Julie Salverson’s work as a writer, scholar and theatre animator explores what it means to be a witness to violence. She is particularly interested in atomic culture and the role of the comedic and absurd in telling risky stories. She has published essays about atomic culture, ethics and the imagination. Salverson has created projects in community-engaged arts practice for many years, and works with groups to practice resiliency through the exchange and development of stories. She is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada and her plays have been produced in Canada, the US and Thailand. Salverson teaches drama at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, Ontario.

Lines of Flight: An Atomic Memoir

Starting from shores of the Great Bear Lake, where the uranium that went into the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been sourced, Julie Salverson traces the journey of the uranium from Canada to New Mexico and onto Japan. Along the way she examines the impact of the element on the communities where it was mined, processed and turned into weapons. Questions of forgiveness and the blurry lines between victim and perpetrator are addressed in a way that offers healing, but no simple answers. The result is a combination of unexpected beauty and hard-won insights. Salverson charts the influence nuclear arms have had on her own life and on the lives of those touched by the various traumas of war, atomic or otherwise.