Romance in Saskatchewan Writing

Also at Saskatoon's Word on the Street:

Saskatchewan's Romance Writers display the wide range of print and e-books they've written.

Saskatchewan Romance Writers.
Standing: Hazel Kellner and Annette Bower. Sitting: ID welcome!  © SB

The centrepiece was Love, Loss and Other Oddities. With a forward by renown Regency romance writer Mary Balogh (who lives right here in Saskatchewan), this anthology of love stories was written by the group's members and published to celebrate the SRW's 25th anniversary.

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The Word on the Street in Saskatoon

Jeanette Lynes displays the centrefold
in her new collection,
Archive of the Undressed.  © SB

I was up in Saskatoon while the city's recent Word on the Street festival was underway, and caught several readings:

Anthony Bidulka, Glen Sorestad, Alice Kuipers, Anne McDonald and Jeanette Lynes. (Many more wonderful writers were also there.)

Mysteries, poetry, teen novels, historical fiction, and more fantastic poetry!

Yes, the line-up for Word on the Street was great, with one indoor and three outdoor stages.

There were also many booths showcasing local writers, publishers and booksellers, along with writing programs and organizations — from editing to romance — along the street.

With my schedule and the overlapping readings, it was impossible to hear everyone I wanted — and there were many more than the ones listed/shown here. But I'm glad I was able to see and hear as many talented Saskatchewan writers as I did.

The festival, held September 23, 2012, was the second Word of the Street event held in Saskatoon.  Word on the Street is a national celebration of literacy and the written word, and events are held across Canada each September.

Alice Kuipers (Life of the Refrigerator Door,
Lost for Words) charms the audience
in the Great Expectations tent. © SB

Anthony Bidulka shares the world of
Private Detective Russell Quant. © SB

Anne McDonald sets the stage for
To the Edge of the Sea. © SB

Glen Sorestad shares poems
from his new collection,
A Thief of Impeccable Taste. © SB

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Brenda Schmidt Launches Flight Calls

Brenda Schmidt and Gerry Hill discuss the Art of Listening 

Saskatchewan writer (visual artist, poet, blogger) Brenda Schmidt was in Regina Monday to launch her latest book, Flight Calls: An Apprenticeship on the Art of Listening (Kalamalka Press).  

The launch featured a discussion about writing (and more) with Regina writer (poet, mapper, blogger) Gerry Hill, who partnered with Brenda in the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Mentorship Program several years ago. (Gerry was the mentor; Brenda the apprentice. Or so they say... But perhaps it was really the other way around?)

Congrats, Brenda! (And thanks for the cakes!)

A small selection of the celebratory cakes. 

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Bob Shivery Show: David Sealy, Lunchbox Theatre

The Bob Shivery Show: graphic from the program guide 

Regina playwright David Sealy's new play, The Bob Shivery Show, successfully launched the season at Calgary's Lunchbox Theatre this week.

I saw Sealy's highly entertaining one-act at noon September 10, 2012 — the first show of Shivery's world première run. (You can catch this comedy from now through September 29, 2012.)

Huge congrats to David Sealy, director Mike Kennard, and cast Karen Johnson-Diamond, Esther Purves-Smith, David Lereaney, and Trevor Rueger (who plays Bob Shivery).

Congrats, also, to everyone else involved in making this production come so delightfully to life.

Kennard explains in the program guide that when he was offered the chance to direct The Bob Shivery Show — a play he calls "wonderfully quirky" — he thought, "I've got to do it!"

Kennard continues:

I love to go where the fear is... It gets my blood going and creates that wonderful feeling of not knowing!

We are all faced with crazy decisions every day of our lives and eventually cajoled into what is right. Bob Shivery faces a big choice and jumps at the opportunity of playing the game. 

David Sealy (right) with Anne McDonald (left)
at Monday's showing of The Bob Shivery Show

Also in the guide, Sealy says:

Bob Shivery poses an age-long question in his blog: "There - woman. Here - man.

Don't look now, but there's a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon yawning at your feet. What does it take to bridge that gap?"

When a rival appears for the woman of Bob Shivery's dreams, Sealy says Bob "embarks on his perilous quest because he can no longer be a bystander in his own life."

The quest is indeed perilous  —  and also very funny (it is a comedy after all), and Shivery faces arrest and more.

(But no more plot spoilers — go and see the play!)

I've been lucky enough to have heard Dave read a few extracts from the Bob Shivery Show while it was still a work in progress, and so I have been looking forward to seeing the full production for some time. It was great! Worth the wait! (Yeah, Dave!)

The Bob Shivery Show, the Lunchbox Theatre's season opener, runs in Calgary through September 29, 2012.

Here's hoping that other theatres soon pick up the Show, so that a wider audience can enjoy the fun. (A production right here in Regina would be amazing!)

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