Monday, March 15
The Writers Guild of Alberta & the U of C Creative Writing Research Group present: A Literary Roundtable for the Bookish Community – The Sequel!
Inspired by our event held in late January, the WGA, Pages Books and the U of C Creative Writing Research Group have decided to hold a sequel information session offering advice and resources that relate to the writing life. Topics will include: tax tips for writers (presented by freelance writer and accountant Toby Welch), copyright & electronic rights (presented by lawyer David de Vlieger), the google settlement (presented by author and Alberta rep for the Writers Union of Canada, Brian Brennan) and how e-books are changing the nature of publishing and the future of the book (presented by managing editor of Freehand Books, Sarah Ivany). Each speaker will present on their respective topic for 15-20 minutes and a discussion / Q & A will follow the presentations. See you there!
Wednesday, March 17
“This is Not a St. Patrick’s Day Reading” with Jan Horner reading from “Mama Dada: Songs of the Baronness's Dog” and Richard Harrison reading from works in progress.
However, Jan Horner’s latest work of poetry, “Mama Dada: Songs of the Baronness's Dog” has a certain celebratory flair that may go well with green beer.
Jan gets inside the head of the "mother of Dadaism" in America, the eccentric Baroness Else von Freytag Loringhoven, known in 1920s New York for her outrageous manner of dressing and performance art. The Baroness was associated with many famous writers and artists of the day who wrote stories or opinions of her, such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Hart Crane, and Djuna Barnes, but not much was actually known about her as she died in poverty and her art and writings were lost or mis-identified.
Mama Dada brings her to life through the voices of her lovers, her ex-husband Frederick Philip Grove (the ex-pat German who later assumed both a Canadian identity and wife), and others who knew her.
Here is a link to the book on our site with a "Bird's Eye View" so you can see inside the book:
http://www.turnstonepress.com/vmchk/books/mama-dada.html
Thursday, March 18
Conni Massing goes “Roadtripping: On the Move with the Buffalo Gals.”
“Roadtripping” documents a decade of road trips through the fiefdom of Alberta. The men and women who make up the Buffalo Gals first set out in July 1999 to experience the unusual and charming roadside attractions of south-central Alberta.
Never dreaming that this one-off adventure would turn into an annual event, it’s ten years later and they continue their escapades. Each year a new destination is chosen and the weekend-long travel begins. Traditions have evolved including elaborate scrapbooking, eating in gourmet dining rooms (when available) and excessive snacking (without fail). Beyond the joys and challenges of being on the road and a deepening bond of friendship, this book is a love poem to Alberta, a province often misunderstood and mislabelled as being the right-wing cowboy haunt of Canada.
Conni Massing is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. A recipient of a Queen’s Jubilee Medal, Conni was honoured as one of 100 people who have made a contribution to Alberta theatre in the last 100 years. She is the current writer in residence at the Edmonton Public Library and is a sessional instructor in playwriting and screenwriting at the University of Alberta. Born and raised in central Alberta, Conni lives in Edmonton.
