Ascent Aspirations MagazineWhat's
New
WordStorm September 27th, 2010
Check out our web site for all the details for our featured performers.
Polish up your new work and bring it to the open mike. Prizes for first second and third. Judges chosen randomly from our audience.
WordStorm Web Site
Mary Ann Moore Workshops and Circles
Poet, Writer, Writing Mentor, Circle Facilitator,
Creator of Writing Home (a writing mentoring program)
Weaver of interactive poetry performances
Flower Essence Practitioner
The Flying Mermaids Studio
Nanaimo, B.C.
Web Site
250-729-2630
September
Wednesday, September 22 to November 10, 2010, 9 a.m. to noon
Writing Home, an 8-week women’s writing circle
at Oliver Woods Community Centre, Nanaimo
Contact Mary Ann Moore at flyingm@interlog.com for details.
Tuesday, September 14 to October 19, 2010, 10 a.m. to noon
Finding and Expressing Your Writing Voice with Mary Ann Moore
at Elder College, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo
Visit VIU Web Site for registration details.
October
Saturday, October 23 & Sunday, October 24, 2010, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Writing Your Life Stories
at Vancouver Island University, Cowichan Campus, Duncan
Visit www.viu.ca/ccs for registration details.
This course will be offered at the Nanaimo campus on January 22-23, 2011.
Sandy Shreve's chapbook, Cedar Cottage Suite, is now available from Leaf Press.
Web Site
PORT MOODY WRITERS' GROUP
July - August; Thursdays, 10 am - noon
Usually demand exceeds supply, but this year, July & August provide a chance for emerging and established writers
in the Metro Vancouver area to try this multi-genre group established over 35 years ago. Cost: $40.75/month.
Registration is available through Port Moody's Recreation Programs - click on "Adult Programs" and scroll down
to "Creative Writing". Location: Kyle Recreation Centre, 125 Kyle Street, Port Moody.
The Voice: VISIBLE VERSE 10th Anniversary Celebration & Festival
In 1999 the Vancouver Videopoem Festival, the first of its kind in Canada, began as an effort
of the Edgewise ElectroLit Centre, a non-profit literary arts organization dedicated to expanding the reach
of poetry through new media with programs such as Telepoetics Vancouver and the Edgewise Café electronic
magazine. The VVF became critically regarded owing to its progressive regard for spoken word in cinema,
presenting poets both in performance and on the big screen. The audience could explore the merits and
distinctions of poetry rendered in these two forms, stage and screen, sparking new dialogue as to the
essential nature of poetry. The festival then built upon that foundation, with widened explorations
into poetry cinema across national frontiers. They presented significant new works from Europe and
the Americas, and continued to offer Canadian audiences a remarkably broad selection of new videopoems
from their own country.
Pacific Cinémathèque has been the VVF¹s partner since 2000 and throughout the dissolution of the Edgewise.
Founder Heather Haley continues to provide a sustaining venue for the presentation of new and artistically
significant videopoetry as host and curator of SEE THE VOICE: Visible Verse. And owing to Vancouver's
strength in the film and television production industries, Haley has been able to cultivate critical
interest between filmmakers and poets, with positive consequences for both.
To celebrate entering their second decade of showcasing videopoetry, Haley and the Pacific Cinémathèque
are presenting two screenings this year as well as poetry performances, a panel discussion and an awards
gala, Friday Nov. 19 and Saturday Nov. 20.
SEE THE VOICE-Visible Verse 10th Anniversary Celebration & Festival
Call for Entries and Official Guidelines:
Please send in your videopoem by August. 1, 2010.
* Visible Verse seeks videopoems, with a 15 minutes maximum duration.
* Either official language of Canada is acceptable, though if the video is in French, an
English-dubbed or-subtitled version is required for consideration. Videos may originate in any part of the world.
* Works will be judged by their innovation, cohesion and literary merit. The ideal videopoem
is a wedding of word and image, the voice seen as well as heard.
* Please, do not send documentaries as they are outside the featured genre.
* Videopoem producers should provide a brief bio, full name, and contact information
in a cover letter. There is no official application form nor entry fee.
Send, at your own risk, videopoems and poetry films/preview copies (which cannot be returned)
in DVD NTSC format to: VISIBLE VERSE c/o Pacific Cinémathèque, 200-1131 Howe Street, Vancouver,
BC, V6Z 2L7, Canada. Selected artists will be notified and receive a standard screening fee.
For more information contact Heather Haley at: hshaley@emspace.com
Summer Dream: A Night of Honour
Friday August 20, 2010
Susan Musgrave: Then and Now
Join us at the Jacana Gallery, to celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured.
This Summer Dream night of honouring will begin with a lifetime achievement award for Susan Musgrave
whose first book was published 40 years ago and still is a strong force on the Canadian poetry scene.
Susan is an inspiration and mentor to so many. We will then go on to give awards to publishers of
magazines who continue to support novice and established writers despite cutbacks and inflation.
To be honoured are Room, Event, Prism. Sub Terrain, Geist, The Capilano Review and One Cool Word.
Finally the evening will end with four special awards. Three will be awards of merit for persons
or organizations that support the writing community. These awards will come from the writing
community itself as we have asked for nominations and will be putting these names out for a
vote. Finally one award will go to recognize an individual who Pandora’s Collective feels
has excelled in their support of writers within our community. This evening will continue
the Summer Dream commitment to highlighting community involvement to the public. Mike
Peacock of Melic Thrum will be our musical featured guest and there will be a special
guest appearance by a musician to collaborate on a work of Susan’s.
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Jacana Gallery
2435 Granville Street
Vancouver BC
Bonnie Nish
Executive Director
Pandora's Collective
www.pandorascollective.com
Awaken to the Path…Ignite Your Passion
Friday, August 20, 2010, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A one-day labyrinth seminar with Jo Ann Mast, Veriditas Master Teacher
Honeymoon Bay Lodge and Retreat, Honeymoon Bay
$90. Includes lunch
Honeymoon Bay Retreat
The spiral of the labyrinth frees the mind to delight in the whispering of longings and the discovery
of new possibilities. There’s also a “Meet and Greet” evening with JoAnn Mast from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. that includes a light meal and entertainment for $15 per person. Contact Meg Hansen at
Honeymoon Bay Lodge at 250-749-4252 or meg@honeymoonbayretreat.com.
Saturday, August 21 to Sunday, August 22, 2010
Veriditas Labyrinth Facilitator Course with JoAnn Mast, Veriditas Master Teacher
Honeymoon Bay Lodge and Retreat, Honeymoon Bay
$600 includes lunch
Register at Veriditas
Walking the labyrinth is being embraced as a spiritual practice throughout the western
world mostly because of Veriditas trained facilitators. Some people take this two-day
course to deepen their knowledge of labyrinths. Others take it with the goal of becoming a Veriditas Certified Facilitator.
WRITER'S RETREAT AT ANNIE'S ACRE IN NANOOSE BAY WITH: TEACHER: Betsy Warland
Title:
"Revision: -scaping the poem"
DESCRIPTION:
How do you know when a poem is ready for publication or performance? In this retreat you will learn, and apply
in revisions, three strategies for guiding you in making each poem's final revisions.
These "-scaping" strategies will assess how accurately you have: located the reader; positioned the
narrator's voice; scored the poem's inherent movement on the page. Learning how to develop a "third"
ear by reading a poem aloud will inform this informative approach to revision.
Poets who work in individual poems, suites of poems or a manuscript are all welcome.
Maximum 12 participants.
ABOUT BETSY:
Betsy Warland has published 10 books of poetry, creative nonfiction and lyric prose. Her decade-long writing project,
Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing, will be published in 2010. Comprised of two sets of essays: one
set reflects on the materials with which we write; the other set investigates the concepts Warland has developed
about the forces we encounter in the act of writing beneath the language of craft.
The director of, and on faculty at, The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University, Warland is also a manuscript
consultant and the Director of the 5-month Vancouver Manuscript Intensive Program.
Currently, she is working on a lyric prose manuscript "Oscar of Between".
DATES:
September 17th, 18th, 19th, 2010.
Friday evening - 7:00-9:00 pm
Saturday - 10am-12:00 noon, lunch with time to write,
3:30-5:30pm, dinner, 7:30-9:30
Sunday morning - 10:00-12:00
WHERE:
Annie's Acre Bed and Breakfast in Nanoose Bay.
2335 Weston Pl. Nanoose Bay.
You can also find us on our website
www.anniesacre.com
PRICE:
$250 for the weekend. That includes meals.
Deposit of $100 due upon registration, to secure your spot as they are limited. Remaining amount due by Labour Day Weekend.
If you need accommodation, please let us know and we will do our best to help
you find some. If you are willing to camp, either tent or small trailer, we are on one acre with plenty of room. Please let us know.
There will be no extra fee for camping here.
PRE-RETREAT SUBMISSION:
There will be a pre-retreat email submission of poems that will be required. Details about this when upon registration.
CONTACT:
Tina at tbiello@shaw.ca
or
250 468-7960
The Spirit Bear Award Created by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier
Island Poet Named Recipient of New Literary Award
Sooke poet Wendy Morton has been named the first recipient of The Spirit Bear Award. This biannual tribute,
founded by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier with support from the Victoria, BC poetry community, recognizes
the significance of a vital and enduring contribution to the poetry of the West Coast.
Morton, a resident of Vancouver Island, was honoured at a surprise gala presentation in Victoria,
on Friday, 16 April. Lucinda Chodan, Editor-in-Chief of The Victoria Times-Colonist, poet and
novelist Patrick Lane and poet and memoirist Lorna Crozier each spoke of Morton’s extensive support
of poetry and poets during the celebration. She was presented with a carved Spirit Bear Box made
by Sooke artist John Mugford. A very surprised Morton then spoke of her work with First Nations
peoples, helping both children and adults tell their stories in poetry.
Wendy Morton, the author of four books of poetry and a memoir, also created Planet Earth Poetry,
the popular Victoria reading series now in its second decade. Morton was instrumental in founding
Victoria’s Poet Laureate position as well as Random Acts of Poetry, an annual event across Canada
and now in the United Kingdom that has seen poets reading in schools, shopping malls, hotel lobbies,
municipal offices, and taxi cabs. She has been Westjet’s Poet of the Skies and has taught poetry
at the Victoria READ Society and in public schools across Canada. For the past fifteen years
she has managed the annual Master Poetry classes at The Juan de Fuca poetry retreats. "Poetry
is the shortest distance between two hearts," said the passionate literary leader.
Patrick Lane called her a literary treasure and a dynamic force in the literature of this country.
“I can think of no one who has so dedicated her life to this island’s literary community.
In doing so she has raised the awareness of people, helping them discover their own stories
and songs through the art of the poem. A passionate advocate for poetry and the richness
it brings to people’s lives, she is most deserving of this inaugural community award.”
New Monthly Poetry Series in
Nanaimo
Greg Skala is trying to establish monthly
poetry reading sessions at the Wellington Branch Library, 3032 Barons Road, Nanaimo,
B.C., on the first Thursday evening of each month, 7:00-8:00 p.m. The upcoming
session (our second so far) will be on Thursday, June 3, 2010. If you or someone
you know might be interested in reading either their own poems or favourite poems
by others, for the May session or for a session in some future month, please
urge them to contact the Library at 250-758-5544 or either of these two e-mail
addresses: Email Greg
Email VIRL
Qualicum Acoustic
Cafe QB Acoustic Café
Rotary House, 211 W. Fern,
Qualicum Beach
This month's feature is an ango-alaskan acoustic world
music duo from the UK . $5 per adult. Children free. Check out their website http://www.opland-freeman.com/
(The "Rotary House" is located on the corner of Fern Road West and Beach Road
in Qualicum)
QB Acoustic Café is committed to the sharing of community, acoustic
music from all genres, poetry, story-telling, and more…
Next Evening
Qualicum's
Acoustic Cafe, with music, poetry, story telling and song is on the first Friday
of the month with open stage at 7:30pm.
$5 at the door
Rotary House on
corner of Fern Road and Beach Road
Please arrive early if you want to sign
up for the open stage.
Doors open 7.00
Open Stage 7.30-8.45
Intermission
8.45-9.00
Feature act 9.00-10.00
Sign up for open stage
· at the door
or
· by calling Joyce at 250 752-1162
StoryTelling
Evenings The Around Townd Tellers now gather:
every SECOND Friday of the month at
the Unitarian Fellowship Hall
595 Townsite Road ( at Millstone)
7:30pm
Poetry
Gabriola Festival Poetry
Gabriola Festival Site for on-gpoing events
Walking with Elihu: poems on Elihu Burritt, The Learned Blacksmith
Taylor Graham's poetry captures the life of an exceptional man of the nineteenth century. Elihu Burritt,
born into a poor Connecticut family, was acclaimed "The Learned Blacksmith" by the Governor of Massachusetts when it
was discovered he had mastered 50 foreign languages while working at the forge. Corresponding with Longfellow and
others, Elihu Burritt became one of the most ardent peace activists in his century, helping organize international
peace congresses, campaigning for a Congress of Nations, international law, and a World Court. Born nearly 200
years ago, he was well ahead of his time. President Lincoln appointed him Consular Agent to Birmingham, England.
In her inimitable style, poet Taylor Graham, portrays Burritt's passion for peace and the betterment of man's
condition in 94 beautiful poems. This is truly poetry for history.
Amazon
About the Author
Taylor Graham is a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in the Sierra Nevada. Her poems have appeared widely in small
and university press, including American Literary Review, The Iowa Review, The New York Quarterly, Poetry International,
Southern Humanities Review, and she's included in the anthology California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present
(Santa Clara University, 2004). Her book The Downstairs Dance Floor (Texas Review Press, 2006) was awarded the Robert
Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. A small collection of her Elihu Burritt poems was a finalist in the 2010 Poets
Writers' California Writers Exchange.
If Only the Dust Would Settle by Althea
Romeo-Mark
The Poetry collection, “If Only the Dust Would Settle,” consists
of selected poems interwoven into a personal essay. The essay contemplates the
meaning of home and my experiences as an immigrant. I come from a line of immigrants,
was born in Antigua, West Indies and raised in the US Virgin Islands. I lived
in the USA and Liberia, where I got married, bore three children and survived
Liberia's political upheavals. I also lived in England and now Switzerland.
The book is now available now from AuthorHouse Author
House
0800 1974150
Order this title through your local bookseller
or preferred on-line retailer.
978-1-4389-8267-0 (SC ISBN)
You can also
order copies from www.amazon.com and www.borders.co You can see a copy of the
book's cover, designed by Cassandra, on my blogsite (www.aromaproduction.vox.com).
What Were Their Dreams - New Poetry by
Wendy Morton
Press
Release
Mother
Tongue Publishing Launches Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry
Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary
BC Poetry, 2008
TALE
SPINNERS Tale Spinners, a writing group welcomes
all writers, be they published or simply interested in writing. Our purpose is
to support and encourage one another in the act of creative writing. We meet on
the first and third Friday of the month from 1 - 3 at St. Edmond's Church library.
Information at 250-248-6176 - Evelyn
Photos
David Fraser's Random Acts of Poetry
Nanaimo
Screenwriters Gathering
The Nanaimo Screenwriters Gathering (NSG)
is a group devoted to writers for film and TV. There are two components to the
group - monthly gatherings and our website. Gatherings
We meet every third Monday of the month at 7 p.m., Starbucks in Chapters, across
from Woodgrove Centre. We discuss screenwriting and share our scripts for feedback.
Every meeting has a focus some of our more frequent themes include: Ten Page
Read, Logline and Synopsis Session, and Favorite Screenplays. Anyone interested
in screenwriting is welcome to attend. No membership fees. NSG
Online
Our website has information about the monthly gatherings, local news
related to film and writing, members pages, book reviews, and more. Newsletter
Our monthly newsletter is filled with info about websites, contests, and local
events, as well as details on the next gathering. For more
information -
Contact: Melissa Walker
Ph. (250) 729-2673
Email
NSG Online
Native Women
in the Arts Web
Site
Tongues of Fire Solstice
Cafe - 529 Pandora Ave at 7:30, $3.00. Evening starts with an Open mic followed
by a feature performance by the Tongues of Fire poetry collective Love and Literature Tongues
of Fire My
Space Tongues of Fire
Planet
Earth Poetry Planet Earth Poetry, at the Black
Stilt, 1633 Hillside, at 7:30 pm every Friday Email
Canadian Federation of Poets Web
Page
Federation of
BC Writers New Web Site
Web
Site
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us what's new Home Contact Ascent
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