Sage Hill Poetry Colloquium: Spring Reading

At the Sage Hill Poetry Colloquium this year — poets and teachers extraordinaire, Don McKay and Seán Virgo.

It was a full house at the Creative City Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, for the Sage Hill reading — and the only reading I've ever attended with a foot-stomping, hand-thumping, encore on request!

Yes, wonderful, the writer's voice of each. So distinctive, so amazing, so totally his own.

(So many more books on my to-read list, now...)

Amazing poet, essayist, naturalist, Don McKay. 

Poet and all-round amazing writer, Seán Virgo

And, if you live in North America — or beyond! — and write, please look into the Sage Hill Writing Experience program!

Sage Hill Executive Director, 
Philip Adams

It was the first creative writing program I attended, and I still really, really, really want to go back — and I will!

Yes, I will! Phenomenal instructors. Amazingly talented students. Wide range of workshops...

And yes, you know you want to do this, too...

(Yes, though set in Saskatchewan, students come from a long distance. Really. It's wonderful!)

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Writers under New Spotlights at Regina's Vertigo Series

The Vertigo Series last night in Regina launched their new look — blue and red spotlights for the readers, Andréa Ledding, Matthew Hall, Sandra Ridley, Christine McNair and Danny Kresnyak. (Thanks to Tara Dawn Solheim, as always, for hosting!)

I can't reproduce the intelligence, wit, sensitivity and fun of their breathless, passionate, thoughtful, colourful, creative words... But I can show how the new lights provide an atmospheric hit to Craves, the series ongoing location.

Andréa Ledding

Matthew Hall

Christine McNair

Sandra Ridley

Danny Kresnyak
(and yes, he is a card-carrying member
of the SK Beard and Moustache Club...) 

Vertigo Series host,
Tara Dawn Solheim 

It's always fun to hear readers who are visiting Regina, and last night Sandra Ridley and Christine McNair came from Ottawa, and Andréa Ledding and Matthew Hall, from Saskatoon.

Thanks to all! I left inspired.

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Four New Voices 2013: SWG Apprentice Reading

Early this month, four new writers were formally introduced to the Saskatchewan literary community at the Four New Voices reading in Regina sponsored by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild.

The reading marked the end of an intensive four-month apprenticeship for Cindy Clarke, Lisa Kuzma, Evie Ruddy and Tara Dawn Solheim, with their individual mentors, gillian harding russell, Harriet Richards, Dave Margoshes and Liz Philips.

As a former participant in the SWG Mentorship Program (matched with Dave Margoshes, back in 2003), I was asked to host the evening. It was a delight to be there; I really enjoyed the mix of poetry, fiction, memoir and non-fiction!

Congrats to this year's participants! And watch for these talented writers!

The writers: Cindy Clarke, gillian harding-russell, Tara Dawn Solheim, Liz Philips,
Lisa Kuzma, Harriet Richards, Evie Ruddy, and Dave Margoshes. 

Cindy Clarke, with gillian harding-russell

Lisa Kuzma, with Harriet Richards

Evie Ruddy, with Dave Margoshes

Tara Dawn Solheim, with Liz Philips

Judith Silverthorne, with greetings
from the Writers Guild

The Mentorship Program is designed to provide personalized professional development for talented new writers, to enable them to gain confidence, become more active members of the writing community, and learn more about the craft and business of writing. Apprentices go on to publish more frequently, win awards for their work, and nuture and support other beginning and emerging writers. Mentors, on the other hand, hone their teaching and editing skills and have a chance to earn money doing what they love and do best. 

The program is open to Saskatchewan writers (application dates are usually in the fall) and is sponsored by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and the Canada Council for the Arts; the reading was also supported by the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Sask Culture, and the City of Regina.  

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Hagios Press Spring 2013 Launch and Reading

In late April, Hagios Press launched three collections of poetry in Regina, Saskatchewan: 

• The Invisible Library, by Paul Wilson; 
• Stealing Home: Baseball Poems, by Dwayne Brenna; and 
• The Survival Rate of Butterflies in the Wild, by Murray Reiss. 

I remember Paul reading from a draft of The Invisible Library a couple of years ago, so it was great to see the work as a completed book. And I enjoy launches, primarily for the chance to hear the writers present their work, but also as a time to network and celebrate writing. So it was a good evening! 

My camera was also very happy to be in a sunny, well-lit room — although it's possible that the cinder block walls of the Cathedral Community Centre would perhaps be somewhat more appealing in the traditional literary gloom... 

Host and Hagios partner Eric Greenway 

Paul Wilson, reading from The Invisible Library

Dwayne Brenna, Stealing Home. 

Murray Reiss: The Survival Rate
of Butterflies in the Wild 

With thanks to the poets and readers! 

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The Society Magazine - with my poem, "High Wire"

The Society, 2013
St. Peter's College

The 2013 edition of The Society magazine from St. Peter's College in
Muenster, Saskatchewan, is now available online, and if you scroll carefully through, you'll find my poem, "High Wire" about eight pages in.

What fun to share a page with Dave Margoshes, whose poem "Thirteen new ways, with one more for luck" is right beside mine! 

And, what fun to share space in the magazine with other fine writers: Jan Conn, Cindy Clarke, Linda Biasotto, Sharon McFarlane, Glen Sorestad, Kelly Jo Burke, Carolyn Smart... 

If you want to read my poem, you can burn your eyes by trying to focus on a micro-image, one-page scan on my website... 

But why create such pain?

The entire edition is available as an easy-to-read pdf through the St. Peter's College website, with background to The Society, here, and the full issue of The Society, 2013, here. 

My thanks to the editorial team, including Barb Langhorst, the 2013 Saskatchewan Book Awards winner for Poetry, for selecting my creative work! 

~~~~~

Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson in Regina

Margaret Atwood

Renowned Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson will be in Regina in late June as part of their tour of the Saskatchewan PFRA pastures and Grasslands National Park.

Atwood and Gibson, who are also strong champions for wild birds, will be the featured guests at a fundraising dinner at the Hotel Saskatchewan on June 27, 2013.

This is my kind of fundraising dinner! 

Fabulous authors, in support of our fabulous natural world!*

The event is sponsored by Nature Canada and Public Pastures - Public Interest.

For tickets, contact the Globe Theatre Box Office in Regina, in person, at 1801 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2G9; by phone, at 306.525.6400 or 1.866.954.5623; or online, at: http://globetheatrelive.com/box-office/tickets.  

Graeme Gibson
photo: Dennis Minty

For more information, see:

• Trevor Herriot's Grass Notes;
• Pasture Posts; 
• Nature Canada's site, for the news release; and 
• The Facebook event page for the Atwood-Gibson dinner. 
• The handbill, below, with information about Margaret Atwood, Graeme Gibson, and the June 27, 2013, Prairie Passages Dinner. 

Please join us! (And feel free to share this!) 

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* Personal note:  An invitation to any not aware of my love for prairie birds and wildlife to visit my PrairieNature.blogspot.com blog; and also to visit PrairieWildflowers.blogspot.com for, well, pictures of prairie wildflowers. 

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Poetry: Bruce Rice, "Dead Métis at Batoche."

Last month, Regina poet Bruce Rice asked me to help put together a video of his reading as part of the Mayor's Poetry City Challenge. 

He provided the poem and image of the sculpture that inspired his words (with thanks to artist Joe Fafard for permission to use his images of "Batoche"), and I taped, edited, produced it.

Here's the result, direct from Bruce's YouTube Channel. Enjoy! 

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