Banff Centre Call for Applications

The Banff Centre is now accepting applications for the following programs:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Literary Journalism 2007

Marni Jackson, Rogers Communications Chair
Off-site manuscript development: April 23 to June 22, 2007
On-site residency: July 9 to August 4, 2007
Application Deadline: March 26, 2007
Faculty Editors: Moira Farr, Ian Pearson

This program offers eight non-fiction writers an opportunity to develop a major essay, memoir, or feature piece. Writers are encouraged to explore new ideas in journalism, and to write a piece of cultural importance that might otherwise be difficult to complete.

In addition to a $3,000 commission, successful applicants may also receive financial assistance to cover the program fee, accommodation, meals, and travel costs.
More Info


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Science Communications 2007

Program Dates: August 13 to 25, 2007
Application Deadline: April 13, 2007
Faculty: Jay Ingram (Program Chair), Mary Anne Moser (Program Director), Jane Mingay, Thomas Hayden, Henry Kowalski, Susan Schwartzenberg, Ivan Semeniuk, Mark L. Winston

This intensive professional development program is aimed at scientists, researchers, and communicators keen to explore new and innovative ways of presenting science. Participants will return to their professional practices transformed by ideas and confident to provide leadership in the advancement of science communications. Financial assistance may be available.
More Info


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mountain Writing 2007

Off-site Manuscript Development: August 13 to October 5, 2007
On-site Residency: October 26 to November 17, 2007
Application Deadline: May 18, 2007
Faculty Editors: Marni Jackson, Tony Whittome

In this unique residency program, six participating writers delve into their own writing projects (essay, memoir, biography, feature article, or book project) on a topic in the area of mountain culture, mountain environment, mountain life, adventure, climbing, and/or mountain history. Financial assistance may be available.
More Info


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visit our website for more information on these and other Literary Arts programs at The Banff Centre.

For more information or to apply:

The Banff Centre, Office of the Registrar
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive, Box 1020
Banff, Alberta T1L 1H5, CANADA
1-800-565-9989 or 1-403-762-6180
arts_info@banffcentre.ca
www.banffcentre.ca

Contributors Selected for Vagrant Review

In May 2007, Vagrant Press will release The Vagrant Revue of New Fiction, a collection of 15 short stories by gifted Atlantic Canadian writers on the cusp of their literary careers. The selected stories are as varied and beautifully weird as the East Coast itself.

Co-editors Sandra McIntyre and Mary Jo Anderson received more than 200 submissions for the project. They were looking for—and found—new and extraordinary literary voices. The writers range widely in age, location and experience but are knit together in this eclectic collection by the superior quality of their writing, their connection to Atlantic Canada, and their potential to become the next big thing. You will hear more from these writers in the future.

The Vagrant Revue is an inspiration to aspiring writers, a goldmine for serious readers, and a vital, edgy addition to the Atlantic Canadian literary canon.

The selected stories are:

The White Rose BBQ by Brent White of Fredericton, NB
Hens by Janet Parker Vaughan from Middleton, NS
Why Do Birds? by Lee Thompson of Moncton, NB
What It Would Make of Him by Darcy Rhyno from Little Harbour, NS
Seventeen Heresies by Elizabeth Peirce of Halifax, NS
A Good Place to Come From by Sarah Mian from Halifax, NS
I Like to Hold Your Hand by Nina Lassam of Halifax, NS
One Last Thing by Amy Jones from Halifax, NS
You, Jane by Joanne Jefferson of Pleasantville, NS
City of Trees by Joey Comeau from Halifax, NS
Standin’ Up by Rhian Colcott of Bridgewater, NS
Pardon-speaking blood by Michelle Butler Hallett from St. John’s, NL
Extinction by Erna Buffie of Halifax, NS
Home Fires Burning Bright by Judy Bowman from Miramichi, NB
Heroes Until by Russell Barton of Dartmouth, NS

Sandra McIntyre is the Managing Editor at Nimbus Publishing/Vagrant Press. She has earned a master’s degree in English literature from Dalhousie University and has since spent six years in book publishing. Her passion for books and especially new authors has transformed the Atlantic Canadian publishing world.

Mary Jo Anderson is a major force in both the regional and national book industry. A founding member of Word on the Street Halifax, she has written articles and book reviews for the Globe and Mail and the Chronicle Herald, and has been a regular book panellist on CBC Radio.

Chapbook Launch, Moncton

1 March, Thursday, 8 pm: chapbook launch. Skipping Stone (Elbow Press) by Kimberley Gautreau. Short story writer, Elizabeth Blanchard, will also read. @ Attic Owl Bookshop, 115 Queen St, Moncton, NB.

Deadline for School of Writing with Rudy Wiebe Approaching

There's just over a week to go for writers who want to apply to attend the School of Writing with Rudy Wiebe at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg.

The School, which runs from May 14-18, features two tracks: Fiction, taught by Wiebe, an award-winning author of 15 books of fiction, six books of non-fiction and numerous essays and anthologies; and poetry, taught by Manitoba poet Sarah Klassen, who has published a collection of short stories and six books of poetry.

The School will feature writing workshops, one-on-one meetings with Wiebe and Klassen, opportunities to meet published local authors and time for writing and reflection.

The School is endorsed by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. The cost is $495 for the week.

The application deadline is March 1. For more information, go to http://www.cmu.ca/writing_school.html

Poetry Anthology

For only a week or so more, considering submissions of poems for the anthology Collected Sex (eds. Barry McKinnon + rob mclennan), out this fall with Chaudiere Books (www.chaudierebooks.com).

It's an anthology of poems based on the original "sex at 31" series started in the 1970s by McKinnon + others. More info here: http://www.poetics.ca/poetics04/04sexat31.html

Send submissions with a bio to: rob_mclennan@hotmail.com

6th Annual Poetry Face-Off in Moncton

CBC Continues the Tradition of the Battling Bards

Host: Rhonda Whittaker, host of CBC Radio's Information Morning
Venue: The Chocolate River Conservatory of Music
Event Date: February 25th
Time: 2:00 PM
Broadcast Date & Time: TBA

Poets:
Steph Berntson
Matt Robinson
Jesse Robichaud
Paul Bosse
Karen Davidson

QWERTY Reads February 23rd

Qwerty reads
weathering

23 february 07 * 8:30 pm
UNDERGROUND CAFE

THIS MONTH featuring:
karen SOLIE
david SEYMOUR
brecken HANCOCK
jared PEACE
james LANGER
matt LESLIE
laura PEARSON
musical rar-rar:
cora & matt OF vetch
jesseFERGUSON
Celebrity HOST: kari TROGEN

Qwerty READS is a monthly night of poetry , short fiction, visual art and music held at the Underground Cafe on the last Friday of every month--an arts laboratory where everyone is welcome to experiment. We also have an OPEN MIC!

Bring your textual hypermetrics, visual dialectics or musical inventions.

This month QWERTY READS seasons our climactic midwinter, under it over it into the eye ofit, braving exposure, enduring cyclonic syllabaries, surmounting a tempestuous turbulent lexicon--we fly rage thunder gusty rumpus, we are seahardy vessels bracing the front of our weathermaking. Plus, we're musically accompanied (and poets are just so damn cute).

The Underground Cafe and Alternative Bookstore is a youth volunteer-run,
collectively owned, not-for-profit, fair trade cafe.

The Writers' Union of Canada 10th Annual Writing For Children Competition

Share Your Children's Story for a $1, 500 Prize and Sponsored Submission to Several Publishers!

Prizes:
• $1,500.00 Prize.
• Entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted to three publishers of children's books.

Deadline: Postmarked April 24, 2007.

Entry Fee: $15 fee per entry.

Eligibility: This contest is open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have not been published in book format, in any genre, and who do not have a contract with a book publisher. Entries must be written in the English language, not previously published, and within the word limit of 1,500. Please do not send illustrations or entries with only a few sentences per page.

How To Submit Entries:
• Typed, double-spaced and numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper, not stapled. Submissions on computer disk or faxes will not be accepted.
• Include a separate cover letter with full name, address, phone number, and number of pages of entry. Please type name of entrant and title of entry on each numbered page.
• Make cheque or money order 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.

Mail to: WFC Competition, 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5C 1P1.

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

THE WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA 2006 SHORT PROSE COMPETITION FOR DEVELOPING WRITERS $2,500 PRIZE WINNER

The Union initiated the Short Prose Competition in 1993 in honour of its twentieth anniversary. The Competition aims to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of short prose. Entry is limited to writers who are not yet published in book format, in order to provide opportunity and exposure to developing writers.

This year, twenty-five Union members donated their time and expertise to read 246 submissions, distilling them to a shortlist of twelve strong entries. The final jury — Caroline Adderson (novelist and short-story writer, Governor General’s Award nominee, and Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize winner), Kathy Page (novelist and short-story writer, nominated for the 2005 Governor General's Award for Alphabet), and Andrew Pyper (best-selling author, and Arthur Ellis Award winner) — chose the following winner from the shortlist of twelve contenders.

WINNER
”Brideship” by Anna Johnston

Anna Johnston's "Brideship" is a vividly imagined story, told in language that is at once intricate and forceful, sophisticated and sensual. The author has done her work — both in the research required in rendering her historical setting, and the imagination with which she has created her gutsy characters. "Brideship" is an
ambitious and accomplished piece of fiction. (Jury)

Anna Johnston is a recent student of the University of Victoria's Writing Program and a member of The Malahat Review's editorial board. She has had fiction and poetry published in the student journals This Side of West and The Claremont Review, and her work was recently selected for a 'best of' publication of The Claremont Review. She currently works in Victoria as a researcher, where she looks forward to encountering much more material for her historical fictions.

FINALISTS
“Beading Miss O’Leary’s Wedding Gown” by Cathy Marie Buchanan
“Elephants in the Sand” by Akoulina K. Connell
“Let the Japanese Do Kamikaze” by John Bandler
”Loose Ends” by Susan Garnham
“Mel” by Sheila McClarty
“Not Quite Nancy Drew” by Pam Bustin
“Rocket-Cars, Hoppers and Heroes” by Ron MacLean
“Still Life With Flowers” by Bev Craddock
”The Gym Garden” by Andrew Binks
“The Passage” by John Blackmore
“The Slava Ladies League Christmas Pyrohy Fiasco” by John Spychka

READERS FOR THE COMPETITION
Ray Argyle, Thelma Barer-Stein, Jean Rae Baxter, Heather Birrell, Kathy Buckworth, Sue Donaldson, Betty Dyck, Sarah Ellis, Celia Godkin, Carolyn Gossage, Nancy Graham, Lynn Harrigan, Marvyne Jenoff, Ann Jamieson, Robert H. Jones, Simon Leigh, Catherine MacLeod, Michael Mirolla, Helen Pierera, Bill Schermbrucker, Debbie Spring, and Halli Villegas.

Betty Ponder, Odd Sundays

Poetry reading: Betty Ponder featured at odd sundays at molly’s, Fredericton’s longest running semimonthly poetry reading series. (New Brunswick, the poetry province !)

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 2pm
Molly’s Coffee House
554 Queen Street, Fredericton

Betty Ponder, featured reader at odd sundays at molly’s: She is daughter, sister, wife, mother, researcher, painter, healer, caregiver, author, grandmother, gardener, friend, giver of life, and she has written a book. Betty Ponder will tell you that Little Sparrows Fall is simply the story of her family which she is giving to her children and grandchildren who may not know yet which questions to ask. Ponder’s clarity of voice and tender respect for the family that surrounds her, reveal a great courage coursing through the generations that pivot around this remarkable woman. She writes of struggle, and sickness and death—and irrepressible hope. With this book, Ponder has created a palm’s worth of amber—delicate, poignant, and worth holding onto forever.

Open Set: Bring lyrics, drama, fiction, drama, or music, to present in the open set. If it is created from words, we want it.

Please join us at 2 pm on Sunday, February 18, at Molly’s Coffee House, for an afternoon engaged with literature. For information: acalvern@nbnet.nb.ca or 459-1436. (Just say yes to poetry.)

Tammy Armstrong & Robert Moore Reading

Poets Tammy Armstrong and Robert Moore will be giving a reading at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. The reading will take place on Thursday, February 22nd, at 8:00 pm in Singer Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Tammy Armstrong is a Fredericton-based poet whose first collection of poetry, Bogman?s Music, gave her the distinction of being the youngest poet ever short-listed for the Governor General?s Award. Goose Lane Editions has just published her latest collection of poetry, Take us Quietly, which further explores some of the author?s favorite subjects including growing up in rural New Brunswick, travels in Europe, Mexico, and Central America, and the accommodations of love in a long-term relationship.

Actor, director, playwright, and editor, Robert Moore is currently the Chair of the Department of Humanities and Languages at UNB Saint John. His first collection of poetry, So Rarely in Our Skins (2002) was short-listed for The Atlantic Poetry Prize and The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. Publishers Wolsak and Wynn have just released his second collection of poetry, Museum Absconditum.

The reading is sponsored by UNBF?s department of English, the University Bookstore and the Canada Council for the Arts.

For more information on the reading, feel free to contact Ross Leckie at 458-7395.