author of The Matryoshka Mysteries; Director, Graduate Liberal Studies, Simon Fraser University
New Life Joke Shop is the second volume in Wosk’s autobiographical trilogy. Through essays and vignettes that fuse travel writing, memoir and cultural critique, he offers what he calls “a confectionary, a philosophical variety store, a word emporium of observations on Ageing, Arts, Books, Charity”, and more. Written through a lens he terms psychogeography—“the cosmos becoming conscious of itself through the agency of human awareness”—the collection treats streets, interiors, archives and objects as catalysts for thinking about memory, technology, conflict and care.
Wosk will read from New Life Joke Shop and reflect on its form, themes and key contentions. An audience Q&A will follow.
Speaker details
Yosef Wosk is an Adjunct Professor in Humanities, a Simons Fellow and former Director of Interdisciplinary Programmes in Continuing Studies at Simon Fraser University, where he developed programmes including The Philosophers’ Café and the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars. An ordained rabbi, he holds two honorary doctorates, PhDs in Religion and Literature and in Psychology, and Master’s degrees in Education and Theology. He is president of Kolbo Holdings.
Widely travelled—including expeditions to the North and South Poles—Wosk is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He has founded hundreds of libraries and supported museums on all seven continents, endowed Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, and taught thousands of students worldwide. Identified as one of the top ten thinkers and most thoughtful citizens in the province, he is included in Canadian Who’s Who and has received numerous awards, including the Order of British Columbia, the Freedom of the City of Vancouver, the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, and a Culture Beyond Borders Medal from the United Nations. In 2020, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Active in communal affairs—especially in education, libraries, museums, the arts, social services, heritage conservation, gardens, philanthropy and religion—Wosk is a media commentator, public speaker, and published author.
Further Details and Contacts
After the event, join us for a complimentary wine reception.
This hybrid event is free and open to all. Registration is recommended for in-person attendance and required for hybrid attendance.
The seminar will be recorded and made available on the OCLW website soon after. Registration is not required to access the recording.
Registration will close at 14:30 on 16 October 2025.
Queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.