Montreal’s Concordia University now houses a reading room in honour of Canadian author Mordecai Richler, who was a student and writer-in-residence at Sir George Williams University, one of Concordia’s founding institutions.

An assortment of the author’s personal possessions were donated by Richler’s family and literary estate with the help of Frederick Lowy, a former Concordia president who advocated for the room’s creation.

From an article in Maclean’s by Richler’s son, Jacob:

Concordia has designated adjoining rooms of a combined 65 sq. m for the purpose. My father’s tea-stained desk will be on permanent display, along with one of his old typewriters and other items transplanted from his office. The space is not adequate for displaying the entire collection we made available, of 157 boxes containing 5,000-odd books, and sheaths of typescripts and personal papers. But all this has been inventoried, and most will be accessible.

[My mother] wanted it presented in a way that amounted to some sort of permanent monument to his favourite workspace through inclusion of select papers, and in particular, his favourite desk. The desk on which he wrote Joshua Then and Now, Solomon Gursksy, and Barney’s Version.

Lastly, my mother wanted the collection to remain in Montreal. And as McGill declined the opportunity, Concordia was the obvious choice.

The room, on the 6th floor of the university’s J.W. McConnell Building, will be officially opened Nov. 28 by Richler’s widow, Florence, along with son Jacob and Concordia president Alan Shepard. Concordia hopes it will “ensure that his works continue to be analyzed, celebrated, and critiqued for generations to come.”