The Writers' Collective

i think writerliness should be the next big popular word…..

WRITERS COLLECTIVE NEWS WITH MICHEAL VAN ROOY:

Announcements:

Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Copy Editing with David Jón Fuller

Date: January 8, 2011, Saturday

Time: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

Event: Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Copy Editing with David Jón Fuller

Cost: $30 or $100 for all four workshops (MEA members pay $25), contact  or 943-7555 to register.

Whether you’re working on a rewrite, polishing a manuscript for submission, or sending an article on deadline, this workshop will teach you how to clean up your prose. You’ll also learn how to work with style sheets, edit for length, and make your writing stronger and sharper. Copy editing isn’t just about hacking away at your beautiful prose — it’s about cutting away the crap so the beauty shows.

David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for January, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In addition to writing hundreds of newspaper articles, he has proofread and copy edited books on a wide array of subjects, from lesbian feminist drama to pre-Y2K mania to Aboriginal cultural stereotypes. He was the editor of North America’s oldest surviving ethnic newspaper, Lögbgerg-Heimskringla, and currently works as a copy editor for the Winnipeg Free Press.

This workshop is presented in partnership with the Manitoba Editors’ Association.

Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Writing Dialogue with David Jón Fuller - This workshop is presented in partnership with the The Writers’ Collective of Manitoba!

Date: January 15, 2011, Saturday

Time: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

Event: Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Writing Dialogue with David Jón Fuller

Cost: $30 or $100 for all four workshops (WC members pay $25), contact  or 943-7555 to register.

It’s a lot more than just He said/She said: dialogue can make or break a scene or story. Learn what makes effective dialogue, how to bring your characters to life through what they say and do, and how to handle thorny problems like exposition. Also, learn to spot deadly dialogue that saps the strength of your story, from Tom Swifties to the dreaded As You Know Bob.

David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for January,was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As an actor he has been in multiple held-over plays at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and performed with two orchestras, including excerpts from Shakespeare for the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before an audience of 1,600. In addition to writing hundreds of newspaper articles, he has had fiction published online in The Harrow and in the bestselling chapbook anthology Ten Best Pages. He’s been the editor of North America’s oldest surviving ethnic newspaper, Lögbgerg-Heimskringla, and currently works as a copy editor for the Winnipeg Free Press.

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Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Writing for Newspapers with David Jón Fuller - This workshop is presented in partnership with the The Writers’ Collective of Manitoba!

Date: January 22, 2011, Saturday

Time: 10 am – 1 pm

Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

Event: Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Writing for Newspapers with David Jón Fuller

Cost: $30 or $100 for all four workshops (WC members pay $25), contact  or 943-7555 to register.

Deadline. That’s the first thing you need to know, because if you blow that, you’re finished.

But it also helps to learn the basics of how to write an article, what makes a great lead paragraph, how to make sure you’ve gotten the real story, getting the most out of quotes, and yes, to give your editor exactly what he or she is looking for, namely, a well-written article that grabs the reader, is the right length, and oh yes, did I mention in by deadline?

David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for January, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In addition to writing hundreds of newspaper articles, he has had fiction published online in The Harrow and in the bestselling chapbook anthology Ten Best Pages. He’s been the editor of North America’s oldest surviving ethnic newspaper, Lögbgerg-Heimskringla and currently works as a copy editor for the Winnipeg Free Press.

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The Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry Series – Hosted in Conjunction with the Writers Collective!

Featuring: Bertrand Nayet, with Ariel Gordon and Dennis Cooley

Date: January 27, 2011, Thursday

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

Event: The Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry Series

Cost: Free!

The Aqua Lansdowne is Manitoba’s largest poetry prize. Based around the award and hosted in conjunction with the Writer’s Collective, this series celebrates the best in Manitoba poetry. Congratulations to this year’s winner, Jan Horner. Featured poets are Bertrand Nayet, with Ariel Gordon and Dennis Cooley

Bertrand Nayet

Né à Auxerre (France) en 1962, Bertrand Nayet réside à St-Norbert au Manitoba. Il a publié nouvelles, récits et poèmes dans diverses revues et recueils. Il a aussi écrit du théâtre, créé des mises en scène et joué plusieurs rôles pour diverses troupes du Manitoba. Il est l’animateur, un des pères fondateurs et secrétaire perpétuel du Collectif post-néo-rieliste, un regroupement de créateurs franco-manitobains. Il collabore à la programmation du Foyer des Écrivains, la partie francophone du Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival.

Born in Auxerre France in 1962, Bertrand Nayet lives in St. Norbert, Manitoba. He has published short stories, stories, and poems in various magazines and anthologies. He also writes for the theatre, directs and performs with various theatre troupes in Manitoba. Nayet is a founding father and Secretary-in-Perpetuity of Le Collectif post-neo-rieliste, a group of French-speaking Manitoba creators. He also collaborates on the programming of Le Foyer des Écrivains, the French side of THIN AIR, The Winnipeg Interntional Writers’ Festival.

Ariel Gordon – Writers’ Collective Member

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor. She has two chapbooks to her credit, The Navel Gaze(Palimpsest Press, 2008) andGuidelines: Malaysia and Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press, 2009). This spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection,Hump. She is the 2010 recipient of the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Writer. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Dennis Cooley

Since 1973, Dennis Cooley has lived in Winnipeg where he has taught, edited, and written. He is currently president of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild.

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Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Performing Your Work with David Jón Fuller - This workshop is presented in partnership with the The Writers’ Collective of Manitoba!

Date: January 29, 2011, Saturday

Time: 10 am – 1 pm

Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

Event: Emerging Writer Workshop Series: Performing Your Work with David Jón Fuller

Cost: $30 or $100 for all four workshops (WC members pay $25), contact  or 943-7555 to register.

Note: This workshop is limited to 12 people.

“Gulp — you mean I have to get up in front of people and read?” Learn how to get past stage fright and concentrate on what really matters: letting an audience enjoy your work. Learn basics of using your voice, delivery, addressing an audience, and getting the most out of your writing.

Participants must bring a sample of their own writing (up to 250 words for prose, 30 lines for poetry) which they will read out loud as a part of the workshop. Yes, I know this is already giving you a heart attack.

David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for January, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After attending high school and nearly every heavy metal concert that came through Winnipeg in the late ’80s, he earned an honours degree in theatre. As an actor he has been in multiple held-over plays at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and performed with two orchestras, including excerpts from Shakespeare for the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before an audience of 1,600. He’s performed Chekhov in Icelandic and is proficient in not only fake stage fighting but also real fencing and jiu-jitsu.

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WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBER NEWS:

Special Childrens’ Signings – CHOCK FULL OF WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBERS LIKE GABRIELE GOLDSTONE AND ANITA DAHER (TO NAME JUST A FEW!!!
Date: December 18, Saturday

Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Location: By the Stairs of McNally Robinson Booksellers, 1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3M 2A6, Phone: 204-475-0483, Toll Free 1-800-561-1833. 

Event: GIANT CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT AUTHOR SIGNINGS!

Cost: Free!

A special day of signings featuring prominent local childrens’ and young adult authors. Authors featured on this day include Rae Bridgeman, Martha Brooks, Anita Daher, Gabriele Goldstone, Brenda Hasiuk, Perry Nodelman, Craig Russell, Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon, Joe McLellan, Susan Rocan, Chris Rutkowski, Duncan Thornton, Larry Verstraete, and Eva Wiseman.
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IT’S ABOUT THE STORIES . . . IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE STORIES!

An Initiative by Michael Van Rooy (WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBER), the Literary Arts Ambassador for the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada Project 2010 ARTS FOR ALL Program!

Winnipeg has produced some of the best writers in the world and here’s the proof!

To celebrate Winnipeg’s well-earned designation as Cultural Capital of Canada for 2010 we have chosen books by Winnipeggers to offer to other Winnipeggers. These are interesting, smart, funny, touching, scary . . . just plain good books! Fiction, non-fiction, it’s all here. And there’s something for both the dedicated and casual reader!

There are several copies of each of these books and we are giving them away to anyone on a first come, first served, basis. There are only three things we ask in return:

First: Read the book! If you decide it’s not for you then hand it back or hand it forward to someone who might like it!

Second: Tell us what you think of the book! Write us a letter, send us an email or go onto Facebook and write what you think! Tell us you love the book or you hate it, whatever. We want to know!

Third: When you’re done with the book, pass it along to someone, anyone, with the same instructions. Share the wealth, share the stories. Opinions and reviews will all be posted anonymously on the Facebook page for everyone to read!

Titles

Crown Fire by David Annandale

The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess by David Arnason

The Imagined City: A Literary History of Winnipeg edited by David Arnason and Mhari Mackintosh

Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero by Maureen Fergus

Juliana and the Medicine Fish by Jake MacDonald

Cherry by Chandra Mayor

Yuletide Bandit by Mike McIntyre

A Dry Spell by Susie Moloney

In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice (Culleton) Mosionier

Bonheur d’occasion by Gabrielle Roy

Be Wolf by Wayne Tefs

An Ordinary Decent Criminal by Michael Van Rooy

How to Comment on the Books or Ask for Another!

You can reach Michael by email at .

You can reach Michael by regular mail at About the Stories at 103-110 Princess Street,

Winnipeg, MB, R3B 1K7.

You can go onto Facebook at the Cultural Capital Literary Arts 2010 Program page.

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PROGRAMS AROUND AND ABOUT

This week the quotes come from writers talking about censorship. QUOTE: Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. Voltaire

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Dinner and a Movie

Date: December 19, Sunday

Time: 4:00 pm

Location: In the Prairie Ink Restaurant in McNally Robinson Booksellers, 1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3M 2A6, Phone: 204-475-0483, Toll Free 1-800-561-1833. 

Event: This evening’s featured film is the latest instalment in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Cost: $20.00 per person
Prairie Ink Restaurant in conjunction with Empire Theatres present Dinner and a Movie. Come for dinner at Prairie Ink Restaurant and then head to Empire Theatre for a special movie showing. This evening’s featured film is the latest instalment in the Chronicles of Narnia series,The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from director Michael Apted (Gorky Park) and the writers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.  $20 per person includes dinner and a movie ticket with a brief welcome from McNally Robinson’s event host at 5:30. Reservations are recommended. Please call 975-2659 for more information or to reserve a table.

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OPPORTUNITIES AND SUBMISSIONS

We cannot guarantee any of the opportunities below! Please be careful and do your research. QUOTE: The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. Tommy Smothers (Yes, that Tommy Smothers of Smothers Brothers fame)

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THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS IS SEEKING SUBMISSIONS

The Collective Consciousness is the journal of the Writers’ Collective and it is published four times a year. We are always seeking submissions by members of the Collective, in fact any interested writers can submit!

Simply submit to [email protected]tive.org

NOTE: Okay, I can guarantee this one . . .

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CALLS FOR ENTRIES – Canadian Authors Association (CAA) Literary Awards

Closing Date: December 15 / January 15

Reminder: The deadline for entries is fast approaching! Canadian Authors Association (CAA) continues to welcome submissions of books published in 2010 under three categories: Fiction, Canadian History, Poetry

Now in its 36th year, the CAA Literary Awards program honours writing that achieves excellence without sacrificing popular appeal. Past winners have included Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Nino Ricci and countless other literary stars – some relatively unknown at the time they received the award.

For entry guidelines, prize details, entry forms and information on recent winners and shortlisted authors, visit www.canauthors.org/awards.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for the 12th ANNUAL POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION – $500 PRIZE

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that submissions are being accepted until February 14, 2011, for the 2011 POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION. The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of 250 words or less in the English language, fiction or nonfiction. Are you up for the challenge? Can you create a dynamic, lean, and efficient piece in only 250 words? You can use humour, poetry, dialogue… anything goes!

PRIZE

$500 for the winning entry. The winning entry will be published in Write, the magazine of The Writers’ Union of Canada. The winner agrees that The Writers’ Union of Canada will have non-exclusive publication rights to publish the winning entry in Write for publicity purposes. Any publication of the author’s story by The Writers’ Union of Canada will include an authorship credit and a copyright notice in the name of the author. Copyright of the winning postcard story remains with the writer.

JURY

Ray Hsu, Samuel Thomas Martin, and Edeet Ravel will serve as the jury.

ELIGIBILITY

This competition is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. Original and unpublished. (English language) fiction or nonfiction, no more than 250 words.

HOW TO SUBMIT ENTRIES:

· Entries should be typed, double-spaced, in a clear twelve-point font, and the pages numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper, not stapled.

· Submissions will be accepted in hardcopy only.

· Include a separate cover letter with title of story, full name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and number of pages of entry.

· The author’s name should not appear on the actual entry.

· Make cheque or money order, $5 per submission, payable to The Writers’ Union of Canada. Multiple entries can be submitted together and fees can be added and paid with one cheque or money order.

· Entries must be postmarked by February 14, 2011 to be eligible.

· Mail entries to: PCS Competition, The Writers’ Union of Canada, 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5C 1P1.

Results will be posted at www.writersunion.ca in May 2011. Manuscripts will not be returned.

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SOURCES AND RESOURCES

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For more information about McNally Robinson Booksellers check out http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/home, 1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3M 2A6, Phone: 204-475-0483, Toll Free 1-800-561-1833.

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To see the current list of Adult Programs at Winnipeg Public Library, please visit: http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/pdfs/adultprograms.pdf

Children’s programs:  http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/pdfs/childrensprograms.pdf

The Millennium Library is at 251 Donald Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 3P5, 204-986-6450.

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For details on Aqua Books store events, go to http://aquabooks.ca/events.php. 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.

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For more information on Literary Arts programs at The Banff Centre, check out:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/writing/

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A truly great mystery bookstore is Winnipeg’s Whodunit? Mystery Bookstore at 165 Lilac Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3M 2S1. Their telephone number is (204) 284-9100 or 1-800-468-421. Their website is at http://www.whodunitcanada.com/home.

Their hours are Mon-Thurs: 10 am to 5 pm, Fri: 10 am to 6 pm, Sat: 10 am to 5 pm and Sun: 12 pm to 4 pm.

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A useful organization for writers out there is the Manitoba Editors’ Association. They are at PO Box 68054, RPO Osborne Village, Winnipeg, MB  R3L 2V9. Their email is  and their website is http://www.manitobaeditors.ca/.
Telephone: 204-452-9700.

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NEWS RANDOM AND OTHERWISE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

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QUOTE: To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves.Claude Adrien Helvetius

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Good Day Everyone,

It’s been an entertaining week as the holiday season slinks up upon us . . . best wishes to everyone and keep your eyes open for more events!

This week there is far too much chaos for me to pick things I actually want to talk about: Roald Dahl, Julian Assange, it’s all chaos.

Michael

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. John Stuart Mill

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FOR THEORIES, CRITIQUE, PROPHECY, GREIVANCES, DESIRES, DREAMS, COMMENTS, CONCEPTIONS. NIGHTMARES, OPINIONS, BELIEFS, IDEAS, CONJECTURE, THOUGHTS, COMPLAINTS, DATA, HOPES, VISIONS, AND CONCEPTS PLEASE CONTACT

Michael Van Rooy
Program Coordinator
The Writers’ Collective
University of Winnipeg
4th Floor Library
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 2E9
(204) 786-9468

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