ANNOUNCING WRITE ON! CONTEST WINNERS 2014 First Place winners, Kyle McKillop and Aidan Chafe read at the LitFest New West Showcase. Presenter, Deborah Kelly read an excerpt of Clarissa P. Green’s winning story on Saturday April 26, 2014, Laura Muir Theatre, Douglas College. Awards $100 first prize $50 second prize and $25 third prize Poetry Judge: Jonina Kirton POETRY WINNERS Poetry First Place (LitFest Gala Showcase): AIDAN CHAFE – PAPI THUNDERCLOUD Poetry Second Place: Max Tell – The Kid Who Hid His Head In A Box Poetry Third Place: Vanessa Winn – Western Bleeding Heart: Dicentra Formosa
Non Fiction Judge: Corey Levine NON FICTION WINNERS Non-Fiction First Place (LitFest Gala Showcase): KYLE MCKILLOP – THREE DAYS OUT OF UYUNI Non-Fiction Second Place: Karen Faryna – Tomorrow Is Another Day Non-Fiction Third Place: Donna Terrill – Etched On Stone
Fiction Judge: Antonia Levi FICTION WINNERS Fiction First Place (LitFest Gala Showcase): CLARISSA P. GREEN – NORTHERN NEIGHBOURS Fiction Second Place: Kyle McKillop – Amid Ravens, A Reader Fiction Third Place: Elizabeth Schofield – Tango, Solo
Congratulations to all the winners! Thanks to all who submitted!
ANNOUNCING RCLAS WRITE ON! CONTEST 2014
WINNERS & HONOURABLE MENTIONS
POETRY (Judge: Jonina Kirton) Poetry First Place: AIDAN CHAFE – PAPI THUNDERCLOUD Poetry Second Place: Max Tell – The Kid Who Hid His Head In A Box Poetry Third Place: Vanessa Winn – Western Bleeding Heart: Dicentra Formosa
Poetry Honourable Mentions Spring Hawes - Nurse Alan Hill – A Great & Glorious Rage Kyle McKillop – The Fog NON FICTION (Judge: Corey Levine) Non-Fiction First Place: KYLE MCKILLOP – THREE DAYS OUT OF UYUNI Non-Fiction Second Place: Karen Faryna – Tomorrow Is Another Day Non-Fiction Third Place: Donna Terrill – Etched On Stone
Non Fiction Honourable Mentions Alexander Birkbeck – The Craters Jude Neale – Just Like Her Mom Donna Terrill – Defying The Odds
FICTION WINNERS (Judge: Antonia Levi) Fiction First Place: CLARISSA P. GREEN – NORTHERN NEIGHBOURS Fiction Second Place: Kyle McKillop – Amid Ravens, A Reader Fiction Third Place: Elizabeth Schofield – Tango, Solo
Fiction Honourable Mentions Julie MacLellan – Balance Julie MacLellan – Forever, You Said Jen Ryan – A Night To Remember
Candice James, Poet Laureate, New Westminster and LitFest New West Keynote Speaker, Gary Geddes
April 26, 2014 Douglas College
Look for the LITFEST Special Edition coming up in our June e-Zine.
RCLAS WRITER OF THE MONTH a
Alan Hill
Alan Hill has to date published two books of poetry The Broken Word (2013) and The Upstairs Country (2012). His poetry has also appeared in Canada in CV2, Canadian Literature, Vancouver Review, Antigonish Review, Quills, Sub-Terrain, Poetry is Dead; in the UK in South, Brittle Star, The Wolf and Turbulence; and in the United States in The Dallas Review and Cascadia Review. He has also been published in a number of international and Canadian anthologies. He is currently editing a manuscript of new work, still untitled, that he hopes to present to publishers this summer. His work strives to be both approachable and original and his poems often feature a strong storyline weaving together the personal, political and historical. Influences include the established poets of his native Britain - Larkin, RS Thomas, MacNeice and Charles Tomlinson and from North America - Sharon Olds, Anne Sexton and Canada’s own Pat Lowther. He believes that there is never a destination point in a writer’s development and to be a good writer you must continue to read the work of others and always be prepared to learn and adapt. Alan originates from the English/Welsh borders and has travelled extensively and worked in jobs ranging from renovating old graveyards to working in a jellybean factory. He began writing while living and working in Botswana where he met his Canadian wife to be and he arrived in Canada in 2005. He and his family have settled in New Westminster. He has been and continues to be a regularly featured reader at many literary events in the Lower Mainland of BC. Here are some links where you can find out more about Alan and his work https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlanHill
http://www.richmondreview.com/entertainment/230284341.html
http://cascadiareview.org/2013/10/14/statement-of-place-alan-hill/ “Alan Hill is a 2014 RCLAS Write On! Contest Honourable Mention in the category of Poetry. Look for his poem “A Great & Glorious Rage” in a Fall issue of our e-Zine. Congratulations, Alan!” – Janet Kvammen, RCLAS
A Vanishing England Š Alan Hill My wife and I took a short cut across fields which ended when she ripped her pants on a barbed wire fence straddled herself on rusty wire in her princess issue clothes she had been saving for our Rome trip hung there , a wounded fashionista strung up as she advanced on enemy lines There is no justice I, fat and forty eight am a Jaguar leaping across disaster perpetual country boy, with my childhood unstitched, frittered entertaining myself with solitary walks going invisible through empty woodlands beneath the hedge lines at the end of stranger’s gardens in all that loneliness which is useful now that holds my runners firmly on the fence posts with their century of slip pulls her over, disentangles her has the sense not to let me laugh, too much.
Pax Britannica Š Alan Hill After the tenth duke was vaporised away at Dunkirk his family sold the house and land. The estate became a school for disobedient boys, then a home for obedient Hari Krishnas chanting themselves silly on the mile wide thigh of lawns then eventually it all came back as a heritage park and public conservation zone the gardens now for people just like me indulging in butt crack summer napping picnicking in vowel smudging apocalypse with our snot marinated children playing soccer with the heads of minor royalty around the moss stained statues of the long forgotten. The rich are still here. Their Rolls Royce Silver Ferrets Jaguar Bone Crushers Land Rover Colostomies camouflaged outside barn conversations hidden up private laneways as they squirrel away pension funds amalgamate mortgage frauds iron their Sunday Times plot revenge in forever desperation all bridge and guzzled cooking sherry wax jacket, sudoku immortal.
Examining My Own Bones Š Alan Hill
Eventually after many months of schoolyard glancing I wrote a note too dumb and young to know they almost never work that they usually get sent when it is all too late. She arrived, as suggested, to find me at the bus shelter bringing us our blood, swelling it through her face and into me to let it take me by the throat, making me speechless clasping us tight into the mutual impotence of our virginity bend us down under the ripe head of forest, voyeuristically leering itself over us in our small town valley end where no buses would come, not just once but every day the only sound under the stiff sash of summer light made by my fists caressing themselves to death against concrete the sonar slap of their flesh, an altar of bruise boned hands divining out the softest places in the brickwork.
All Poetry unedited. Published as submitted to RCLAS. Poetograph Art by Janet Kvammen
a
May 2014 @ POETIC JUSTICE View Calendar and Bios at www.poeticjustice.ca HERITAGE GRILL, BACK ROOM 3-5 pm Sunday Afternoons—three features and open mic 447 Columbia St, New Westminster, near the Columbia Skytrain Station CO-FOUNDER & BOOKING MANAGER—Franci Louann flouann@telus.net Website & Facebook Manager, Photographer—Janet Kvammen janetkvammen@rclas.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/poeticjusticenewwest/
May 4 Sunday 3-5pm Poetic Justice Featuring Alan Girling/ Jude Neale/ Bonnie Nish Host: Deborah Kelly
May 11 Sunday 3-5pm Poetic Justice Featuring Carleigh Baker/ Frances Cabahug/ Paul Falardeau Host: Sho Wiley
May 18 Poetic Justice Closed Victoria Day Long Weekend
May 25 Sunday 3-5pm Poetic Justice Featuring Lee Johnson/ Susan McCaslin/ Russell Thornton Host: Franci Louann
{IN REVIEW} Candice James, Poet Laureate, City of New Westminster, BC Title: Author: Publisher: ISBN: Price:
A Quiet Coming of Light – A Poetic Memoir Jude Neale Leaf Press 978-1-926655-68-0 $18.00
Jude Neale’s A Quiet Coming of Light - A Poetic Memoir lassoes your heart in rainbow strings and pulls you gently into her world of brilliant imagery, mysterious moods and stark realism, from the beginning lines of the first poem “Places Beyond”: ‘I see the sky unbuttoned by wishes’. Jude is a master at mixing deep sensuality and the scars of love into a tender stew of torn yet delicious eloquence, so well evidenced in “The Affair’: ‘I knew what was mine when I’d found it. So did you - though you blackened my wings in your fire’. Her essence moves smoothly through each poetic offering, like black velvet whiskey, satisfying the reader’s thirst while running the full gamut of emotion’s landscape. The subtle depth of grieving in “An Avalanche” exposes her soul; then blankets it softly: ‘She sleeps with his sweater wrapped ‘round her indigo grief.’ I am particularly keen on her poems “A Falling of Blue” and “Ice Fisher”. The imagery in these poems is nothing short of excellence at its finest. This is truly a worthy offering of poetic art from a poet who has seen too much and felt too deeply; A crushed flower blooming again: She is a phoenix rising from the ashes to shine her inner flame onto these pages that we may read them. Thank you Jude Neale! ~ Candice James, Poet Laureate, City of New Westminster, BC
WORKSHOP TESTIMONIALS Sherry's teaching style is warm, inviting and creative. I felt that she helped me move past my writer's block and truly see myself as a writer and an artist of words. She supported us in digging deeply into our experiences and she listened compassionately to group members stories of pain. She prompted us with fun topics such as love, and encouraged us to think outside the box as we put our stories together. It was a beautiful experience. -
Jessica Bleuer M.A., M.Ed.
Sherry is an enthusiastic teacher and an experienced "listener" supporting the unique writing styles and "voices" of all participants. I very much appreciated the encouraging atmosphere at the workshop. I really did enjoy the experience and I felt that it was especially helpful for beginning writers as it was great how Sherry managed to produce an atmosphere in which we were able to just let go and write. -
Marianne Tolar
I very much enjoyed and recommend Dr. Sherry Duggal's Workshop on Healing, Writing and Creativity. It was a great mix of self-discovery and fun! Dr. Sherry's passion for teaching and sharing is evident in this workshop. As is her generosity in sharing her healing knowledge and illuminating my creativity in a most respectful and enjoyable way. A wonderful experience!" -
Marusha Xerox
I attended Sherry's workshop and found the experience to be very introspective. It was interesting to learn about the correlation between the physical and spiritual effects of writing and how it changes us. I can certainly attest to the truth in those statements as I certainly feel that I am transforming through the work I have been doing. -
Nancy Pilling
Sherry brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to her workshops . But what made the workhop memorable was her enthusiasm and the positive energy she invested in the time we spent together .I read over one of my exercises after a lapse of two years and was surprised at how I had found a voice to express a very personal event in my life. It was cathartic and I'm grateful for the experience. -
Patricia Fimio
WEST MY FRIEND and guest LAWREN NEMETH Renaissance Books
April 11, 2014
POETIC JUSTICE April 6, 2014
It was the kind of poetry event that inspired one of the features, the eloquent Renee Saklikar, to compose on the spot a poem to the participants which she read with great enthusiasm as the last presenter on Open Mic, ending the afternoon on a celebratory note. "All poets are earth diggers and sky watchers," she offered. We agreed, naturally, because we had spent the afternoon digging in soul earth and watching the stars revolve around us. The features, Jenny Getsinger, Franci Louann and Renee Saklikar, were moving and inspiring, with humour mixed in. Poetry was defined as being about our many connections to other humans; to those present and to our ancestors; to the cities we build and infuse with our lives; to the rivers carrying our stories; to history in general. Jennifer Getsinger also presented at Open Mic an amusing and memorable lesson on writing poetry. The Open Mic poets were diverse, dramatic, moving, inspiring, funny and memorable. Thanks to Lausanne Ham, Alan Girling, Diane Tucker, Dominic DiCarlo, George Chris Michas, Franci Louann, Jennifer Getsinger and Renee Saklikar.
Lilija Valis
What a lovely evening with indie folk band, West My Friend, and New Westminster songwriter Lawren Nemeth, who co-hosts with musiciansongwriter Enrico Renz, our weekly Sunday night RCLAS Songwriters Open Mic at the Heritage Grill. No recycled Las Vegas songs here. Everything is original, unique, reaching for the heart and engaging the spirit.
Lawren is not only a talented musician but he is a cool, charming humourist too. Q: What's the difference between a songwriter and a laptop? A: To find out, you'll have to come to his next gig!
With Host : Lilija Valis
Photos By Lilija Valis
Poetic Justice Featured Poets Franci Louann, Jenny Getsinger and Renee Saklikar
The Heritage Grill April 6, 2014
RCLAS SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC
April 13, 2014
Evening's word: Forgiveness The evening started out with Songwriters forgiving the Heritage Grill for changing our schedule at the last minute. After moving to Lavana La Brey’s Renaissance Bookstore, we continued forgiving, musically, anyone who had crossed our desires, and we ended the night forgiving the whole world for being what it was. One presenter left the troublesome business of forgiving entirely. Skye Weste's song was a hit: "I learned I can't make everybody happy (repeat) but I can get everybody mad at me..." Synn Kune and Dawn spread peace by sending out "the light from the centre of {their} heart{s}." "...night of the full moon, I follow the blue butterfly..."
RCLAS SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC
April 27, 2014
Oceans of guitar music and words flowed out at Songwriters, in pursuit of anything in any way related to our challenge word - ocean. When that ran dry (not for Enrico Renz), we explored forgiveness, rejection, lies, making promises of fidelity while drinking beer, cold nights, cages and tears. Enrico ended the night with a theological song, his famous crab one. Two new musicians, Azura Yaleo and Jesse Goodwin, joined our group for the evening, and another, Richard Papiernik, who has come by previously, dropped in to share his new songs.
FEEDBACK & e-ZINE SUBMISSIONS
Drop us a line – Janet Kvammen,
RCLAS Director/ Newsletter Editor & Design
janetkvammen@rclas.com
Deborah Kelly secretary@rclas.com
Open Call for Submissions - RCLAS Members Only Poems, Short Stories, Book excerpts & Songs are welcome for submission to future issues of Wordplay at work. RCLAS Members: Please send us your latest news, feedback on our newsletter and any ideas/suggestions that you may have. Would like to write a feature, a review or an article for the newsletter ? Feel free to submit your ideas. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
*** Events Coordinator needed to compile literary events/contests/ call for submissions listings for distribution to our members bi-weekly *** Volunteer Coordinator *** Event Volunteers
RCLAS Book Reviews Call for Submission: Submit your book to Royal City Literary Arts Society Box # 5, 720 Sixth St. New Westminster, BC V3L 3C5
for review in our new monthly review section of our magazine
Wordplay at work.
SPONSORS
Arts Council of New Westminster Wayne Wright Chuck Puchmayr The Heritage Grill Poetic Justice Poetry In The Park Saddlestone International Silver Bow Publishing
MAY 2014
Wordplay at work
ISSN 2291-4269
Contact: janetkvammen@rclas.com RCLAS Director/ Newsletter Editor & Design