FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| BOOKENDS If you go to readings or browse bookstores, you probably know Calgary author and bookseller Peter Oliva. Oliva's been an integral part of the city's burgeoning literary culture for years, bringing together local writers and readers, as well as making national and international literary figures available to the Calgary public. He does this through book launches and readings at Pages on Kensington - the shop he opened in 1994 - and through collaborations like the Ex Libris reading series in partnership with the Calgary Public Library, or the summer readings by members of Banff's Arts Journalism program. And then there are the less obvious contributions - introducing writers to one another, offering encouragement (and being sure to stock their books). Without injections of time and energy just like this from many people, there simply could not be any literary culture, local or otherwise. As the newly announced 1998/99 Markin-Flanagan Writer in Residence at the University of Calgary (starting in August), Oliva will get a chance to devote some of this energy to developing his own successful writing career while consulting with all kinds of authors from the Calgary area. Like past writers-in-residence Richard Harrison, Ven Begamudre, Rosemary Nixon, David Albahari and (currently) Larissa Lai, Oliva will divide his time between writing, offering public readings and discussing manuscripts with local writers. All this is made possible by an endowment from Calgarians Al Markin and Jackie Flanagan. (Jackie is also the editor of the new Alberta Voices magazine.) Oliva calls the Markin-Flanagan program unique to Canada. "I hope I can contribute some of the things I've learned," he says. "This program has an amazing history and I'd like to give something back to it." What about the bookstore? Oliva is confident that Pages on Kensington will continue to thrive while he devotes himself more fully to writing. "The shop is well and truly launched now, and we have some great people there." The appointment comes at a good time for Oliva. His second novel, The City of Yes, appears this fall under McLelland and Stewart. (He won a Writer's Guild Award for best first book with his 1994 novel Drowning in Darkness.) He looks forward to returning to the U of C, where he completed a master's degree, and relishes the chance to start new work. "I'll be ready to start my next project about the time the residency begins, and this will definitely give me more time to write." This weekend, Owl's Nest Books will feature readings by Tim Wynveen and Anna Zurzolo in a celebration of literary excellence. Wynveen is regional winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Published Book Award for his novel Angel Falls, and Zurzolo is runner-up for Bread Wine and Angels. Meet the authors and hear them read at the reception, which takes place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Chapters at Westhills Towne Centre is hosting two authors this week. Author and artist Sarah Murphy will read from her book Connie Many Stores on Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m. Then on Tuesday, March 31 at 7 p.m. W.P. Kinsella will launch his new book, The Secret of the Northern Lights. Call 217-2779 for info. It's the first day of the year 2000. You wake up with a hangover only to discover that nothing works - not your phones, not the cash machine, nothing. Are you prepared? Edward Yourdon, considered one of the world's leading authorities on software development, and co-author of the new book Time Bomb 2000, talks about the implications of the year 2000 computer crisis on Thursday, April 2. The event, hosted by Computer Book Source and the Business Information Services of the Calgary Public Library, takes place from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the W.R. Castell Library downtown (616 Macleod Trail SE), second floor theatre. Free admission. |