About Us
We became a registered society in December, 2012 and now have 28 Full members, 206 Facebook members, and our membership is growing. We have members locally from the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, Bowen Island, New Brunswick, Alberta, and as far away as Australia. We are based in New Westminster, but our Society has a global reach, which will benefit all members, and will spread the name of our fine Royal City, New Westminster, worldwide. We are currently running our first contest with 3 categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry) We will have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winner in each of the categories and we will have 3 honorable mentions in each category. We will have feature showcases for the winners and cash prizes, and we will have feature showcases for the honorable mentions. We will also publish the winners and honorable mention works. Our three judges are esteemed, published and well established on the Canadian Literary Scene: Dennis E. Bolen, novelist; Eileen Kernaghan, Novelist, Poet; George Opacic novelist, President of the Federation of BC Writers.
We have partnered with the New West Public Library and we currently have 3 FREE workshops scheduled at the NWPL “Scribbles to Publication including
Who is Candice James?
Who? Candice James – Secretary/Treasurer is also the Poet Laureate of The City Of New Westminster; creator of Poetic Justice, and Poetry In The Park events. She is the Author of 4 poetry books:”A Split In The Water”; “Inner Heart – a journey”; “Bridges and Clouds”; and “Midnight Embers – a book of sonnets”. Midnight Sonnets has been nominated for the Griffin Award for Excellence in Poetry 2013 Candice has been featured on radio, television and stage and her poetry has appeared internationally in a variety of anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and e-zines. She has led online forums, facilitated blue pencils, workshops and seminars, reviewed books and written prefaces for authors and poets internationally. She has served on panels for “Word On The Street”, “Lit Fest New West”, and “Black Dot Roots Cultural Collective” Candice also organizes and hosts National Poetry month for the League of Canadian Poets annually.
Is there something you would like writers to know about you? Although I am first and foremost a poet with my debut book published in 1979, I veered off into the music business for 30 years performing as a singer and bass player, and songwriter before coming full circle back to poetry in 2009. And now I have recently started painting, and although a novice, I am enjoying it immensely.
Why are you a director on the board? I am a founding director on the RCLAS board because I am a huge believer in networking and writers helping writers. We all need a helping hand sometime and hopefully writers can find help when they need it within our society.
What is the one thing you would like to accomplish while on the board? I would like to work toward a global reach within our society membership that will span countries, cultures, and all genres of writing including not only fiction, non-fiction, novels, poetry, essays, but also songwriting, scriptwriting, editorials, editors, proofreaders and anyone involved in the “literary” arts. I would also like to see a “Man On The Street” aspect that goes out randomly into the public at least once a month with a videographer and a writer, poet or songwriter to ask random folks in the general public what they think of literature, literary societies, and if a poet or songwriter is performing on the street, getting public feedback……something like this that takes “words onto the streets” and feeds live video back to our members on youtube or on our website. I realize of course we would have to have permission from the folks we video before uploading it to cyberspace.
Have you served on any other boards in the past , or belonged to any other non-profit organization(s)? Yes, I have served on 4 other non-profit societies over the years - Past President of the Federation of British Columbia Writers; Past President of Slam Central Spoken Word, a Past Director Of SpoCan; and Past Vice-President of the Country Music Entertainment Collective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candice_James
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Royal City Literary Arts Society contest is now open and our esteemed judges for our first contest are: Non Fiction Dennis E. Bolen http://dennisbolen.com/ Fiction George Opacic www.bcwriters.ca (President of Fed of BC Writers) Poetry Eileen Kernaghan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Kernaghan email secretary@rclas.com ***In case you were wondering*** Submissions can be published or unpublished and poetry in any form. Can beword publishedlimit or unpublished any form. No wordthere limit for poetry, there is a limit, 1 page limit, single spaced. Fiction No for and poetry, but is abut 1 page single spaced. and non-fiction is a 1500 word limit
Fiction and non-fiction have a 1500 word limit.
Ben Nuttall-Smith Poet Novelist Workshop Facilitator Children’s Book Author Ben Nuttall-Smith taught Music, Theatre, Art, and Language until he retired in 1991. Ben is 1st Vice President of the Federation of British Columbia Writers, a member of the Canadian Authors’ Association, Editorial Board member for the Canadian Poetry Association quarterly magazine Poemata and member of the Canadian Writers’ Union. Publications include an historical novel – Blood, Feathers and Holy Men, (Libros Libertad 2011), an autobiographical novel, Secrets Kept / Secrets Told, (Libros Libertad 2012), a 3500 word illustrated children’s book – Henry Hamster Esquire and a book of Haiku for children illustrated by Jan Albertin – Grandpa’s Homestead. Ben’s poems and short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and online publications including All That Uneasy Spring ed. Patrick Lane; Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine; Poemata Canadian Poetry Association; Royal City Poets, Silver Bow Publishing, Between Earth and Sky, Silver Bow Publishing, Lucidity Journal of Verse, Bear House Publishing, Houston, Texas; Cyclamens and Swords on line poetry magazine. Ben was the winner of The Surrey Board of Trade Special Achievement Award 2011 for work as a writer and for service to the writing community Website: www.BenNuttall-Smith.ca
International Art Academy 1st World Poetry Competition "Manolis Aligizakis"
The International Art Academy invites entries from around the world for its 1st World Poetry Competition "Manolis Aligizakis". Participation is open to everyone, no restrictions based on age, nationality, location of poets. All submissions must be of unpublished poems and written in the GREEK language.
AWARDS First three prizes established and funded by Greek-Canadian poet Manolis Aligizakis
1st prize 1500 Euros and a Medal 2nd prize 1000 Euros and a Medal 3rd prize 500 euros and a Medal Other honorary prizes, distinctions and mentions will be awarded to the finalists by the International Art Academy.
Information e-mail: info@artsociety.gr artacademy@artsociety.gr web page: www.artsociety.gr/artacademy
SUBMISSION DEADLINE March 31st/2013
? To Our RCLAS Members: What Book Are You Reading? Into the Silence By Wade Davis, the history of George Mallory and the early climbing expeditions of Everest (in the context of World War One) - Alan Hill Which, co-incidentally, I'm also reading. – Eileen Kernaghan Anatomy of Keys by Steven Price. A Brick Books release by a BC poet. It is a GREAT poetry book. It basically goes through the life of Harry Houdini as perceived by the poet. Price is a terrific poet! If you haven't read this book, you really should. It is a shining example of the perfect blending of poetry, language, imagery and story as it should be written. I thank Kitty McKay Lewis for sending it to me! – Candice James An Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King – Jonina Lynn Kirton I am rereading the classic, 'Never Cry Wolf' by Farley Mowat. – Donna Allard Metis: Memorable Events and Memorable Personalities by George & Terry Goulet – Gavin Hainsworth Tobruk by Peter Fitzsimons. One of the seminal moments in Australian history: the battle of Tobruk in 1941, in which more than 15,000 Australian troops - backed by British artillery - fought in excruciating heat through eight long months, against Adolf Hitler's formidable Afrika Korps led by General Rommel. – David J. Delaney Grace, Grit and Gusto: Profiles of Remarkable Royal City Women published by Vivalogue – Janet Kvammen
The RCLAS SONGWRITER member co-ordinator is Bob Dillon who has played with many bands over the years and is a songwriter himself. Bob currently plays with the band The Syndicate. He will be hosting singer/songwriter showcases, features, jams and contests for Royal City Literary Arts Society. We are just now in the process of finding a venue to host our sessions at. Stay tuned as we should be announcing our venue within the next couple of weeks. We plan on having a songwriter event every week. For further info or suggestions email secretary@rclas.com
Here's to those who can't get enough of words, who get a kick out of a brand-new blank notebook and a fresh set of pens. Here's to those who stay up late basking in the glow of a computer screen, fingers furiously trying to keep up with the ideas ‌ and also to those who have stared too long at a blinking cursor at the top of a blank page, just waiting for the words to come. Writers of the world...here's a toast to you and your inspiration...we salute you!
Royal City Literary Arts Society And Royal City Literary Arts Society New Westminster Public Library And estminster Public Libraryworkshop present a FREE Sat March 23, 2 pm–4 pm present a FREE workshop New West Library 716 - 6 Ave New West, BC
Sat March 23, 2 pm–4 pm New West Library 716 - 6 Ave New West, BC
“From Memoir to Novel” “From Memoir to Novel”
Since James Frey published A Million Little Pieces. Memoir exposed as Fiction, Memoirs and Autobiographies (except those by and about famous personalities) have become increasingly unwelcomed by publishers. However, you can still write from your own life experiences and tell a story others will want to read and which publishers might be more willing to consider. Memoir to Novel will involve hands-on exercises in writing scenes from personal experience and translating them into story material. i.e. Your worst place scenario for description. That conversation you wish you'd had but never did. The words you didn't have the courage to say. Your weakest moment – expressing feelings through physical sensations and outward signs the reader will be able to see, taste, hear and even smell. Participants will discover the safety of acting through characters in a story. The presenter will provide brief examples of each. This workshop will also help you get started with your own fiction or nonfiction novel, whether auto-biographical or semi-biographical or a novel based on personal experience that leaves the author out of the picture. Having written a memoir was a marvelous help in crafting Blood, Feathers & Holy Men, an Historical Novel about Tenth Century Quétzalcoatl of Mexico, published by Libros Libertad January 2011.
THE COMPLICATED COLON
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Use a colon [ : ] before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself. Think of the colon as a gate, inviting one to go on: There is only one thing left to do now: confess while you still have time. The charter review committee now includes the following people: the mayor the chief of police the fire chief the chair of the town council You nearly always have a sense of what is going to follow or be on the other side of the colon. . We will often use a colon to separate an independent clause from a quotation that the clause introduces: The acting director often used her favorite quotation from Shakespeare's Tempest: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep." With today's sophisticated word-processing programs (which know how much space to put after punctuation marks), we insert only one space (hit the space-bar only once) after a colon. It might be useful to say, also, when we don't use a colon. Remember that the clause that precedes the mark (where you're considering a colon) ought to be able to stand on its own as an independent clause. Its purpose might be strictly to introduce the clause that follows, so it might feel rather incomplete by itself, but grammatically it will have both a subject and a predicate. In other words, we would not use a colon in situations like the following: Her recipe for gunpowder included saltpeter, dry oatmeal, and ground-up charcoal briquettes. (no colon after "included") His favorite breakfast cereals were Rice Krispies, Cheerios, and Wheaties. (no colon after "were") Her usual advice, I remember, was "Keep your head up as you push the ball up the court." (no colon after "was") One of the most frequently asked questions about colons is whether we should begin an independent clause that comes after a colon with a capital letter. If the independent clause coming after the colon is a formal quote, begin that quoted language with a capital letter.
Whitehead had this to say about writing style: "Style is the ultimate morality of mind." If the explanatory statement coming after a colon consists of more than one sentence, begin the independent clause immediately after the colon with a capital letter: There were two reasons for a drop in attendance at NBA games this season: First, there was no superstar to take the place of Michael Jordan. Second, fans were disillusioned about the misbehavior of several prominent players. If the introductory phrase preceding the colon is very brief and the clause following the colon represents the real business of the sentence, begin the clause after the colon with a capital letter: Remember: Many of the prominent families of this New England state were slaveholders prior to 1850. If the function of the introductory clause is simply to introduce, and the function of the second clause (following the colon) is to express a rule, begin that second clause with a capital: Let us not forget this point: Appositive phrases have an entirely different function than participial phrases and must not be regarded as dangling modifiers. There is some disagreement among writing reference manuals about when you should capitalize an independent clause following a colon. Most of the manuals advise that when you have more than one sentence in your explanation or when your sentence(s) is a formal quotation, a capital is a good idea. The NYPL Writer's Guide urges consistency within a document; the Chicago Manual of Style says you may begin an independent clause with a lowercase letter unless it's one of those two things (a quotation or more than one sentence). The APA Publication Manual is the most extreme: it advises us to always capitalize an independent clause following a colon. The advice given above is consistent with the Gregg Reference Manual. We also use a colon after a salutation in a business letter . . . Dear Senator Dodd: and when we designate the speaker within a play or in court testimony: BIFF: He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong. HAPPY (almost ready to fight Biff): Don't say that! BIFF: He never knew who he was.
Who is Ken Ader?
who? Ken Ader is a director of Royal City Literary Arts Society, an owner of Silver Bow Publishing, and owner of Ken Ader Productions. Something you would like writers to know about you? Before I came into the publishing business and video business, I spent many years in the construction industry as a welder/foreman/supervisor and before that as a salesman for Coca-Cola. Why are you a director on the board? I am a director on the board as I enjoy writers and want to help them to realize their dreams. Being a director of this society affords me that chance. What is the one thing you would like to accomplish while on the board? I would like to see it flourish and become a global network for writers worldwide. I believe in writers helping writers. Have you served on any other boards in the past , or belonged to any other non-profit organization? Director B.P.O.E Society Burnaby; Director Boy Scouts of Canada Society Burnaby; Treasurer Slam Central Spoken Word Society.
The Much Maligned, Yet Desirable SEMI-COLON
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It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period. The period tells you that that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, anyway you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But when a semicolon appears you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer. __ Lewis Thomas USE A SEMICOLON [ ; ]
to help sort out a monster list: There were citizens from Bangor, Maine; Hartford, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island. We had four professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English; Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education; and Nada Light, Professor of Nursing.
to separate closely related independent clauses: My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll miss out on something.
The semicolon allows the writer to imply a relationship between nicely balanced ideas without actually stating that relationship. (Instead of saying because my grandmother is afraid she'll miss out on something, we have implied the “because”. Thus the reader is involved in the development of an idea—a clever, subliminal way of engaging the reader's attention.) It is rare, but certainly possible, that you will want a semicolon to separate two independent clauses even when those two independent clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction. This is especially true when the independent clauses are complex or lengthy and when there are commas within those independent clauses. You might consider breaking those two independent clauses into separate sentences when this happens. Coach Auriemma realized that his next recruiting class contained two superb guards, a fine post player, and a power forward; but as of the end of the spring recruiting season, he was still pushing to discover better first-year players for the interior positions.
SUBMISSIONS TO RCLAS
Please send RCLAS your LITERARY EVENTS/BOOK LAUNCHES/CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS/CONTESTS
Send us your events/readings/workshops/performances/book launches featured in your area and we will share them via our newsletter/events listings/website. Submit to submissions@rclas.com within the body of the email (NO ATTACHMENTS PLEASE) Please write up your announcement in the simple format listed below: Title: Date: Time: Location: Contact Person: Email: Website: Description: Please do not use CAPS except in the title. Sticking to this format will make it much easier for us to copy and paste. Please also send your announcement as early as possible to give us adequate time to post. We can’t make any promises we can post all of the events due to time constrictions. Thank you for your submission. Janet Kvammen Director, Royal City Literary Arts Society Email janetkvammen@rclas.com
February 2013 Janet Kvammen Design