| The Alberta Book Awards, held a couple of weeks ago, mark the unofficial end of the spring season in the Calgary literary community. Things tend to slow down a bit for the summer, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. In fact, it often feels like you could attend a literary event every night of the week if you wanted to. But I’ve never actually put that theory to the test… until now.
For instance, on Thursday, May 22, Canada’s poet laureate George Bowering hits Pages to read from his new book Stone Country: A History of Canada, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Then on Friday, May 23, two new books by local authors will be launched at McNally Robinson beginning at 7:30 p.m. – Derek Beaulieu’s wax and Jill Hartman’s A Painted Elephant.
On Saturday, May 24, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society presents a full-day workshop with local poet Stuart Ian McKay. The session runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Visit the AWCS Web site (www.alexandrawriters.org) for more details.
There are those who would say this next item isn’t a "literary" one. But because it’s about a book, and because spring is here and people are thinking of gardening, I’ll mention a unique BYOB event on Sunday, May 25. In this case, BYOB means "Bring Your Own Bug," and Ruth Staal and Nora Bryan will discuss their book, The Prairie Gardener’s Book of Bugs, at Greengate Garden Centre (14111 Macleod Trail South). For more details, call Harington Telford at 256-1212.
On Monday, May 26, a Forum for the Self-published Author will be held at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson. With the decreasing cost and increasing capacity of technology, it is getting progressively easier for a writer to become his or her own publisher and produce high-quality work. This free event will include information on writing, editing, copyright, design, printing, distribution, marketing and other relevant topics. Call William Joseph at 770-4900 or e-mail info@williamjoseph.ca for details.
On Tuesday, May 27, local poet Steve Gillespie (a.k.a. eatlardfudge) launches his new book, Seazoom, at McNally Robinson at 7:30 p.m. Steve is a highly entertaining reader and the inclusion of live music in this reading will only add to the experience. Seazoom is the third book published by local press Passwords Enterprises, headed by poet Vivian Hansen. The emergence of this press is another indication of the groundswell of up-and-coming local publishers in Calgary.
You don’t even have to go out to attend a literary event on Wednesday, May 28. As long as you have cable, you can turn to Shaw TV (Channel 10) and watch the City of Calgary Book Prize being presented as part of the Calgary Awards. The shortlist includes Paulo da Costa for Scent of a Lie, Larissa Lai for Salt Fish Girl and Rajinderpal S. Pal for his poetry collection Pulse.
I’ve mentioned this once before, but now that summer is getting closer, I’ll give it another plug in case people’s daytime schedules have changed. This Thursday, next Thursday and every Thursday, the Writers Guild of Alberta hosts a Generative Writing Group from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the WGA office (#305, 223 12 Ave. S.W.). Each week, participants write something from a "trigger" – a writing exercise that is supplied at the beginning of the group. So far, this type of spontaneous writing has proven very useful for helping group members work through problems with their other writing projects. If you’re interested in checking out the group, contact Jason at 265-2226 or writers@telusplanet.net. |
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