RE-VERSING VANCOUVER FEATURING GEORGE MCWHIRTER Also interviews with Patrick Lane and Barbara Pelman
2009 BC Book Prize Finalists
Red Dog, Red Dog (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.) Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Paul Headrick That Tune Clutches My Heart (Gaspereau Press) Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Robin Stevenson A Thousand Shades of Blue (Orca Book Publishers) Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
They’re members. Are you?
w w w. b c w r i t e r s . c o m
photo: Diana Nethercott 2008
Patrick Lane
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From the Editor
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From the President
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The Press Room
Features 4
Re-Versing Vancouver by Carla Reimer with photography by Derek von Essen
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Q&A with Patrick Lane Waking Up to Words by Carla Reimer
Community 20
Launched! New Titles by Federation Members
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Regional Reports Member News From Around the Province
Cover photograph by Derek von Essen. From A Verse Map of Vancouver. Published by Anvil Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
THE FEDERATION OF BC WRITERS IS THE VOICE OF WRITERS IN BC—SUPPORTING, DEVELOPING AND EDUCATING WRITERS WHILE FOSTERING A COMMUNITY FOR WRITING THROUGHOUT THE PROVINCE.
Publisher THE FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Editorial Committee MARGARET THOMPSON LINDA CROSFIELD GAIL BUENTE LOIS J. PETERSON SHIRLEY RUDOLPH
Editor CARLA REIMER
Production & Design SHIRLEY RUDOLPH
Webmaster GUILLAUME LEVESQUE
2008-2009 Board of Directors PRESIDENT—SYLVIA TAYLOR TREASURER—DOUGLAS P. WELBANKS SECRETARY—MARGO LAMONT NORTH—HILARY CROWLEY SOUTH EAST—ANNE DeGRACE CENTRAL—KAY McCRACKEN THE ISLANDS—DAVID FRASER FRASER VALLEY—LOIS J. PETERSON LOWER MAINLAND—LORRAINE MURPHY
Staff EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR—CARLA REIMER MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR—BARBARA COLEMAN
THE FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS PO BOX 3887 STN TERMINAL VANCOUVER, BC V6B 3Z3 T: 604-683-2057 BCWRITERS@SHAW.CA WWW.BCWRITERS.COM ISSN # 0843-1329
PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40685010 POSTAL CUSTOMER NO. 7017320 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO FEDERATION OF BC WRITERS BOX 3887 STN TERMINAL VANCOUVER BC V6B 3Z3
Editor’s Note I
n this issue of WordWorks, Vancouver poet laureate George McWhirter shares about a poet’s responsibility to the public, the similarities and dissimilarities between poetry and politics, and the importance of place—Vancouver, in particular. Also featured are three poems by Federation members that were published in the poetry anthology, A Verse Map of Vancouver (Anvil Press, April 2009). The anthology was edited by McWhirter during his two years as poet laureate and includes photographs by Derek von Essen. Patrick Lane reveals what propelled him to write his novel Red Dog, Red Dog (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.), after many years of writing poetry, and what he hopes readers will take away from the story. He also reflects on the experience of writing a novel for the first time and offers his views on whether the craft of poetry differs from that of fiction. Longtime English teacher Barbara Pelman speaks about how she developed her voice as a poet and how writing, for her, is a kind of spiritual practice. Her second book of poetry, Borrowed Rooms, which was published by Ronsdale Press in 2008, explores life’s random nature. Thanks to former executive director Fernanda Viveiros for her work in compiling and editing the Launched and Regional Reports sections. And thanks also to Derek von Essen for his guest stint designing the cover and laying out the pages featuring A Verse Map of Vancouver. Enjoy! —Carla Reimer
President’s Note A
s we prepare for our 2009 AGM and workshops, we look back on a banner year of positive change and forward movement for the Federation of BC Writers. Along with our highly successful, established programs and services, new, robust committees and revitalized leadership offer even greater opportunities for future growth. A dynamic fundraising committee is creating a comprehensive strategic plan, which includes a focus on more regional initiatives. A successful fundraising event in Vancouver this spring launches a round of events throughout the province that are moving us towards our fiscal goals. We have also begun the process of a legal review and revision of the Federation constitution and bylaws. After three years of Fernanda Viveiros’s excellent administration, our new executive director Carla Reimer brings tremendous energy and commitment, as well as over fifteen years of experience in communications and management for not-for-profit organizations. Starting her position in January, she has already made an invaluable contribution to the Fed. Heartfelt thanks to the board members and other volunteers who devote their time and talent to the Federation and the literary community of British Columbia. With your support, we move into another bright and promising year. —Sylvia Taylor
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NEWS
Edna Staebler Award
The Press Room 2009 BC Book Prizes Three members of the Federation of BC Writers have been shortlisted for the 2009 BC Book Prizes. Patrick Lane’s Red Dog, Red Dog and Paul Headrick’s That Tune Clutches My Heart have been nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and Robin Stevenson’s A Thousand Shades of Blue has been nominated for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Red Dog, Red Dog (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.) is set in 1958 in a small town in the Okanagan Valley, where the lives of the Stark family, and those around them, are thwarted by shattered dreams and violence. At the same time, Red Dog, Red Dog explores the potential for love and redemption within this broken world. Lane is the author of 21 books of poetry, and has received many awards for his writing, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry (1979), the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry (1988), and two National Magazine Awards. He lives near Victoria with poet Lorna Crozier. That Tune Clutches My Heart (Gaspereau Press) tells the story of May Sutherland’s search for identity during the late 1940s. As her high school classmates are divided according to their preferences for Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra, May has no interest in the debate. She starts writing in a diary to record her misunderstandings and attempts at maturity. Headrick lives in Vancouver with his partner, novelist Heather Burt. He teaches literature and creative writing at Langara College and his work has been published in numerous journals, including The Malahat Review and The Antigonish Review. In Robin Stevenson’s A Thousand Shades of Blue (Orca Book Publishers), sixteen-year-old Rachel can’t stand being trapped on a small boat with her family in the Caribbean. However, while her family’s boat is being repaired, Rachel and her younger brother, Tim, discover a secret that turns their world upside down. Stevenson, who lives in Victoria, has published six novels for children and teens. The BC Book Prizes were established in 1985 to celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers.
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Fed member Jane Hall’s The Red Wall: A Woman in the RCMP (General Store Publishing House) was shortlisted for the 2008 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. The Red Wall is based on Hall’s experiences as one of the first female officers accepted into the RCMP in 1977. The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction was established 17 years ago to recognize an emerging Canadian writer who had published a book about a Canadian subject or location. It is administered by Wilfrid Laurier University.
Sylvia Taylor Shortlisted for CBC Literary Prize Fed member and board president Sylvia Taylor’s “The Great Grey Beast” was shortlisted from over 700 entries for the CBC Literary Prize in Creative Nonfiction. Based on Taylor’s experiences as one of a handful of women working as a commercial fishing deckhand in the 1980s, “The Great Grey Beast” chronicles a terrible and magnificent way of life at the tipping point of the fall of the BC fishing industry.
Harrison Festival of the Arts Fed member Elsie K. Neufeld, editor of Half in the Sun: Anthology of Mennonite Writing, will be one of three Mennonite writers featured at the Literary Café on July 13 at the Harrison Festival of the Arts. The evening will include live music by Mennonite musicians, as well as readings by Andreas Schroeder, who has been shortlisted for the 2009 BC Book Prize’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for Renovating Heaven (Oolichan Press, 2008) and poet Leonard Neufeld, author of the recently published The Coat is Thin (Cascadia Press, 2008). All three writers will read works inspired by their strong ties to the Fraser Valley. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, check out www.harrisonfestival.com.
For information about contests, markets, workshops and other literary resources, check out the Federation of BC Writers’ website at http://bcwriters.com/market.php and http://bcwriters.com/links.php.
FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Q&A with Patrick Lane Patrick Lane’s debut novel Red Dog, Red Dog speaks powerfully about loss and redemption in a small community in the Okanagan Valley in 1958. Centring on the the relationship between two brothers—Tom and Eddy Stark— the story reveals how the untold stories and secrets from the past have a disturbing impact on their lives and those around them. While the older brother Eddy is unrelenting in his pursuit of drugs and violence, Tom, a loner, is desperate to uncover his family’s history with the hope of understanding why things are the way they are. An epic novel, Red Dog, Red Dog, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize in 2008. It has also been nominated for this year’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In the following email interview with Carla Reimer, Lane shares about why he wrote Red Dog, Red Dog, as well as the experience of writing his first novel.
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hen you were six years old, your childhood playmate was beaten to death by his father. No one ever investigated your friend’s murder, even though his father had repeatedly abused him prior to his death. In previous interviews, you have talked about how, from a young age, you have had a desire to create a testament because of the violence you witnessed as a child. In what ways is Red Dog, Red Dog a testament and why did you wait until you were in your 60s to write this deeply moving novel? A child dies and nothing is said. The world retreats into silence, a wordlessness, without sound and wanting. The novel for me was simply a long prose poem, its cadences and rhythms no more or less than the compressed forms I’d used all my life in poems. I wrote the novel in order to reach an audience that had never read my poems, its subject matter the same as what I had dwelt upon since I was a child— silence, the disease of silence. Red Dog, Red Dog depicts characters that are trapped by their own destructive impulses and the brutality of the world around them. What was it about this time period—the late 1950s— and the location—the Okanagan Valley—that made it such a violent place? The world has always been violent. Darfur, Rwanda, Poland, Germany, Russia, America, and Canada, yes, and not just the 50’s, but the years before, the years after, now. If
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there is an irony in the novel it is that it is set in what most people think of as a beautiful place, the Eden we call the Okanagan Valley. I grew up surrounded by violence as a child, a boy, a young man. It was everywhere: the daily exhibition of small mean acts, the moments of ordinary horror too numerous to mention. I was an Industrial FirstAid-Man in the southern Interior in the early years of the 60’s. What I saw in my daily rounds at the mills and in the villages and towns was enough to take you back to the 19th century: women beaten, men injured by decrepit equipment and children brutalized. What love there was in that world was never enough to balance the hopelessness that surrounded everyone. I wrote once in a poem: “Violence? Hell, I knew men who lost more than their hands… that whole life was violent but it didn’t seem so at the time. We were just living, you see.” Early on, there is the sense and the hope that Tom’s hunger to understand the past will make a difference in his life. How did his character develop and change as you were writing the novel? Why is he pivotal to this story? Tom believes there is a story that he’s not being told. He thinks it has been denied him by his father and his mother, by his brother, by everyone he knows. He thinks if he could understand the past then it will explain where he is in the now. Something must have happened to make the world so
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Why is it important to understand the past? If we don’t understand the past then we are forced to relive it. Sadly, we seem to learn nothing as a species. The ordinary neighbour, pushed hard enough, would kill to feed his children. Mob rule, dictatorships, chaos, rape, and war seem to be our lot. It seems to me that the history of our civilized world is an endless repetition of violence, the 20th century, as all previous centuries were, awash in blood. That hope, love, tenderness, care, etc., survive, that a moral order keeps getting insisted upon, is a miracle so remarkable as to make me want to believe in a higher power.
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y the end of the novel, I had empathy for most of the characters, even though I was sometimes revolted by their actions. Was this your intent—to create empathy for what is broken? If so, why? Empathy, sympathy, understanding, acknowledgement, recognition, acceptance, surrender, all words. My novel asks what any good literary novel asks—that is that the reader leave the story with the burden of truth the writer has offered. Everyone in the novel is flawed by merely being human in an inhuman world. That the central characters of Tom and Marilyn try to somehow heal what has been broken is a huge step toward life and away from death. His brother, Eddy, tries to drown himself, but fails in the attempt. The novel says: “For him the story had been
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told and whatever was going to happen was going to be the same as what he knew when the waters refused his offering.” For Tom the story is still going on. As it is for him, so it is for many of us here in this world. Readers will hopefully come away with some empathy for the characters and their terrible plight. I hope they do. photo: Diana Nethercott 2008
unbearable. What he’s searching for is hope and love, two things he has been denied. Marilyn Bly offers him change, a possibility he can barely imagine. Tom was a fully realized character from the start. Marilyn Bly appeared early on and was to be not much more than a sexual frisson for Tom, but she insisted on staying in the novel and became a richer and much more fundamental character as the book developed.
For most of your writing life, you have been a poet. How is the writing process for a novel different from that of poetry? A novel for me is simply a longer form. There is no demarcation line between poetry and prose. Genres are the invention of academics who like things to be compartmentalized. There are only sounds, the words that arise, and the meanings we take from them. Do you think any comparisons can be made between how you use language in your poetry and your fiction? Hopefully I use language the same way in poetry as in prose. What surprised you as you were working on Red Dog, Red Dog? Marilyn Bly surprised me. She was intended only to have a brief appearance in the novel’s early chapter, but she insisted she be more than simply a sexual moment, demanding instead to be a central character. I obeyed her wishes. The closing chapters of Red Dog, Red Dog contain everything a reader hopes for in an ending. How hard was it to get the right ending? The hard part about the ending was getting there. My editor, Ellen Seligman, helped guide me to the chapter that had always been there waiting. The last chapter is an amalgam of three separate pieces, all of which coalesced in the last weeks of editing and revision. continued next page
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
piece, though a novel tugs at me—the main character alive in me, and the story of something that happened to him when he was a boy in Germany in 1944-45.
Q&A with Patrick Lane, cont’d
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ou have said, “Books are built out of sound.” How does sound create structure in a work of literature? And, how would you describe the sound of Red Dog, Red Dog? Words to me are the music we make to which rhythmic sounds are attached meanings. As it is impossible for words not to mean, I simply string sounds together out of which character, plot, description, etc., get made.
Why are you attracted to fiction writing at this point in your life? I wanted to reach a larger audience than poetry offered. Also, I wanted to finally finish a whole novel, having begun three or four books during my drinking and drugging years, all of which died in the exhaustion of my addictions. Patrick Lane has authored more than twenty books of poetry. He has received most of Canada’s top literary awards, including the Governor General’s Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award, and the Dorothy Livesay Award. His poetry appears in all major Canadian anthologies of English literature. He has been a writer-in-residence and teacher at a number of educational institutions, including Concordia University in Montreal, the University of Victoria, and the University of Toronto. Lane lives near Victoria with his wife, the poet Lorna Crozier. They are both members of the Federation of BC Writers.
You have written an amazing number of highly acclaimed books throughout your life. What propels you to write? I’ve no idea now. I used to think I knew, but I don’t anymore. It is now what I do when I’m not busy at other kinds of life—making love, eating, drinking (water), reading, gardening, walking, sleeping. In the end it is what I make, as a carpenter a house, a potter a pot, a sleeper a dream. What can you share about your latest writing projects? Another novel, perhaps. Right now I’m trying hard not to devote myself to three, four, or five years of writing one
The Writer’s Studio presents a day of workshops for writers:
Going Public: Promoting and Managing your Writing Life 9:30 am–5:00 pm, Saturday, June 27, 2009 SFU at Harbour Centre, Vancouver Fee: $150 (includes refreshments) at Simon Fraser University presents a day of workshops focussed on skills to help build your writing career. You will learn how to raise your public profile, work with editors, pitch your book or project, write grants and negotiate legal issues. Further information about the workshops is available at: www.thewritersstudio.ca
Workshop topics: Setting up your website: What you need as a writer Tips from editors: Book publishers & magazines Applying to writing programs Grant applications Other technologies: Get your name out there The gap: When your manuscript is done, what next? Pitching your manuscript or project. Taking care of yourself as a writer
Register by phone: 778-782-5073. Register online: www.sfu.ca/wp/onlinereg.htm, enter course number “WRIT696 Going Public.”
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T
om stood and balanced himself against the wall and Marilyn took his arm, leading him to the stairs and then up to the attic room, the floor there littered with dead wasps. She sat him on the bed, his face beaded with sweat. You’re not gonna die, Marilyn said, you’re not. Tom said nothing, his eyes closed. Marilyn removed the dirty gauze from his hand and laid him back on the bed, covering him with the quilt, his breathing shallow, his lips dry. You rest now, she said. You’re sick. When he fell into sleep, she went back down. At the foot of the stairs, she listened for a moment and heard Mother’s door closing. Then she walked out the door to the edge of the old vegetable garden. She knelt at a cluster of plantain and thumbed off a few leaves, pinching the stems to seal in the white sap. She found other medicinal herbs along the fence line, a few leaves of goldenseal, cranesbill, and bracken. Then she went down past the well and walked along the creek bottom. A hen pheasant with five grown chicks rose from some tangled grass, tipped her head at Marilyn, and clucked a warning cry. You too, little mother, Marilyn said, the pheasant’s mostly grown chicks behind her in the grass, peering curiously at her. She took a bubble of orange pitch from a stunted pine growing in a stand of poplars by the fence. Will not, will not, will not, she said, repeating the words over and over as if by speaking them aloud she could make them true. Pulling a handful of arrowheads up by the roots from the soft ground by the creek, she saw a worm writhing around her fingers. She placed it back, watching the dark red whip nudge into the disturbed dirt. She’d seen her mother treat women and their children from along the lake when they’d come to the trailer for help, and knew now that she too could perform the same kind of healing. She remembered what her mother had taught her to look for among the weeds and wild plants and was thankful she’d listened and learned how to preserve a life, to cure a sickness, to relieve a woman’s pains. Marilyn knew the burden of her own monthly bleeding, and knew that her womb could make a new world from the old, a kind of sacrifice her body had always known in its giving up of blood each moon. She looked down, the red worm almost gone now in the dirt where once roots were, and knew then a hand could hold a cup as easily as hold a pistol, a spoon, a knife. Back in the house, she put the different plants on the counter, chopping them up and then crushing them with a hammer. She cooked them slowly into a thick paste, adding at the end a dust of charcoal she’d bruised from the nuggets of burned boards she found in the barrel by the shed. While the paste cooled, she boiled willow bark with black pepper, letting them seethe into a tea. As it boiled, she tore pieces of clean cotton from the nightie she’d brought from home. Then she poured the tea into a glass and carried it upstairs with the pot of paste and the cotton strips. Tom was asleep, but she woke him and took his injured hand, creaming the poison out in a steady, rolling press, then spreading the grey paste of herbs onto a film of gauze and laying it across his palm. She bound the poultice, tying it down and cinching it with the strips of cotton. She tried to make him drink from the glass, lifting his head and dribbling the tea into his mouth, but it ran out the corners and down his chin as he tried to swallow. He turned his face away, his body shivering, smiling a little, and closing his eyes. She put the glass down beside the bed. If he woke again, he’d drink from it or not. She leaned toward him and whispered: I implore you. She remembered one time when her baby brother, Pete, had been sick and her mother had brought him through a fever. I implore you, her mother had said as she sat by her brother’s bassinet. I implore you, Marilyn said. From Red Dog, Red Dog, Patrick Lane’s debut novel. In stores now. Published by McClelland & Stewart Ltd. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
FEDERATION of BC WRITERS 21st Annual
Literary Writes Competition CATEGORY: Poetry DEADLINE: July 3, 2009 JUDGE: Patrick Lane
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atrick Lane is one of Canada’s most highly acclaimed poets. His numerous awards include the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence, the Dorothy Livesay Award for Poetry and the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. He is a member of the Federation of BC Writers. For more information about his work, visit his website at www.patricklane.ca. First Prize: $500, publication in WordWorks and free registration in Fed workshop of your choice ($75 value) Fall workshops include a poetry workshop on form by Fed members Sandy Shreve and Kate Braid, who edited In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry. Second Prize: $300 and publication in WordWorks Third Prize:
$150 and publication in WordWorks
Winners will be read their poems at Word On The Street in Vancouver on September 27, 2009. The competition is open to all BC writers and residents. Entries must be original work, not previously published in any form. Copyright remains with the author. Up to three poems for each entry and a maximum of one page per poem. Blind judging in effect: do not include your name on the manuscript. Manuscripts should be typed, pages numbered consecutively and stapled together with the title preceding each poem. Include a cover letter with your name, address, telephone, e-mail and the titles of your poems. Manuscripts will NOT be returned; they are destroyed at the end of the competition. No e-mail submissions. Contest results will be posted on The Federation of BC Writers’ website in September 2009. Entry fee: $15 for Federation members and $20 for non-members. There is no limit to the number of entries an individual may submit but each entry must be accompanied by the entry fee. A person may win only one prize. Make cheque payable to The Federation of BC Writers. All contest entries must be postmarked by July 3, 2009. Mail Entries to: Literary Writes 2009 The Federation of BC Writers PO Box 3887, Stn Terminal Vancouver, BC V6B 3Z3
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Waking Up to Words BY CARLA REIMER
Barbara Pelman was an introverted teenager when she was swept off her feet—by the words of a poet. As she poured over a copy of Edna Vincent Millay’s A Few Figs From Thistles, she admired the poet’s spunky outlook on love: “She would turn a guy away with the line ‘I shall forget you presently, my dear’ and, yet, later, she would be so in love. Her poetry was great for a romantic high school kid.”
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ater, as she studied Blake and Yeats during her undergrad days at the University of British Columbia, Pelman decided to give up her dream of becoming a dancer for a career as an English teacher. “I liked the way poetry says what it’s all about, the way it wakes you up and shocks you,” she said. “It gave me a strong perspective on how to be in the world.” Although Pelman taught poetry to college and high school students for over 25 years, she didn’t take her own writing seriously until her marriage of twenty years ended unexpectedly in 2000. “Completely shattered,” as she put it, by the dissolution of her marriage, Pelman began writing poems to try to understand why “the things I had thought about the world—like ‘till death do us part’—had ceased to be true.” While she was familiar with the craft of writing from teaching it in high school, Pelman soon discovered that “knowledge and making are two different things.” Since she didn’t want her work to be “just self-expression, something sappy or sentimental,” she started attending the Mocambo Café open mic readings (now known as Planet Earth Poetry) in Victoria to gain a sense of how other poets used language. The readings and, later, annual workshops at Glenairely with Patrick Lane, opened her eyes to contemporary poetry. “It was exciting and a little terrifying,” she said, noting that she had only been exposed to the traditional canon when she got her master’s at the University of Toronto in 1967.
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Gradually, Pelman found that poetry, and the creative process itself, was a way to work through her grief. In 2005, she published her first book—One Stone (Ekstasis Editions)— a collection of poems that speaks to the reconstruction of self in the aftermath of divorce. She credits her writing group with providing her with helpful suggestions for revision, as well as consolation, encouragement and friendship. Her second book of poems, Borrowed Rooms (Ronsdale Press, 2008) also explores the crossroads of identity and loss; however, this time, Pelman examines loss through the lens of time.
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eflecting on the impermanence of our finite, earth bound lives (as evidenced in the death of her father, her failed marriage and the ending of her teaching career), she asks the reader to consider what can be learned from our borrowed existence. “One of my favourite quotes is from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73: ‘This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, / To love that well which thou must leave ere long,’” said Pelman, who lives in Victoria and is a member of the Federation of BC Writers. “What we love is totally bound up with death. It’s the biggest thing we have to deal with.” In Borrowed Rooms, she said, she speaks to the necessity of accepting and finding beauty in our temporal condition. continued next page
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Waking Up to Words, cont’d
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n many ways, she said, poetry is an ideal space for “wrestling with the randomness of the world” and for letting go of our need for continuity: “Writing is my spiritual practice. It seems like an intuitive process. I’m not sure what I’m doing except getting to the bottom of the page. But, I think that brings a deeper awareness, allowing whatever wisdom you have to come forward.” For Pelman, the writing process is different for poetry than fiction. In fiction, “there is the headlong desire to tell a tale and the creation of characters. Poetry seems simpler and more complex. It is concerned with the truth of being human,” she said. “While fiction spirals outwards, poetry seems to spiral inwards to ‘the deep heart’s core,’ as Yeats so perfectly put it.”
The poem “Ghost” (see next page) was written at one of the Glenairely retreats with Patrick Lane. The assignment was to create a poem using details alone to express theme, tone and story. It was a lesson in the great significance of carefully chosen details. The poem began with two things: the Linda Gregg lines and a photograph my daughter had taken of the cottage my ex-husband and I once shared. It’s the photograph that inspired the cover of the book, Borrowed Rooms as well. The details—the red bowl, the boarding passes, the Adirondack chairs—come from various times in my married life. I chose the wildflowers not for their authenticity, but for their sound and rhythm, and also for their ambiguous names. The bed holds all the layers of feelings an ex-wife has for the new, younger wife that now sleeps where she did. There are also references to the difficulties of the marriage and the sense of being emptied out that I had felt for many years. The poem ends with a question about how to look back on a failed marriage: Is it luck or misfortune? —Barbara Pelman
Literary Arts Programs
The Banff Centre 2009
Steven Ross Smith, director
Writing With Style
Wired Writing Studio
Edna Alford, director
Fred Stenson, director
Fall program September 14 - 19, 2009 Application deadline: May 13, 2009
On-site residency: October 5 - 17, 2009 Online residency: November 1, 2009 - March 31, 2010 Application deadline: June 19, 2009
Faculty Joan Clark, writing the past/historical fiction Mark Anthony Jarman, short fiction Trevor Herriot, memoir Jeanette Lynes, poetry
Faculty
Participants will encounter new ideas and gain confidence in their style and voice, while shaping and editing a work-in-progress under the guidance of an experienced editor.
Fiction and other narrative prose Caroline Adderson, Stan Dragland, Pasha Malla, Sid Marty Poetry Stan Dragland, Sid Marty, Alison Pick
Pursue your artistic visions through one-on-one editorial assistance from experienced writers/editors, and through involvement in a community of writers, both on-site at The Banff Centre and online.
For more information and to apply:
1.800.565.9989 www.banffcentre.ca
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Ghost I could be the ghost of my own life returning to the places I lived best. —Linda Gregg On the bureau, a bowl—red, glazed. In it, his unpocketed quarters and dimes, boarding passes, old parking stubs. A painting on the dark wall: two Adirondack chairs facing out to the water, wooden slats of the wharf still gleaming with new planks, and a man, glass in hand, his bald head gleaming also. A small vase on the windowsill, wildflowers from the meadow: lupin and Queen Anne’s lace, a sprig of salal, false Solomon’s seal. It is a small room, almost all bed, a white duvet, two pillows against the iron headboard, new sheets, a pale yellow, bought recently to replace the moldy ones left in the cabin during hard winters and long absence, and against the wall the bureau with its many drawers. Has he emptied these? Has he taken out her bright shirts, the ones they bought in Thailand, the Chinese ones he brought back from his trips— with letters that might have spelled “luck” or “misfortune” if she only knew.
From Borrowed Rooms by Barbara Pelman. Published by Ronsdale Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
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FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Launched! New Titles by Federation Members
Gifted to Learn Gloria Mehlmann University of Alberta Press, August 2008 ISBN 0-88864-498-1 $24.95 This account is of a Cree/Saulteaux woman’s twenty-year career as a public school teacher beginning in 1960s Regina, when discrimination often went unchallenged and the education system was starving for visionary reform. Gloria Mehlmann shares her unique challenges and transformations amidst the students she taught and who ultimately taught her. Devotees and specialists of memoir, native studies, education and women’s studies will want to immerse themselves in this work. Critical, yet uplifting, the strong prose of Gifted to Learn reveals Mehlmann’s talents as a first-rate storyteller. Gloria Mehlmann grew up on the Cowessess First Nations Reserve in Saskatchewan before striking out to become a public school teacher (1962–1983). Her various other careers include serving as a public library trustee and as a director of aboriginal education. Mehlmann has been recognized repeatedly for her contributions to educational, aboriginal and civic initiatives. She received the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal in 2005. Mehlmann is now a full-time writer living in North Vancouver.
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Giants of Nova Scotia: The Lives of Anna Swan and Angus McAskill Shirley Vacon Pottersfield Press, September 2008 ISBN 978-1-897426-01-2 $16.95 This double biography depicts the lives of the famed Nova Scotia giantess Anna Swan (1846-1888) and the celebrated Cape Breton giant Angus McAskill (1825-1863). These two singular celebrities toured the world entertaining royalty and impressing audiences from town halls to palaces. Angus’s and Anna’s Scottish influences originated from their childhood experiences and although it was unlikely the two ever met, the similarities in their lives are uncanny. During their adventures, both worked with and met many unusual characters, including Queen Victoria. Anna married an American giant and the two toured as “The Tallest Married Couple in the World.” This book is an interesting exploration of the causes of gigantism and how a rare condition shaped the lives and personalities of these two Nova Scotians. Shirley Vacon was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, and attended Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She served as a youth care worker in the Department of Youth Corrections before finding a new career as a freelance writer. Now living in British Columbia, Shirley is the mother of three children and proud grandmother of seven. Giants of Nova Scotia is her first book.
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Never Shoot a Stampede Queen: A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo
Nobody’s Father: Life Without Kids
Mark Leiren-Young Heritage House, September 2008 ISBN 978-1-894974-52-3 $19.95
Edited by Lynne Van Luven and Bruce Gillespie Touchwood Editions, September 2008 ISBN 978-1-894898-74-4 $19.95
Never Shoot a Stampede Queen is a collection of true-life tall tales about a rookie reporter’s adventures in Canada’s still very wild West. The night Mark Leiren-Young drove into Williams Lake, British Columbia, in 1985 to work as a reporter for the venerable Williams Lake Tribune, he arrived at the scene of an armed robbery. And that was before things got weird. For a twenty-two-year-old from Vancouver, a stint in the legendary Cariboo town was a trip to another world and another era. From the explosive opening, where Mark finds himself in a courtroom just a few feet away from a defendant with a bomb strapped to his chest, to the case of a plane that crashed without its pilot on board, Never Shoot a Stampede Queen is an unforgettable comic memoir of a city boy learning about—and learning to love—life in a cowboy town. Mark Leiren-Young is a screenwriter, playwright, performer and freelance journalist. He wrote, directed and produced the awardwinning feature film The Green Chain—a documentary-style drama about a dying BC logging town. His stage plays have been produced throughout Canada and the United States, as well as in Europe and Australia. Mark has written for such publications as Time, The Georgia Straight, The Tyee, Maclean’s and The Utne Reader, and he has received a National Magazine Award for his work as a columnist.
When Nobody’s Mother was published in 2006, people said it needed to be written. Now it’s the men’s turn to share their powerful stories about life without kids. And as it turns out, there is a lot to say about fatherhood or its absence. In this sequel, comes an honest and poignant collection of essays from men who are challenging our traditional understanding of fatherhood. The essays in Nobody’s Father are as often frank and funny as they are agonized or angry. The twenty-three essayists in this illuminating anthology come from all walks of life. They are gay and straight, young and old. They are writers and artists, teachers and priests. They are doting uncles and favourite babysitters, each one redefining the role of father. Lynne Van Luven is an associate professor in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria, where she teaches journalism and creative nonfiction. She is a regular contributor to Monday Magazine and has edited three previous anthologies, including Nobody’s Mother: Life Without Kids. Bruce Gillespie is an award-winning freelance writer and editor. His work has appeared in a variety of national magazines and newspapers, including Canadian Geographic, Saturday Night, Chatelaine, the National Post and Quill & Quire.
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That Tune Clutches My Heart Paul Headrick Gaspereau Press, October 2008 ISBN 978-15511-7064-8 $24.95 On the eve of her first day of senior high, May Sutherland’s mother gives her a diary in which to record her experiences. It’s 1948 and the entire student body at Magee High in Vancouver is divided according to their preference for Bing Crosby or for Frank Sinatra. After losing her two best friends overnight, May struggles between her disdain for the debate and her loneliness as one of only a handful of neutrals. At home her parents, both university professors, are absorbed in their own work while maintaining the semblance of a happy household. Parked in front of the living-room console, May conducts an extensive comparison of the two singers, only to find her questions one day answered by a different kind of music altogether. The diary entries reveal May’s commitment to being genuine and truthful, and her endeavours to match her parents’ poise while passing for a normal teenager in the process. In the often hilariously rigid turns of phrase with which May records her misunderstandings and attempts at maturity, Headrick captures the inner life of a good girl coming of age. Paul Headrick lives in Vancouver with his partner, novelist Heather Burt. He teaches literature and creative writing at Langara College. Headrick’s work has been published in numerous journals, including The Malahat Review and The Antigonish Review.
FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
Dear Toni Cyndi Sand-Eveland Tundra Books, October 2008 ISBN 978-0-88776-876-7 $16.99 Gene Tucks is, once again, the new kid at school. And now her new teacher has given the class a hundred-day writing project. His brilliant idea is to have the completed journals locked in the town museum’s vault for forty years so that future sixth graders can read them. At first, Gene has trouble writing to someone who isn’t even born yet. But little by little, Dear Nobody becomes Dear Somebody, who evolves into Dear Toni. And bit by bit, Toni, a good listener, becomes a best friend to whom Gene tells everything. “Gene’s story is told in a marvelously authentic voice; delightful doodles accompany the text, which appears printed on faux-notebook paper. A great addition to middle-grade collections.” —Kirkus Reviews “In the tradition of Ramona Quimby and Clementine, Dear Toni introduces another young spunky endearing character…” —Anna Swanson, CM Magazine “… the most powerful theme is that of Gene’s altruism…Sand-Eveland accomplishes this without letting Gene get cutesy or without bringing in a parent to deliver the moral.” —Quill & Quire Cyndi Sand-Eveland lives near Nelson, BC. Dear Toni is her first book.
Footprints: Poetry and Threads of a Poetical Impression Rifet Bahtijaragic Trafford Publishing, October 2008 ISBN 1-4251-7368-3 $22.00
Illegally Dead Joan Donaldson-Yarmey Sumach Press, October 2008 ISBN 978-1-894549-74-5 $16.95
Footprints: Poetry and Threads of a Poetical Impression is a unique and innovative book comprised of poetry and philosophical prose. It interweaves the personal and the regional, the general and the global, the national and the supra-national, the emotional and the philosophical, the earthly and the cosmic into a gripping portrayal of the human need to understand the essential questions of endurance and the survival of civilization. There is prose in the form of fictive interviews with a broad spectrum of leaders in our turbulent times: Marshal Tito, Michael Moore, the Dalai Lama, and Stephen Hawking. And there is poetry, born out of the recent Bosnian War: lyrical, bitter, impassioned, searching, and ultimately hopeful. In this book, the author establishes simple, graspable explanations for the secrets of the universe as well as for those of the human heart. His cosmic poetry and prose offer the hope that somewhere, beyond the world we have created, there are worlds we can communicate with and thus, maybe, be saved from ourselves.
This isn’t the first time travel-writer Elizabeth Oliver finds herself smack in the middle of a murder investigation. Crime seems to follow her around as closely as her cockapoo companion Chevy. Determined to focus entirely on her work this trip, she sets out to explore the length of Alberta’s Crowsnest Highway to research a new travel article. But no sooner has she settled into travel-writing mode than she is flagged down at a roadside crime scene. Human bones have just been discovered in an old septic tank on a property slated to be used for a new hog barn development. Resisting the temptation to get involved, she arrives at her B&B only to find that her host’s mother Peggy used to own the septic tank property, and may know more about the situation than she’s letting on. Now thoroughly drawn into events, Elizabeth gives free rein to her investigative tendencies. In an unexpected twist, her travel research may provide the clues that help her finally reveal the disturbing truth of the murders. Packed with suspense and rich in fascinating historical anecdotes from the Crowsnest Pass area, Illegally Dead will delight mystery lovers and Canadian history enthusiasts alike.
Canadian-Bosnian author Rifet Bahtijaragic enjoys broadening the cultural activities of Bosnians here in Canada. He has published two novels—Blood in the Eyes and Bosnian Boomerang—and a collection of poetry, Eyes in the Cold Sky. Rifet lives in North Vancouver with his family.
Joan Donaldson-Yarmey lives on Vancouver Island with her husband, one dog and three cats. She has lived in rural, small town and urban environments throughout Alberta and British Columbia. Donaldson-Yarmey is the author of seven travel books, including Backroads of Southern Alberta.
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Seaweed On The Rocks Stanley Evans TouchWood Editions, October 2008 ISBN 978-1-894898-73-7 $12.95 In this fourth novel in Stan Evans’s awardwinning detective series, springtime in Victoria isn’t so sweet. Coast Salish detective Silas Seaweed finds a local street girl dying of an overdose in an abandoned house. As Silas starts his investigation, he begins to suspect that all is not what it appears to be. With a mysterious haunting by a ten-foot-tall bear, a burglary in a hypnotherapist’s office, and the shady working of small-time crooks, Silas finds himself in a criminal ring full of deception, murder and blackmail. Infused with West Coast aboriginal mythology and written with the signature fast-paced plot and characteristics of the first three Silas Seaweed mysteries, Seaweed on the Rocks takes you from the picture postcard views of a quaint garden city to the deeper dark side of its underworld. “the fourth novel in the bright Silas Seaweed series by Stanley Evans is as clever and sparkly as the first three... Evans delivers a sprightly tale.” —The Globe and Mail “Silas Seaweed novels are among Canada’s most exciting new crime fiction.... And they feature one of the most interesting detectives to come along in a very long time.” —Calgary Herald Stanley Evans has been a soldier, a surveyor, and a deep-sea fisherman. He once spent several months travelling up and down the Amazon River and its tributaries. He lives in Victoria.
A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems
Tinay the Warrior Princess: The Initiation
Kate Braid Caitlin Press, October 2008 ISBN 978-1-894759-28-1 $16.95
Sonya Roy Inkwater Press, November 2008 ISBN 978-159299-363-5 $22.95
Kate Braid’s newest collection of poems is an exploration of the imagined correspondence between one of Canada’s greatest musicians, Glenn Gould, and “k,” an admiring fan. Braid weaves an intimate dynamic as k struggles with the loss of her hearing and finds her greatest comfort in Gould’s music—particularly as he plays Bach. Gould’s poems don’t directly reply, but echo a response as he struggles with his own difficult life: his family, his health, his strong beliefs in how music should be presented and his personal habits, which are considered “eccentric” by an ever-watchful press. As the poems unfold, k comes to terms with her changing world just as Gould begins a personal spiral into disintegration. A Well-Mannered Storm is a masterful volume of poems that does justice to Gould’s brilliance, offering insights into his personal life and art.
Mani, a Canadian librarian, narrates a story of the people of Atlantis, who many years ago were forced to leave the earth to establish a colony in space to escape annihilation. They eventually settled on the isolated planet of Sasgorg. After several millennia of peace, an Evil Queen gained control and destroyed the balance between good and evil. Fifty years under her rule has passed, and the very survival of the last descendants of Atlantis is threatened. Their destiny rests on the unknowing shoulders of Tinay, a young Atlantean. She must undergo the traditional rite of passage to become an apprentice artisan while unwittingly being trained to become a warrior. Tinay’s destiny is to overthrow the Evil Queen and restore balance to her people. But is a fourteen-year-old up to the task?
Kate Braid’s first book of poems, Covering Rough Ground, won the Pat Lowther Award for best book of poetry by a Canadian woman. Her second collection, To This Cedar Fountain—a response to Emily Carr’s paintings—was nominated for a BC Book Prize. Inward to the Bones: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Journey with Emily Carr, won the Vancity Book Prize. In 2005 she co-edited, with Sandy Shreve, In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry. Braid has also written three books of nonfiction and has taught creative writing at UBC, SFU and Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo, BC.
Sonya Roy is originally from St-Constant, Quebec. The youngest in a family of eight children, she graduated from the University of Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in psychoeducation. A single mother of three and a resident of Abbotsford, she has been working as a constable for the RCMP for the past 11 years.
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The Life and Art of David Marshall Monika Ullmann Introduction by Brooks Joyner Mother Tongue Publishing, December 2008 ISBN 978-1-896949-44-4 $34.95 Monika Ullmann’s book, the first in the new series entitled “The Unheralded Artists of BC,” explores the untold story of sculptor David Marshall and the art politics of Vancouver in the 1950s and 60s. Like all great sculptors, Marshall’s life was about his work: It defined, possessed and obsessed him, and he left behind a legacy in marble, bronze and wood that has no equal in Canada. Yet his name is largely unknown outside the circle of fellow sculptors, collectors, curators and students who knew and admired him. Marshall died in 2006 in Vancouver. His work remains one of the great treasures waiting to be discovered by the Canadian art world and the general public. Brooks Joyner is the Director of the Josyln Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery from 1993-1996. Before earning a bachelor’s degree in English from SFU in 1978, Monika Ullmann worked as house editor for CommCept Publishing. Married to sculptor Peter Paul Ochs, she wrote for the Sculptors’ Society of B.C. and curated The Age of Bronze exhibition for a Vancouver gallery. After several years in the high- tech industry she became a freelance journalist, writing features on the arts, health and tourism for magazines and newspapers in Vancouver. The Life and Art of David Marshall is her first book.
Enter the Chrysanthemum
Underground
Fiona Tinwei Lam Caitlin Press, March 2009 ISBN: 978-1-894759-32-8 $16.95
June Hutton Cormorant Books, March 2009 ISBN 978-1-896951-81-2 $21.00
Enter the Chrysanthemum is a luminous collection of poems about family, love and loss. Employing precise imagery and concise language, Fiona Tinwei Lam mines ordinary events and experiences to find a central core of poetic insight and sometimes harrowing truth. Whether written from the vantage point of a young child observing her parents, a single mother struggling to raise a child, or a daughter watching a parent’s decline and death, these poems reconnect us to what it means to be human.
June Hutton’s debut novel traces a Canadian’s journey from the Somme to the Spanish Civil War. Sixteen-year-old Albert Fraser believes that serving in World War I will make him a man. But a shell blast that buries him alive shatters his identity instead. He emerges from the war with a driving need to act. Back home in Vancouver —with rising shrapnel in his flesh and nightmare images in his head—he works to keep himself occupied. When the Great Depression descends he rides the rails and scrabbles for jobs. With no place to call home he seems destined to wander. Then the Spanish Civil War erupts. He seeks out Picasso’s “Guernica” and sees in the painting a reflection of what his life has become. Now, under a new name, he travels to Spain, a soldier once more, to reclaim all he has lost—or to die trying.
“Lam’s poetry is beautifully written, wise, tender, and very moving. There’s a sense throughout these poems of a heart that is deeply human and eloquently authentic.” —Don Domanski Fiona Tinwei Lam is a Scottish-born Vancouver writer. Her first book of poetry, Intimate Distances, was a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award. Twice shortlisted for the Event literary nonfiction prize, she was a co-editor of and contributor to an anthology of personal essays entitled Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. Her work has been included in BC’s Poetry in Transit program, as well as in Canadian literary magazines and anthologies such as Prism International, Grain, The Fiddlehead, Swallowing Clouds, In Fine Form and Not a Muse. A former lawyer, Lam now dedicates her time to writing and being a single parent to her young son.
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“June Hutton has found poetry in the underground worlds of wartime trenches, Chinatown tunnels, depression-era work camps, and the bomb craters of the Spanish Civil War. In this novel, Al Fraser’s remarkable story has been given voice by a wise and generous writer.” —Jack Hodgins June Hutton’s short fiction has been published in a number of literary magazines in Canada. Currently, she resides in Vancouver where she is a member of the writing group SPiN (www.spinwrites.com). For more information, visit her website at www.junehutton.com.
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Regional Reports
Southeast Region Anne DeGrace, South Slocan degraceanne@shaw.ca
North Region Hilary Crowley, Summit Lake (Submitted by Vivien Lougheed) hcrowley@mag-net.com In Fraser Lake, Doris Ray presented a “Leave Your Legacy” session sponsored in part by the College of New Caledonia. Joylene Butler had successful book signings at Books and Co. and at Save-On Foods in December for her book Dead Witness. She also read at the Prince George library in January. Margo Hearne continued to freelance for the Quesnel Observer in 2008 and delivered a rewarding Off the Page presentation at the George M. Dawson School. Dan Boudreau’s book Business Plan or Bust made it to #2 in the business plans category and #4 in the Home-Based category on Amazon’s popularity list in November. Mel McConaghy has signed a contract for his latest book with Now-or-Never Publishing. The book is to be released in fall 2009. Lynda Williams launched Okal Rel Saga at the World Fantasy Conference in Calgary in November and a few days later in Prince George. Lynda also took on the task of editor for the Okal Rel Legacies series. Former North regional representative Audrey L’Heureux’s exciting life story was included in the book Memoirs of Our Members published by the Elder Citizens Recreation Association of Prince George. The book includes sixty life histories. And much to our members’ delight, North regional representative Hilary Crowley returned from India before Christmas to resume her post!
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Southeast region writers have found their way into schools and libraries, cafes, print publications, and other places frequented by the hopeful or unsuspecting. Some are even finding their way onto shortlists and podiums. Vivien Bowers presented “Stop When Their Eyes Glaze Over—Writing Information Books that Kids Want to Read” at the BC Teacher-Librarian’s Conference in Victoria in late October. She also gave a full day of presentations at three elementary schools. Eileen Delehanty Pearkes read from The Geography of Memory at the Salmo Public Library in October as part of their autumn/winter lecture series for BC 150. The winter issue of the award-winning yoga magazine Ascent included the last of her ten-part series of articles on yoga and the natural world. Also in October, the Grand Forks Writers Guild held its second Poetry Cafe of 2008 at the Grand Forks Library, reports Lorraine Gordon. A dozen guild members and others from the community read or recited poems they had written or their favourite works, with poems ranging from the humorous to the profound. In addition to his bi-weekly columns in the Castlegar News, Gord Turner has recently published an article titled “Tunnels and Trestles” in Route 3 magazine. Ernest Hekkanen and Margrith Schraner published the fall issue of The New Orphic Review, entitled “Blurring Fictitious Lines.” On November 1, Cyndi Sand-Eveland launched her first juvenile novel, Dear Toni (Tundra) at the Nelson Public Library to a packed house. Later in the month, she shared her writing with fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders in Oregon schools. She also read at the Grassroots bookstore in Corvallis, Oregon, and spoke to parents and children at the first Family Literacy Night Series in Albany, Oregon. In November, Angie Abdou did a whirlwind tour of the West Kootenays, including a writing workshop and
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book talk at Selkirk College in Castlegar and a reading in Nelson at the Kootenay School of the Arts. In December, she spoke in Vancouver with Samantha Warwick and Keith Maillard at an event dedicated to literary sports fiction. Antonia Banyard’s Dangerous Crossings! has been nominated for the 2009 OLA Red Maple Award in the nonfiction category. Her book has also received the Honor Title for the 2009 Storytelling Award and is on the list of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids & Teens 2008. Jane Byers won first prize in the Nelson and District Arts Council poetry competition. The competition expanded this year to include Kaslo, Kootenay Bay, Castlegar, Trail, and Slocan. Jane also published four poems in the 2008 publication of Horsefly literary magazine. A whole whack of Fed authors got together to raise money for “Books for Kids” this Christmas, an initiative of Federation member Olindo Chiocca. The event, held
at the Nelson Library in early December, involved words, books, goodies and goodwill. Readers included Linda Crosfield, Ross Klatte, Ernest Hekkanen, Cyndi SandEveland, Anne DeGrace, Olindo, and Art Joyce. In mid-November, Fed members Luanne Armstrong, Kuya Minogue, and Anne DeGrace met with members of the Creston Writers Group to plot a writing conference, Write in the Kootenays, to be held in that charming, centrally-located community June 12-14 2009. Southeast members continue to chat, scheme, celebrate, complain, compare notes and generally connect through the Southeast Fed listserve, an email-based forum with a growing subscriber base. Also growing is the Southeast Fed membership, with a special welcome to new members Jane Byers (Nelson), Jennifer Ellis (Rossland), Jeanette Fairbairn (Elkford), Kathy Hartley (Nelson), and Diana Stokes (Kootenay Bay).
Fed members and others raised funds for “Books for Kids” at the Nelson Library in December. L-R: Olindo Chiocca, Art Joyce, Ernest Hekkanen, Ross Klatte, Anne DeGrace, Linda Crosfield, Cyndi Sand-Eveland, and Yuki (musician).
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on December 3. They provided a free blue-pencil café for interested readers at the Kelowna Art Gallery on December 6. Howard Brown read at the ROCKsalt: An Anthology of Kay McCracken, Salmon Arm Contemporary BC Poetry (Mother Tongue Publishing) launch kaymcc@telus.net October 29 at Gallery Vertigo in Vernon and at the 1st Annual Book Fair November 29 at Gallery Vertigo. He also Bonnie Lumley was one of ten read his poems at the Shuswap Writers’ Coffee House at people participating in last Castaway Café in Salmon Arm on October 24. September’s month-long WriterKathleen (Kay) Johnston, author of Spirit of Pow Wow, in-Residence program at Whistler. read and signed books at Gallery Vertigo in Vernon on On October 24, Bonnie read from November 29. On December 13, Kay joined other OWL her novel-in-progress called Flying (Okanagan Writers’ League) authors for a reading and book Backwards at the Shuswap Writers’ signing at the Kelowna Library. On December 14, Kay signed Coffee House in Salmon Arm. books at Bookland (North Shore branch) in Kamloops. Karen Beggs had a story accepted for “Pause Barb Shave, author of for Pets” (Okanagan Humane Society). Raven Tricks and Good In October, Ann Walsh did a series of Intentions Gone Bad, read readings in Fraser Valley libraries, part of the at Gallery Vertigo in BC 150 celebrations. Her presentations focused Vernon on November 29 on her BC historical fiction titles, especially and at the Kelowna Jewish Moses, Me and Murder! Cultural Centre December Sterling Haynes sold a story to The Medical 2. On December 8, Barb Post called “Wally, the Addict.” It appeared in presented writing workNovember just before Sterling’s eightieth shops at “Careers in the birthday. Arts” day at Kelowna On November 29, Nancy Holmes and Secondary School. Dona Sturmanis were guest speakers for a CAA Susan Fenner of Deanna Kawatski with her two artfully workshop held at the Rotary Centre for the Arts decorated poems at “Secrets in My Garden.” Vernon had her poem, “A in Kelowna. Nancy and other UBCO literary Bed’s Time Story,” publeaders read their poetry at Kelowna Art Gallery lished in the Erotica Fall 2008 edition of Ascent Aspirations print anthology. This poem was shortlisted in the Federation of BC Writers’ Literary Writes 2006 competition. Susan’s article “Roles and Models” was published in Western Parent’s (Calgary) October/November 2008 issue. Two of her personal essays, which provide a first-hand look at African grandmothers raising grandchildren orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, were published in Vernon’s Morning Star newspaper in January. Susan was also one of eleven Okanagan region writers selected for a one-on-one critique with Canadian author Fred Stenson during his Writer in Residence at UBCOkanagan in March. Her creative nonfiction work, “Uncertain Gifts”—a personal essay that grew out of her volunteer work with disadvantaged high school students in South Africa—will be published in the April issue of Existere. David Baxter read two original pieces at the Celista Coffee House in October and November. David writes a monthly column for the Friday AM newspaper in Salmon Arm. Candice Lucey and Karen Bissenden listen intently as Sharon Stearns is the playwright-in-residence at the Coordinator Dorothy Rolin gives last minute instructions at the University of Regina, starting in January 2009. She will “Secrets in My Garden” event held last November.
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continue to work on her musical, a play about the Boswell Sisters called “Shout Sister,” which will receive a staged concert reading. Sharon is working on a new script, participating in readings and working with the Script Development Centre during her stay at the university. On November 27, Lynne Stonier-Newman spoke to about forty people at the Kamloops Family History Society about how she researched her British Columbia history books: Policing A Pioneer Province: BC Provincial Police, 1858-1950, and The Lawman: Adventures of a Frontier Diplomat. On October 11, Ab McQuillin performed some of the music he wrote to the poetry of the Quesnel Wordspinners. The sale of their book, Footsteps of the Past, sold well at the Quesnel farmers market that day. Candice Lucey had a poem accepted in Purpose and another accepted for the Well, both Christian magazines. April 2008 marked the tenth anniversary of Susan McIver’s column, “Inside Agriculture,” published in the Penticton Herald. “I don’t know of any similar column in the country with such a long record of success,” said managing editor Paul Varga at a lunch in honour of the occasion. Gracespring Collective members Alexander Forbes, Deanna Kawatski and Kay McCracken read from published and soon-to-be published works at Chapters in Kamloops November 1. Deanna launched Wilderness Mother, which she recently brought back into print, and Alex launched a CD of his poems The Bill Miner Roadshow. On December 13, Alex and Deanna signed books at Coles in Kamloops. Dorothy Rolin, coordinator of “Secrets of My Garden,” a collaboration of Shuswap artists, writers and garden owners, spent the last year organizing the well-received project. Opening night at the SAGA Public Art Gallery on November 7 was packed, as was the November 29 closing night party. The festivities offered one last chance to bid at the silent auction, which raised $2,500 for the Shuswap Association of Writers. Ineke Hughes, president of SAW, was on hand to thank Dorothy Rolin and everyone who donated their time, creativity, and energy to make “Secrets in My Garden” a success. Members of the Federation of BC Writers who had a poem or prose piece in the “Secrets in My Garden” show at SAGA Public Art Gallery in Salmon Arm during November included Sarah Weaver, Howard Brown, Deanna Kawatski, Estelle Noakes, Dorothy Rolin, Margaret Robertson, Kay McCracken, Candice Lucey, Kathleen (Kay) Johnston, Karen Bissenden and Karen Beggs. Ken Forscutt, author of Bush Pilot’s Mayday, had a book signing at Bookingham Palace in Salmon Arm on November 28, and another signing at Chapters in Kamloops on December 5. Virginia Dansereau’s short story collection, Undertow, was published and launched by Kalamalka Press of Vernon in February 2008. Three of the stories had previously won competitions held by WORDWORKS–SPRING 2009
Okanagan College and Winner’s Circle. Dansereau has participated in readings at the Vertigo Art Gallery and The Vernon Art Gallery. She has also been invited to two book club meetings to discuss her book and answer questions about the writing life. The Morning Star and The Vernon Courier have featured profiles on Dansereau and her writing.
Photographer Dave Harper and poet Kay McCracken collaborated on this piece at “Secrets in My Garden.”
The Islands David Fraser, Nanoose Bay ascentaspirations@shaw.ca Carol L. MacKay has poems slated for publication in Watershed (California State University, Chico) & CV2. Her poetry has also recently appeared in Cahoots, Crannog (Ireland), Prairie Journal and been broadcast on CBC radio for National Poetry Month. Margaret Cadwaladr’s independent small press, Madrona Books, recently published Come Back, Judy Baba: Memoirs of India, a book co-authored by singer-songwriter Judy Norbury and her mother, Mary Hargreaves Norbury. Margaret Cadwaladr and Barbara Pulling edited the book. Ann Eriksson’s second novel, In the Hands of Anubis, has been published and was released by Brindle & Glass in February. Margaret Thompson has just signed a contract with Brindle & Glass for a new collection of essays to be published in 2010.
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Stan Evans received a positive review of his novel, Seaweed on the Rocks, in BC BookWorld’s winter edition. His novel, Seaweed in the Soup, is due out in 2009. Trish Cull had poetry accepted for publication in the February 2009 edition of Room Magazine. Christine Hart’s novel, Watching July, won a gold medal from the Moonbeam Awards in the United States. Kenn Joubert entered a North American Book Award contest and received the 2008 Premier Book Award for his historical fiction novel, Escape to Freedom, the first book in his Huguenot Trilogy (Trafford Publishing, 2007). His second book in the Huguenot Trilogy, Follow the Wind, came out in December 2008. He is now busy researching his final book, The Early Years, in his trilogy. Linda M. Langwith, author of the mystery suspense novel, The Golden Crusader, has had two poems, “Blue Shadows” (December) and “Starry Nights” (January) accepted in Four and Twenty. Kamal Parmar’s poem “Haunting Serenade” was selected to be published in Fission: A Collection of New Canadian Poetry (2008), published by Polar Expressions Publishing. James Allan Shorten has produced a chapbook of 32 poems titled Ladies Fair and Gentlemen of St. Anne’s Forest by the Sea. One of Margaret Gracie’s short stories was shortlisted in the recent This Magazine’s Great Literary Hunt competition. Madeleine Nattrass won the Other Voices poetry contest for a poem titled “Lunacy.” The poem appeared in the spring 2009 issue. Andrea McKenzie Raine, Barbara Pelman and Ann Graham Walker read at the launch of the chapbook anthology, A Small Grace, edited by Patrick Lane and published by Leaf Press. Derek Peach and his partner self-published One Room and a Penknife based on their four-month-long teaching and traveling experiences in Peru. The book aptly describes their accommodations in Peru and their publishing efforts in Canada. Kim Goldberg won first prize for poetry in the Ascent Aspirations Erotica Contest. The poem can be read in the fall 2008 issue of Ascent Aspirations. She also has poetry in the current issues of Event, Geist, Rampike, and Stony Thursday Book in Ireland. She spent the first week of October reading her poems to strangers and giving away poetry books during Random Acts of Poetry Week. In November, she organized the Nanaimo launch party for Mona Fertig’s ROCKsalt anthology, which drew 100 people to the Nanaimo Harbourfront Library. She was also a featured reader at WordStorm (Nanaimo) in October. David Fraser has had poetry accepted in the Muddy River Poetry Review (forthcoming), Cyclamens and Swords (August), More Living Magazine (November/December), Autumn Leaf (November and December) and MGVersions (November). 30
Cindy Shantz presented “On the Road Again,” an inspirational, entertaining look at RV life on November 8 at the Nanaimo Art Gallery. Opening with a short slide show, the rest of the presentation was performed through various forms of spoken word, including poetry, storytelling, dramatic monologue and rap. The performance also included some interesting “off road” characters, both fictional and real, and several thought-provoking quotes from travellers such as John Steinbeck and Mark Twain. Pat Smekal, Cindy Shantz, Mary Ann Moore and David Fraser read at the launch of the chapbook anthology How Light Needs to Bend, edited by Patrick Lane and published by Leaf Press. Judith Millar’s short story “The Green Box” won first prize in Hamilton’s Creative Keyboards Short Story Contest and was published in the October issue of H Magazine. Her short story “The Libidinous Librarian” won third prize and was published in Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology Six in fall 2008. Her new children’s “anti-bullying” song lyric, “They’re Just Bullies,” was released, along with 13 of her previously released lyrics, on the CD Character Development Songs for Kids by RONNO (Kimbo Educational, New Jersey) in January.
Fraser Valley Lois J. Peterson, Surrey lpwordsolutions@hotmail.com Ben Nuttall Smith’s poem, “My Granddaughter at Four Months,” was published in Blue Skies. Two other poems appeared in the summer issue of Poemata. His sung poem “My World” is featured online in Pens on Fire. His work was shortlisted for the Surrey International Writer’s Conference Contest Poetry and Nonfiction awards, and his poem “The Old Man” won Honourable Mention and publication in Lucidity. October and November were eventful and exhilarating for Connie Braun with the launch of The Steppes Are the Colour of Sepia: A Mennonite Memoir (Ronsdale Press). She conducted readings in Abbotsford for the Mennonite Historical Society and in Winnipeg at McNally Robinson Booksellers. She held other launches in Vancouver and at WORDWORKS–SPRING 2009
COMMUNITY
Trinity Western University bookstore. The book received reviews in the Winnipeg Free Press and in the Vancouver Sun. Debbie McKeown published an article in Senior Living magazine and Curl BC’s newsletter. An article about the Special Olympics appeared in the online publication Snowshoe Magazine along with two outdoor gear reviews, featuring items that were field tested on a recent trip to Nepal. Joei Carlton Hossack’s most recent publication credit is “Cover Girl” posted on the online writing site Writers Weekly. In recent months, Lois Peterson was a co-judge in the nonfiction category of the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Contest, launched her kids’ novel Meeting Miss 405, presented at CWILL’s Fall Book Harvest, the Children’s Literature Roundtable Hycroft event, and to 95 elementary kids and two English classes in Invermere enroute to the Kaleidoscope Conference in Calgary. She had a successful book signing at Black Bond Books in South Surrey, and taught characterization and dialogue workshops for the Surrey Creative Writing Diploma Program. Her reviews of children’s books appear in Resources Links, and her story “Grace Enough” was recently published in the North Shore Writers’ anthology. Margaret Florczak’s prose poem “Working at Revenue Canada 1166 West Pender Street” was included in The Harbour Centre Downtown Memory Project and displayed in the lower lobby of the Vancouver Museum. As part of this project, Florczak’s work was on display at SFU’s Harbour Centre. Susan McCaslin judged the poetry category of the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Contest with poet Bernice Lever. Her work appeared in the new West Coast anthology, ROCKsalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry, and she read at the ROCKsalt launches in Nanaimo and at the Vancouver Public Library. Her recent volume of poetry, Lifting the Stone, was reviewed in A Space of Your Own: Room, Vol. 31. 2. Last fall she gave poetry readings at: Village Books in Bellingham,Washington; Rhizome Café in Vancouver for The Writers’ Studio Reading Series; and in White Rock for the South Surrey Arts Council. Susan also delivered a public talk on “Olga Park, Another Kind of Pioneering Spirit,” about a Vancouver mystic, an event sponsored by Herstory and the SFU Women’s Studies Department at Rhizome Café. On November 28, she co-presented, with scholar and musician Kevin Hutchings, “An Evening with William Blake,” at the Vancouver Public Library. Note: Lois is stepping down as Fraser Valley regional representative to dedicate more time to her own writing and teaching. Fraser Valley members who are interested in taking on this role should email the Fed office at bcwriters@shaw.ca for information. WORDWORKS–SPRING 2009
Lower Mainland/ Sunshine Coast Lorraine Murphy, Vancouver lorraine.murphy@gmail.com On September 25 – what would have been Glenn Gould’s 76th birthday – Kate Braid co-launched her new book, A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems (Caitlin Press) with Chris Lowther and Anita Skinner’s launch of Writing the West Coast (Ronsdale Press) at the Sylvia Hotel. Since music seemed appropriate, Kate was accompanied on bass by Clyde Reed. She and Clyde also read and played for the Blue Moon Reading Series in Clearbrook. Kate launched the Gould book in Lantzville, along with Tim Brownlow’s Hiding Places (Oolichan Press), and was accompanied by Allannah Dow on cello. The third launch was held on Pender Island with the musical help of pianist (and writer) David Spalding. Heather Haley’s poem “Whore In The Eddy” has been published in ROCKsalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. Mark Leiren-Young read from his new book, Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, at Biz Books in Vancouver, The Open Book in Williams Lake and New Caledonia College in Prince George. Jacqueline Pearce participated in the Cowichan Valley’s Book Splash 2008 on October 21-22 and gave book presentations book at schools in Duncan and Mill Bay. On November 22, Joanne Arnott performed at and participated in the daylong event “Strong Words: A Celebration of BC’s Aboriginal Poetry,” which was organized by Aboriginal Media Lab at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Vancouver. Joanne’s chapbook, Longing: Four Poems on Diverse Matters (Rubicon Press). Marlene Barcos wrote a feature article on the history of tango for Dance International magazine, a quarterly published by the Vancouver Ballet. New member Mary Novik’s novel, Conceit (Doubleday), was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller prize in 2007. It was chosen as a book of the year by both The Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire for 2007, and won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for 2008. Mary toured northern BC for the BC Book Prizes, read at the Sunshine Coast Festival, Vancouver Public Library and Langara College, and has been visiting book clubs that are reading her novel. Conceit was chosen by 31
FEDERATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA WRITERS
AbeBooks as one of “the top ten hottest new Canadian books” for 2008. Gerhard Winkler is pleased to announce that the North Shore Writers’ Association launched its 2008 anthology, Dandelions (Rogue Literary) on November 24. Julie H. Ferguson is wallowing in contracts! Dundurn will publish her first young adult biography on Sir James Douglas in spring; Bristlecone Pine Press has bought the electronic rights for Book Magic: Turning Authors into Published Authors and will have the book ready for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and for Mobipocket users in 2009; and the Diocese of New Westminster has asked her to edit a long-lost manuscript about the first bishop of British Columbia and manage its publication for them. Julie continues to provide presentations for teachers and their students in western Canada, as well as for Surrey’s Creative Writing Diploma program. Bernice Lever facilitated a workshop on manuscript preparation on November 22 at the Alliance for Arts and Culture in Vancouver. Bernice, a World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award Winner in 2008, has published eight poetry books and several volumes of prose. Black Moss of Ontario will publish her new book, Gene Ration, later this year.
von Buchholz (pen name of Fed member Garth A. Bucholz) published “Will the Circle be Unbroken” in Crimson Screams (NVF in Print and Turner Maxwell Books), a literary anthology of interviews and short fiction in the horror genre in February 2009. Jancis Andrews had a tongue-in-cheek article titled “Ye Olde English Plumbing” (about the outhouses in the village of Nenthead, Cumbria), published in the November 2008 issue of the UK magazine, Best of British. In July 2008, Lillian Boraks-Nemetz was invited to Poland to read her poems in a film titled Poetry of Resilience, directed by Katja Esson films. The film included five poets from war-torn countries: Rwanda, Hiroshima, Kurdistan, Iran and Poland. On November 18, she spoke at an event, “A Story to Tell and a Place for the Telling,” organized by The Canadian Red Cross and the Vancouver Public Library. On November 20, Lillian launched the second edition of her book, The Old Brown Suitcase, at the Brock House Lecture Series. Former Fed executive director Fernanda Viveiros has joined the team at Rebus Creative to produce the BC Book Prizes and Word On The Street Vancouver. She is also editing a book of Portuguese-Canadian essays slated for publication in 2010.
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WORDWORKS–SPRING 2009
IMAGINING BRITISH COLUMBIA
T
he twenty contemporary writers featured in this anthology have mined the literary potential inherent in a setting and captured landscape, seascape, nature, history and the unique cast of characters that inhabit our province. Their essays and memoirs have been inspired by, or are in some way affected by, the particular “sense of place” that sets that left-hand corner of the country apart from other provinces. Some are humorous; others are poignant. Whether describing a family history in Kitsilano, the difficulties fitting in as an immigrant, or a close encounter with a grizzly bear, these stories communicate a sense of belonging to, or a trying to find, a sense of place.
S
ome of Canada’s best-known writers, all members of the Federation of BC Writers, are featured in this anthology, including Pauline Holdstock, Harold Rhenisch, George Fetherling and M.A.C. Farrant. The list of contributors includes established authors Katherine Gordon, Margaret Thompson, Trevor Carolan, Luanne Armstrong, Deanna Kawatski, Jan Drabek, A.S. Penne, Howie White, Joan Skogan, Mona Fertig and Shannon Cowan. Emerging writers Pam Galloway, Victoria Marvin, Trisha Cull, Dawn Service and Elizabeth Templeman further attest to the new talent found within our membership. The book features an introduction by editor Daniel Francis, a historian and author of twenty books.
Anvil Press is pleased to announce the publication of Imagining British Columbia: Land, Memory & Place, edited by Daniel Francis Please send me _________ copy/ies of Imagining British Columbia: Land, Memory & Place Name: ______________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________ City: _______________________________________________________ Postal Code: __________________________________________________ Telephone or email: ____________________________________________ Cost: $20 each ($18 plus $2 shipping & handling) Enclosed is my payment of $ _____________________________________
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Return this form with a cheque or money order made payable to: Anvil Press P.O. Box 3008, MPO Vancouver, B.C. V6B 3X5
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