The George Bowering Collection and Reading Room at the University of British Columbia’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC) on the Vancouver campus is set to become a reality after the project met its end-of-year fundraising goal.

Planning and construction for the project, which will include more than 6,500 books, as well as some of the art and knick-knacks that adorned the walls and sat on the bookshelves of the CanLit legend’s office, will begin in a few weeks, and the space is expected to be completed and open by late 2025. UBC announced the fundraising success this week.

Fundraising for the project’s $500,000 price tag began in 2023, but the project was short more than $300,000 as of late November.

“We hope that that being surrounded by the authors that influenced George, and those who were inspired by him in turn, will provide a rich and inspirational learning space for students at UBC and a point of connection to the Canadian Literature community for years to come,” Katherine Kalsbeek, head of rare books and special collections at UBC, said in a press release.

Bowering’s partner Jean Baird said that Kalsbeek phoned her and Bowering at 3 p.m. on Dec. 31 to share the happy news that the fundraising goal had been reached.

Kalsbeek, Baird, and Bowering first began talking about how to share the poet’s book collection in 2015. The reading room will be a recreation of Bowering’s creative work space as one of the UBC library’s public spaces.