The Byrna Barclay Special Edition of Transition Magazine

Byrna Barclay, at the launch of the Byrna Barclay edition of Transition © SB

Transition magazine has launched a special edition to honour long-time editor and advocate Byrna Barclay.

The launch featured readings by Byrna Barclay, and by contributors to the Winter 2013 issue: Annette Bower, Linda Biasotto, Denise SD Stilling and Adam Staite.

Held in Regina, Saskatchewan, the event also featured the prominent display of The Blue Horse, a painting by Saskatoon artist and writer (and contributor to this issue), Marie Elyse St. George. The painting was the cover image for Byrna's novel, The Last Echo, and also used on the cover of the magazine.

Byrna Barclay, a fiction writer and poet (among many other talents), edited Transition for 20 years, and actively encouraged members of the Saskatchewan writing community to submit their prose and poetry to her pages.

(I also know Byrna in her role as the long-time host of The Bees, a Regina writing group that Annette, Linda and I belong/ed to. My thanks, Byrna, for all your ideas, work and support!)

Transition is published annually by the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Edited by Ted Dyck, it welcomes submissions from writers and artists.

Sean St. George (artist Marie Elyse St. George's son) and Byrna Barclay, with a display
that include Elyse's painting The Blue Horse, Byrna's novels and the magazine.  © SB

Annette Bower  © SB

Editor Ted Dyck   © SB

Adam Staite     © SB

Denise SD Stilling © SB

Linda Biasotto  © SB

This issue of Transition also includes one of the best writers' bios I've seen recently: 

"I am 90. The chance of anyone being left alive to figure out who [the men in my article] were is very unlikely."

(Way to go, Kay Parley!) 

~~~~~

Ariel Gordon and Garry Thomas Morse Read in Regina

Garry Thomas Morse and Ariel Gordon look at Ariel's new chapbook,
How to Make a Collage.  

Ariel Gordon and Garry Thomas Morse took to the microphone on an icy cold evening in Regina, bringing humour, action, drama and even opera singing to those who braved the weather for two great readings at the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild office.

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg writer whose first book of poetry, Hump, was published in 2010 by Palimpsest Press, and whose second is slated for publication in 2014. Recently, she won the Kalamalka Press' inaugural poetry award; the result is her chapbook, How to Make a Collage.

Garry Thomas Morse, a new Regina resident, is the author of four books of poetry, including Discovery Passage, about his ancestral Kwakwa'wakw First Nation, a finalist for the 2011 Governor General's Award and the 2012 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. He's also published a collection of short stories (Death in Vancouver) and an experimental fiction series The Chaos! Quincunx, all available from Talon Books.

So, for those who stayed home to shelter from the cold... You missed a great evening! And Christmas treats, too. (And seriously, amazing singing by Garry.)

The many faces of Ariel Gordon! 

Garry Thomas Morse takes to the mic with
Rogue Cells/Carbon Harbour,
part of his experimental fiction series, The Chaos! Quincunx.  

The evening's host, Tracy Hamon,
of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. 

 ~~~~~

Annette Bower: Woman of Substance now in print!

Annette Bower, with Woman of Substance,
in the Qu'Appelle Valley north of Regina.

Congrats to Regina writer Annette Bower, whose Woman of Substance is now available in
paperback, as well as an e-book!

Woman of Substance is a contemporary novel set in Regina, Saskatchewan, and the valley north of the city. It touches on serious issues related to identity, body size and disguise. It's also a romance, and a great read. 

For copies, visit:

Contemporary Art Gallery & Analog Gallery Store

(Artful Dodger Café & Music Emporium)

1621 11th Ave

Regina, SK

SaskMade Marketplace

Cornwall Centre Mall

2101 11th Ave

Regina, SK

Or, contact Annette, at www.annettebower.com/. 

Yeah, Annette!

(And someone I know is getting a copy of this book for Christmas... I can say that, because I really don't think she's ever visited this blog... Yet, at least... Though maybe if she realizes there are gift hints here, she'll start...)  

~~~~~