| Regular Bookends columnist Harry Vandervlist is away for the next couple of months, so I will be filling in for him, just as I did this time last year. For those of you who might not know me, a quick introduction is in order. My name is Jason Hammond and in my day job, I’m the southern Alberta program co-ordinator for the Writers Guild of Alberta. (See, I told you it’d be quick!)
I’m happy to be back as a scribbler on these pages, although I suspect part of the reason Fast Forward asked me is that this was the only way it would get my long-overdue followup to the profile of local used bookstores that was my final (and in my humble opinion, best) column last year.
Unfortunately, that sequel will have to wait – there’s a lot going on in the local literary world right now, so I’ll have to start with a quick rundown of recent and upcoming events.
The biggest news to come across my desk recently is that Anne Green, producer of WordFest, was awarded the second annual Rozsa Award for Excellence in Arts Management. The award includes a $10,000 cash prize as well as an opportunity to study in the executive education program at the Haskayne School of Business, which will also provide a case study of WordFest as an organization. In addition, the festival will receive up to 100 hours of consulting from the Calgary Centre for Non-Profit Management.
Green has been with WordFest since it began in 1996 and this award is a testament to the great work she has done in making the international writers festival one of the top three literary festivals in the country.
From the "this sounds interesting" file, the Alexandra Writers Centre has issued a call for submissions for stories, poems or non-fiction pieces about nylons or pantyhose. Women (and men) are encouraged to enter and have the chance to read their piece in front of an audience at an event at Annie’s Book Company on June 6 at 1 p.m. E-mail your entries by May 15 to chimike@telus.net or mail them to Cheryl Sikomas, 91 Ranch Estates Drive N.W., Calgary, T3G 1K2.
For anyone interested in the histories of the Yukon and Alberta, there’s an event on Tuesday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers that will have some appeal. John Firth will read from his new book, River Time: Racing the Ghosts of the Klondike Rush. He’ll be joined by Brian Brennan, author of Boondoggles, Bonanzas and Other Alberta Stories and Harry Sanders, author of The Story Behind Alberta Names.
Finally, as an ex-Flatlander, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a plug to a reading by two Saskatchewan writers at Pages Books in Kensington on Wednesday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. That night is the first of two Saskatchewan doubleheaders the store is holding this month. The May 12 event will feature Shelley Leedahl reading from her seventh book The Orchestra of the Lost Steps and Bonnie Dunlop presenting her first short-fiction collection, The Beauty Box, both works published by Thistledown Press.
Then, on May 18, also at 7:30 p.m., two new short-story collections will be featured – Chris Fisher’s Third and Long and Larry Gasper’s Princes in Waiting. Both are published by Coteau Books. |
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