Collective Update!
January 19, 2011 WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE UPDATE
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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) and Guidelines: 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.
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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
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CALL*RESPONSE – A Message from John Toone (WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBER)
Hello Friend,
This is a charitable time of year and so I am asking you to consider supporting this project and Kids Help Phone. Call * Reponse is a book that I have worked with a couple of friends to complete over the past six months. At least $10 from the sale of each book will go to Kids Help Phone, and our goal is to raise $10,000.
Call * Response is a story about youth and Winnipeg’s live music scene as told by thirty-six local photographers, visual artists, writers and lyricists. The book includes unpublished photos of Propagandhi, the poster art of Steve Hallick, writing from Ian Lodewyks, Andrew Neufeld’s top-ten shows, and all sorts of crazy shit. Call * Response is a big hardcover, LP size (12″ by 12″), with sixty-four pages of punk rock in colour and b&w.
The project has already helped raise awareness of Kids Help Phone through coverage in Uptown, Style Manitoba, and on Shaw TV, UMFM, and CKUW. The community voted on-line and at Into the Music for Joey Senft’s photo of Comeback Kid to grace the cover (see attachment).
Call * Response will be launched on February 5th at the West End Cultural Centre. It will be a benefit show for Kids Help Phone featuring The Ripperz, The Bonaduces, The Undecided, and The Rock Band. Two more benefit shows are planned for March and April, plus a literary event at McNally Robinson Booksellers on March 24th, and also TBA shindigs at The Royal Albert Arms and Absurd Machine Studios.
Now is your chance to help, if you would be so generous. Please visit www.callresponsebook.com to buy Call * Response for $25 (it will retail for $40 after January 1st). If you order now, you will receive in the mail a 6” by 6” limited-edition print of the book cover and some free swag from Alchemical Press. And please consider making a larger donation to become a sponsor of Call * Response. For my friends and family to support this project, would mean more to me than any other gift this season.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I have never before put out an appeal of this nature, and I think this speaks to how much I believe in this project and the good work done by Kids Help Phone.
Thank you and happy holidays,
- John
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WHITEMUD ARTS CENTRE
Come and Explore a new arts and entertainment concept where you can learn, explore and experience art.
We’re new in town and are creating a sustainable Artist’s Retreat, Sales Gallery, Photo Studio, Community Garden and Performance Space.
Organized by Lori Broadfoot (WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBER, BFA Honours and Visual Artist and Curator)and Clark McCaw (Photographer and Filmmaker).
Coming soon with Workshops in Painting, Photography, Music, Video, Gardening, Baking, Greenliving and whatever interests YOU!
Watch for our newsletter to learn how you can be part of the Whitemud Arts Centre, #29 2nd Avenue Gladstone, Manitoba.WhitemudArtsCentre.Blogspot.com, (204) 452-5662.
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MILLENNIUM: THE STORY
Join us for a screening of this documentary about Stieg Larsson, author of the international sensation Millennium Trilogy, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Participate in a panel discussion about the past, present and future of political activism, violence against women, sexism, racism and more.
The panel includes:
- Dr. David Camfield, Department of Labour Studies, University of Manitoba, whose research
interests include racism, sexism, heterosexism and social movements
- Chandra Mayor (WRITERS’ COLLECTIVE MEMBER), award-winning local poet and writer interested in urban and alternative cultures.
- Dr. Arlene Young, Department of English, Film and Theatre, University of Manitoba, whose research interests include
Victorian literature and culture, class and gender and
Victorian lady detectives (real and fictional).
• Millennium Library, 251 Donald St., Carol Shields Auditorium, Thursday, March 10, 7 – 8:30 p.m., call 986-6779 for more information.
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PROGRAMS AROUND AND ABOUT
This week the quotes come from writers talking about (what else?) writing.
QUOTE: The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame. Oscar Wilde
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Gail Scott and Lisa Moore
Date: January 24, Monday
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Room 2M70 (Room 70, 2nd floor Manitoba Hall)
Event: Reading
Cost: Free!
Gail Scott is the author of the novels Heroine, Main Brides and My Paris. She is the founding editor of the of the Montreal French-language cultural journal Spirale, and the bilingual journal of women’s writing, Tessera. Her latest novel is The Obituary, a mystery and an investigation of who speaks for us when we speak.
Lisa Moore is the author of the novel Alligator, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, won the Commonwealth Fiction Prize (Canada and the Caribbean), and was a national bestseller. Her most recent novel, February, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
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Ivan Elizabeth Coyote
Date: January 27, Thursday
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Convocation Hall
Event: Inaugural reading of her Carol Shields Writer in Residence Tenure
Cost: Free!
Ivan Elizabeth Coyote is an award-winning author of six collections of short stories, one novel, three CD’s and four short films. Her latest book is the short story collection Missed Her. A superb story-teller and performer, she works in innovative ways with musicians and other artists.
She will be in residence at the University as the Carol Shields Writer in Residence from early January until April 30. You may contact her to book a free consultation by phoning her office at 786-1475. She will be working out of room 2A30.
Meet Ivan at her inaugural reading on January 27 with her Carol Shields Distinguished Lecture on March 16, Wednesday at 7:30 pm, also in Convocation Hall.
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Speaking Crow Open Mic Featuring Jennifer Still – Brought to you with the help of the Writers’ Collective
Date: February 1, Tuesday
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 1H3, Phone: 204-943-7555.
Event: Speaking Crow
Cost: Free!
Aqua Books is pleased to be the permanent home of the venerable poetry series Speaking Crow. The Crow starts at 7:00 pm and is followed by two open-mic sets and short breaks in between. Come take up the mic and wax poetic about life, the universe and everything!
Jennifer Still is the author of two full-length books of poetry: Saltations (Thistledown Press, 2005), and the impendingGirlwood(Brick Books, 2011).
The word “saltation” has specific biological and geological meanings, but in general terms it means To Dance or Leap About. This could constitute Still’s poetical m.o., as well. Whether it be with the short lyrics of Saltations or Girlwood’s elaborate sequences, her poems are always questing and considering — after a family origin; how a texture might mean; how an emotion transmogrifies. In Still’s world, the air has hinges and the human heart is a fractal economy.
… blue
is a stain
the eye drifts to, tails
of smoke, anything fleeting.
(from “Blue”)
Imagine Jennifer Still composing restless stanzas of knotty syntax and dropping them into pools. She charts the ripples into text, all the while dropping new stanzas onto previous ripples to see what that makes, and incorporating these into the poem, too.
… refusing to see
the patterns earth makes when the dead
dissolve: feathers, scattered
seed, what grows in spite of
our resistance.
(from “Spring”)
After a long spell living in Saskatoon, Jennifer Still has returned to her birthtown, where she’s raising her young family. She is one of the founders of the eternally adventurous JackPine Press, and has worked for Grain magazine. In 2008, her work won the Saskatchewan CBC Poetry Face-Off. In the same year, “Girlwood” won first prize in the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild’s John V. Hicks manuscript awards.
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Freedom to Read Marathon
Date: February 25, Friday
Time: 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Millennium Library, Reader Services Area, 251 Donald Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Event: Reading challenged and banned books!
Cost: Free! Call 986-6779 to reserve a ten-minute slot.
Join the Winnipeg Public Library and the Manitoba Writers’ Guild for readings of challenged and challeng ing books. Exercise your freedom to read and volunteer for a 10 minute reading from a selection of banned or challenged books. For more informa tion or to sign up for a slot, call 986-6779.
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OPPORTUNITIES AND SUBMISSIONS
We cannot guarantee any of the opportunities below! Please be careful and do your research. QUOTE: There is creative reading as well as creative writing. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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]
NOTE: Okay, I can guarantee this one . .
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McNally Robinson Mysterious Manuscripts – A Grade 5/6 Writing Contest
McNally Robinson for Kids and Scholastic Canada invite grade five and six students from Manitoba to submit an essay or story of 500 to 800 words. The subject must be mysterious but it may be fact or fiction. Individual entries are welcome and teachers may sponsor up to five students each. Entries will be accepted until 11:00 pm on Friday, March 18, 2011. Winners will be announced on Friday, April 15, and prizes will be awarded at a celebration on Wednesday, April 27. Prizes include McNally Robinson gift cards for the top 5 entries and a library of The 39 Cluesseries for the winner’s school library. For more information, please contact McNally Robinson for Kids or check out our website: www.mcnallyrobinson.com
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Winnipeg Poetry Slam invites you to …
Winnipeg Qualifiers to the NATIONAL INDIVIDUAL POETRY SLAM in Vancouver @ The CYRK (254 Young Street)
ROUND II: Friday, January 28, 2011
Door 8:00 Sing-up 8:30 (first come first serve) Slam 9:00, $5 suggested donation, BYOB (we don’t sell alcohol), No presale or reservations
Poets: Bring two poems!!!!
INDIE NATIONAL SLAM AT VANCOUVER POETRY FESTIVAL
The WPG Poetry Slam is gearing up to send one lucky poet to the National Individual Poetry Slam at the Vancouver Poetry Festival to represent Winnipeg in an individual slam. We will have (only) two qualifying Slams, Jan 14 and Jan 28 at the Cyrk.
The events will follow the Regular Slam Format – No props or costumes, 3 minutes with 10 second grace period – .5 points deducted for every 10 sec over.
Sign up begins at 8:30pm. Only 10 spaces per night. You must be at the Cyrk in person to sign up – no phone calls or emails accepted. We will select 5 random judges from the audience to judge the poets who will perform randomly the first round and reverse order the second round.
We will add the highest two scores for the best poets – and cumulative score of those two wins – in this system, people that are eager will have the chance to have 4 scores to choose from. And if a poet only comes once – they will still get two scores if they qualify for the second round. This system allows everyone a chance.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Check out the Festival Website - http://vancouverpoetryfestival.com
Check out the FAQs for information on the Indies- pay careful attention to time limits – there will be rounds of 1 minute poems and 4 minute poems – so get practicing!
There will be $150 subsidy for travel and hotel the winner will receive upon arrival in Vancouver. The Winnipeg Poetry Slam will provide our Winnipeg winner with travel and hotel money provided by the proceeds of both qualifying slams. Participants must realize they may incur some costs – so start sucking up to those loved ones with Airmiles.
About the CYRK - http://theCYRK.ca
Founded in July 2006, the CYRK is a private arts house in theWinnipeg’s West Broadway area. The CYRK poetry, music, film, or dance gatherings are among the city’s most unique underground attractions. You won’t suspect what you are in for, until you walk in, through the back door.
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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 ishttp://www.manitobaeditors.ca/.
Telephone: 204-452-9700.
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NEWS RANDOM AND OTHERWISE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
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QUOTE: The reading or non-reading a book will never keep down a single petticoat. Lord Byron
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Good Day Everyone,
What else can I say but have fun and write with passion!
Michael
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New Literary E-Publication for Winnipeg
Check out The Winnipeg Review at http://www.thewinnipegreview.com/wp/. It is published quarterly online with frequent updates and the editors can be reached at .
The Winnipeg Review
345-955 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3G 0P9
Publisher – Gregg Shilliday
Editor – Maurice Mierau
Managing Editor – Catharina de Bakker
Advertising Director – Alicia Brown
Contributing Editors: Ingeborg Boyens, Jeff Bursey, Shane Neilson, Byron Rempel, Struan Sinclair, Melissa Steele, Thomas Trofimuk.
The Review describes itself thusly: “The Winnipeg Review publishes on-line every quarter, with weekly updates, from its eponymous home. Like the inhabitants of this midcontinental city, TWR is always opinionated, occasionally cranky, and ethnically confused. We exist to review literary books, mostly Canadian fiction, and to showcase interviews, excerpts, poems, and columns by writers with something to say.”
As an added bonus check out the “Bad Sex in Winnipeg” contest at http://www.thewinnipegreview.com/wp/2010/12/bad-sex-in-winnipeg-contest/!
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Key Porter considers “restructuring options”
Originally published in Quill and Quire by Stuart Woods, 07 January 2011, check it here
Following yesterday’s report by Q&Q, there has been much speculation in the media and publishing world about the uncertain future of the troubled Key Porter Books. In a statement released this afternoon, the Bolton-based company confirmed it has temporarily suspended its publishing operations and is considering selling off parts of its backlist. The statement also makes clear that the company has not gone out of business, as has been reported elsewhere.
The statement in its entirety is as follows:
“As reported in several media outlets today, Key Porter Books has temporarily suspended publishing operations while it pursues a restructuring of its business. Key Porter Books is considering a number of restructuring options, including the sale of certain titles in its valuable catalogue of Canadian works, all with a view to continuing as a leader in the Canadian publishing industry. In the meantime, Key Porter Books is supporting its authors through the continued marketing and sale of previously published works and distribution through H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.
“Key Porter Books has played a leading role in giving a voice to the Canadian story,” said Jordan Fenn, Publisher of Key Porter Books, “and we will do everything possible to ensure that voice continues to be heard.””
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UP FROM THE ROOTS PRESENTS THE 11TH ANNUAL WHEN SISTERS SPEAK SPOKEN WORD CONCERT
When Sisters Speak, North America’s largest annual showcase of Black, female, spoken word artists, makes its return to Toronto on Saturday, January 15th , 2011, 8pm, at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
The brainchild of Toronto spoken word artist, Dwayne Morgan, When Sisters Speak offers a rare opportunity for Black female spoken word artists to share the stage in an uncensored forum of expression. The show annually brings together artists from across North America. The 2011 show will feature performances by Toronto’s Motion and Keisha Monique, Brantford’s Kiki, Edmonton’s Titilope Sonuga, Buffalo’s Erika Haygood, Indiana’s Tasha Jones, with a special performance by dancer/choreographer, Tamla Matthews.
“There are no shows of this caliber and size in North America”, says Morgan, who has been performing and producing events in Toronto over the past 16 years. “Most people associate poetry and spoken word with cafes and back rooms”; When Sisters Speak takes the show and puts it in the theatre, where the hottest artists in the genre get their chance to shine.
When Sisters Speak will be produced in Ottawa, Ontario for the first time, on Sunday, January 16th, 2011.
UP FROM THE ROOTS PRESENTS THE 11TH ANNUAL WHEN SISTERS SPEAK SPOKEN WORD CONCERT
Saturday, January 15, 2011
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East
Tickets $35 -$45 www.stlc.com, 416.366.7723begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Show: 8pm
Dwayne Morgan ()
Up From The Roots
53 Root Crescent, Ajax, ON, L1T 4M3
647.284.9135begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
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Edgar Allan Poe’s Birthday Party!
Wednesday, January 19 is actually Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday (he’d be 102) but the Poe Museum of Richmond, Virginia is holding a Birthday Party on January 15, Saturday, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. So if you’re in Richmond come down to 1914 East Main Street and see performances by the world’s smallest Edgar Allan Poe and by two regular-sized Edgar Allan Poes. Be amongst the first to see the new exhibit “Poe Revealed” featuring the latest discoveries in Poe research.
P.S. I am serious about the world’s smallest Poe, he’s master Bennett Splittof (age 4) and he will be performing at 12:30 pm.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I demand that my books be judged with utmost severity, by knowledgeable people who know the rules of grammar and of logic, and who will seek beneath the footsteps of my commas the lice of my thought in the head of my style. Louis Aragon
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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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