Exciting End to September!

Tons of stuff to look forward to over the next couple of days. Tonight is the premiere of FlashForward, the tv show adapted from the Robert J. Sawyer novel. Exciting! The premiere got an incredible review in the New York Times, and from Time magazine, and  Rob's face can be found right now hovering on the pages of Time.com

How incredible is that?

On Saturday, I'll be on Bowen Island, celebrating the latest release from Bernice Lever -- a book of poetry called Generation.

On Sunday, it's Vancouver's Word on the Street. I'll be out pounding the pavement [in neon tights, of course] talking about the Surrey International Writers' Conference. I'll have posters and registration forms with me and will be tweeting throughout the day. Sign up for the conference and get your picture in our blog!

And speaking of the SiWC....


...something weird is trying to take over my blog at www.siwc.ca. Have a look at THIS. And what about THIS?

I'm really hoping it's just a prank, and not some kind of warning...

~kc

Summer Dream Redux

Last Saturday I spent a lovely day at this year's edition of Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival, sponsored by Pandora's Collective. Bonnie Nish and Sita Carboni organize and run this amazing day.


Saturday was filled with readings, stories, poetry...all things literary. The sun shone more than it did last year, people came to hang out at Lumberman's Arch and a good time was had by all.



Here is a shot of Tiffany Stone telling the story of Tyrannasauras Wrecks, an absolutely smashing poem for kids from her book BAAAD ANIMALS.





Here is poet Bernice Lever, baseball cap in place, reading a story as an 8 year old boy. She also read her own poetry and stories, AND had the grace to climb a hill and sit against a tree for a podcast interview.

















This is SiWC Webmaster Dale McGladdery, who after tirelessly producing a series of podcasts, (with Bernice Lever, James McCann and Anthony Dalton) set up and taped several presentations.











Here's a peek at the Canadian Authors Association table, with authors Margaret Hume, Jean Kay and Ben Nuttall-Smith enjoying the day.













For more pictures of this terrific day, check out my Flickr page, under Summer Dream, 2008.

Back to my conference in Portland. More on that soon!

~kc

Leap Day Happenings...

Spent the day wearing green frog legs as a testament to Leap Day, in a questionable attempt at communion with all the really tall frogs in the world. The greater part of the day passed at St. George's School, a private school for boys on the west side of Vancouver. The school is located in what was once a convent -- a heritage building of grey stone with gargoyles frolicking about the corners of the masonry.

Teacher Jody Unger was fantastic -- her boys asked GREAT questions and I was made to feel very welcome. Thanks, St. George's!

***

Congratulations to CWILL BC past-president Pam Withers, whose latest book, MOUNTAINBOARD MADNESS, launched on Leap Day. Pam held her launch at Christianne's Lyceum in Vancouver, and presented her new book to a packed house of delighted fans. You can learn all about Pam's amazing series by checking out her website: http://www.takeittotheextreme.com/

***

Meanwhile, back at the Vancouver Public Library, a huge crowd turned out to watch Bernice Lever and Ashok Bhargava be presented Lifetime Achievement Awards by the World Poetry Reading gang at their 7th Anniversary event. It was a stellar evening, and the place rocked to performances by Peruvian, Tibetan, Argentinian and Canadian musicians.

Bernice is a remarkable poet and teacher and has been a tremendous mentor to me. I was thrilled to be able to share this amazing evening with this wise woman.

~kc

Attention Y/A Writers

HEY!

I just read in Nephele Tempest's (Knight Agency) blog that she is currently accepting y/a queries straight into her blog -- bypassing the usual Knight Agency protocol! This looks like a limited-time offer, but if you nip over there now, you can read the details.

Nephele Tempest's (who will also be one of our honoured guests at the Surrey International Writers' Conference this year) blog can be found here:

http://nephele.livejournal.com/

And speaking of the conference, here's another look at a couple of our featured authors -- in this case, poets, both.

The lovely and talented Bernice Lever comes to the conference as both a presenter and a judge of our SiWC poetry competition. Bernice has been a poet and author for most of her life, and in between raising her family she's also been an editor and a teacher. She has read and performed her poetry on five continents, but these days spends her time on Bowen Island, teaching, editing and continuing to write. I've known Bernice since right around the time she planted herself on Bowen, and she is, without a doubt, the most wonderful mentor for writers of anyone I know. She's been a member of the Canadian Authors Association for 30 years and is currently their grievence chair. Bernice will also be doing Blue Pencil at the conference, and this is one lady who gives some seriously good advice, so my suggestion is regardless of genre, line up quick for an appointment. Her expertise is priceless.

Bernice has just launched a new book of poetry 'NEVER A STRAIGHT LINE' with Black Moss Press. Her website is http://www.colourofwords.com/

Bernice will be sharing the stage of one of her workshops with fellow poet George McWhirter.

Vancouver's first Poet Laureate, George McWhirter, came to Canada from Belfast. He has written eight books of poetry, edited and translated countless more and has won awards for his teaching an mentoring of students throughout his career.

For more on the career and interests of this remarkable poet, check out his website at www3.telus.net/GeorgeMcWhirter

I'm looking forward to hearing what both these experts of their craft have to say.

By the bye, I checked out Christianne's Hayward's new venue last night, as promised. The Lyceum for Literature and Art is a BEAUTIFUL facility at the elegant end of 8th Avenue in Vancouver. When I got there it was packed to the gills with glittering local literati, great food and a bunch of very excited kids. This is a huge addition to the local literary scene, especially for young people. We'll be hearing more from Christianne -- no doubt at all.

Now -- I think I might just take a few minutes to work on my book. A friend of mine told me that I was cursing myself when I called the thing DEADLINE.

He was right.

~kc