Just For The Moment

2012-01-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine News February Issue
Ascent Aspirations Current Issue February 2012
February Issue

Yearly Anthology Contest (Publishing Date 2012)
Theme: Disorders January 31 Deadline
Disorders Anthology

Special Anthology of Art and Children's Stories Contest
Extended Deadline
Children's Stories

Archived Copies of Ascent Aspirations Print Magazine
Inexpensive but Impressive and Interesting Xmas Gifts
We are no longer publishing a print magazine so these copies are becoming collector's items. Special offer. See details.
Back Issues

Caught in My Throat, David Fraser's fourth collection available on-line
Caught in My Throat

What's New
What's New

Submissions
Submissions
We accept submissions year round and decide on placement of accepted submissions for issues forthcoming or as far away as four months.

On Poetry
Poetry and Poetics with Naomi Beth Wakan and David Fraser
On Poetry

WordStorm Nov. 28 Diners Rendezvous 489 Wallace, Nanaimo 7:00 pm

2011-11-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

WordStorm, November 28th, 2011

Cathy Ford

Cathy Ford was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, and grew up in northern British Columbia. She has a B.F.A.
and an M.F.A. from the University of British Columbia (1978). She now lives on Mayne Island, and in
Sidney, B.C., working as poet and fictioniste, publisher, editor, and teacher. She was President
of the League of Canadian Poets in 1985/86, and one of the founding members of the League's Feminist
Caucus in 1982. From 1984 to 1986 she was a member of a national task force of Women and Words,
working to create a draft constitution for a national association of PanCanadian Women and Words.
She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Literary Storefront from 1980 to 1982, and is
also a member of the Federation of British Columbia Writers and PEN.

“Ford’s poetry is dense, luminous, and almost trance-inducing”

“The collection is filled with images of nature, literary allusions, hope for peace, and dazzling word play.”

“Ford has mastered both the long line and the short one. The pacing demands close attention, and it rewards the reader with riches.”

“ The language is precise, and as usual, Ford creates splendid images…”

“ Lifting brief passages to include in a review seems like sacrilege. These poems need to be read
and savoured and pondered in their entirety. The lines wash over the reader like an incoming tide, full of possibility and promise…”

-Room of One's Own, Summer 2011

“Her commitment to feminist politics underwrites this book that, at over twenty years in the making, has the feel of a life’s work.”

“…employing the long lines that recall Adrienne Rich’s reclamation of Whitman’s line in books like An Atlas of the Difficul
t World, often begins with a political context…”

“the art of breathing underwater refuses Adorno’s famous contention that there can be no poetry after
Auschwitz and instead holds a vital inquiry into the place for beauty after suffering and tragedy.”

- The Malahat Review- Summer, 2011

SPECIAL MENTIONS FROM THE PAT LOWTHER AWARD SUBMISSIONS

From the jurors of the 2011 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. “A few books we just have to tell you about”.

The Art of Breathing Underwater, Cathy Ford: Ford confronts life with sheer elegance and weaves a majestic mantle of language.

Richard Osler

Richard Osler writes poetry when he isn’t watching the poetics of the stock market’s rise and fall as a specialty money manager. His poems have been accepted in numerous journals including the Malahat review, Prarie Fire, Antigonish Review and CV2 which published a feature interview with him in its Winter 2011 issue. He also leads weekend writing retreats for poets and conducts poetry workshops in drug and alcohol recovery centres. The Cowichan Valley in B.C. has claimed him as one of its own since 2010.

Joy Huebert, Gisela Ruebsaat, and Katrin Horowitz will be reading from their collaborative book, Pathways Not Posted

Joy Huebert is a Victoria writer and winner of the 2008 Short Grain Postcard Story Competition.
She has been published in several literary magazines and three chapbooks
produced by the Root Cellar Press. She is an editor of the short story
collection, Magic Night, and placed second in the Vancouver Story Slam.

Gisela Ruebsaat is a Victoria poet who has been published in Island Writer. Her work
explores the intersection of music, spoken word and song. She has worked as a speechwriter
for governments in Ontario and BC and currently acts as Legal Analyst for the Ending Violence Association.

Katrin Horowitz published her first novel, Power Failures, in 2007. Last year she was a winner
in Victoria's Night on the Town prose competition for her story, Blues for a Bridge.
She is finalizing a new novel, Convenient Lies, and is also working on more short stories.
Kim Clark - Book Launch

Kim Clark lives on Vancouver Island. Disease and desire, mothering and the mundane propel her ongoing journey between poetry and prose. Her work can be found in e-zines and other publications in Canada and the U.S.. Kim holds a BA in Creative Writing from VIU. She won the 2005 Cecilia Lamont prize for fiction and her story “Solitaire” was shortlisted in the Malahat Review’s 2010 Novella Contest.

Kim’s first book, Attemptations, published by Caitlin Press, is a collection of short, long and longer fiction.

The book hook—
a peek into Attemptations:

Imagine you’re given the startling news that your body is only capable of having six more orgasms . . .

Vancouver Public Library, Writer in Residence Call

2011-11-19T17:41:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Public Library, Writer in Residence Call for Expressions of Interest
Publishers might want to pass on this information to your authors. More information is in the attached doc:

From August 13 to December 7, 2012, the Vancouver Public Library will host a resident author. The Writer-in-Residence program, now entering its eighth year, promotes Canadian writing and literature to Vancouver citizens. The aims of the residency are to foster greater appreciation for Canadian writing, provide opportunities to interact with the resident author and to provide the space, time and resources for a Canadian author to write.

The Writer in Residence will provide advice to emerging writers through one-to-one consultations, workshops and seminars as well as outreach to targeted communities. This full-time position (35 hours/week) requires 25% of the author’s time be spent on Library programs or projects, leaving 75% of the work week available for creative writing.

Applicants must identify in their cover letter the innovative ways their residency would foster an appreciation for Canadian writing. Residencies that involve communities not typically exposed to Canadian literature are particularly encouraged. Application deadline is January 13, 2012.

2011-11-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

Talking Music

Holger Petersen
Vancouver
November 22 – 7:00 PM
People’s Co-op Bookstore

Was at the launch in Calgary
And it was really great
And the book rocks! Ha

Poetry love,
Sheri-D

Sheri-D Wilson
Poet
Artistic Director
Calgary Spoken Word Festival
Director
Spoken Word Program
The Banff Centre

Editor
Spoken Word Workbook

Sheri-D's Web Site

Calgary Spoken Word Festival

Spoken Word Workbook

Slice Me Some Truth: An Anthology of Canadian Creative Nonfiction

2011-11-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

Join us for author readings, book signings, and refreshments at the Slice Me Some Truth book launch!

Thursday, November 24 (7PM)

At The Well—821 Fort Street, Victoria

Authors reading:

Lorna Crozier, M.A.C. Farrant, Genni Gunn, Zoë Landale and Madeline Sonik

Slice Me Some Truth: An Anthology of Canadian Creative Nonfiction is a ground-breaking survey of today's creative nonfiction in Canada, a complex and captivating field of writing that the editors spent four years exploring in the creation of this book. Covering the areas of memoir, personal essay, literary travel, nature writing, lyric essay as well as researched literary journalism and cultural criticism, Slice Me Some Truth thoroughly explores the depth and breadth of creative nonfiction writing in Canada, highlighting brilliant writing from thirty-six authors from across the country.

Kim Clark + Madeline Sonik = Edgy Book Launch X 2

2011-11-16T19:59:00.001-08:00

Kim Clark + Madeline Sonik = Edgy Book Launch X 2
Nanaimo Muse-eum, Tuesday, November 22nd, 2:30pm

Meet the authors, listen, chat, and stick around for
coffee & ogasmic cupcakes from Cutie Cakes!

In Afflictions & Departures, Sonik exercises both intellectual depth and emotional range. Not traditional memoir, these essays are as incisive as they are deeply moving and leave the reader with a sense of history as it was lived, not as it is codified in countless textbooks.

The stories in Clark’s Attemptations are peopled by women, often physically challenged women—darkly humourous, feisty, manic, persevering, observant, contemplative women. These characters will snag you and hold you there ‘til they’re good and done.

2011-11-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

BookFest 2012 is welcoming new members to its planning committee!

Vancouver Island Children’s Book Festival (BookFest) is an annual event that celebrates excellence in Canadian children’s literature and book illustration by showcasing both well-established and new authors and illustrators. Authors and illustrators from across British Columbia and Canada are invited to present their work and tell stories about their creations and lives. BookFest combines a day-long festival with school and public library readings. In 2012, the day-long festival will be held on May 5 in downtown Nanaimo, and the school/library readings will take place on the days before and after May 5th.

The 2012 BookFest includes a fabulous lineup of children’s authors and illustrators. The 2012 authors include: Loris Lesynski, Martin Springett, Paul Yee, Werner Zimmermann, Mike Deas, Julie Flett, Julie Lawson, Joan Betty Stuchner, and Rick Scott. These authors bring a wide range of genre and age level from poetry to realistic fiction, from graphic novels to multicultural fiction. As a member of the BookFest 2012 Committee you have the opportunity to meet these authors, learn more about their art and share in the joy of bringing great Canadian Children’s literature to the young people in our community.

We would love to welcome you to work with us on this worthwhile event for our children, our community and our city.

We look forward to greeting you at our meeting Nov. 21, Monday at the Harbourfront Library, 6:00 to 7:30.

Paige Fisher and Deidre Bjornson

Patrick Lane Book Launch

2011-11-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Collected Works of Patrick Lane

2011-10-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Signpost - A Prairie Town by Dan Lundine

Please join us for a book launch and reading.

Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 PM
The Quality Inn, Parksville
Refreshments will be served
Partila proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation through Oceanside Grandmothers supporting grandmothers in Africa

WordStorm

2011-10-19T22:40:00.001-07:00

Now at
Diners Rendezvous
489 Wallace Street, Nanaimo, BC
Phone: 250.753.0042

MONDAY, October 24th, 2011

This is Halloween month, but we have changed our date to one week earlier so as not to conflict with the activities for that specific night. So take note that the evening is the fourth Monday not the last Monday. However we are having a Halloween costume theme in that the entire night will be an open Mic night and you can read or perform whatever you want, poetry (3 minutes)and prose (5 minutes) and we encourage you to come in a costume of your choice but it is optional of course. Your WordStorm Executive will be coming in costume so you won't be alone. Try to link your costume to what you are reading if that is possible.

There will not be any open mic prizes this month.
However there will be a cash prize for the "best " costume.
Reserve at ascentaspirations@shaw.ca for seating at 6:30 and also to sign-up for the open mic. You can also sign-up when you arrive if there is space available.

2011-10-13T17:43:00.001-07:00

It’s time for another Covert Povert happening, poetry on the fly, where it is least expected! Please join us for the low-tech performance of “Call Me The Name I Call Myself” by Mary Ann Moore. Don’t be late because you may miss it!

Time: 2 p.m. (until 2:10 p.m.)

Date: Friday, October 14

Venue: The open lot at the end of Prideaux Street by the Millstone River in Nanaimo. There are some concrete curb-like things for seating or you can bring your own lawn chairs – and umbrellas if necessary.

What are the Covert Poverts?

A loose-knit, self-defining group of local poets who stage collaborative poetry happenings in unorthodox locations (vacant lots, alleys, bridges…) advertised only through the cybervine – email, twitter, facebook. Like raves, but for poetry. This time, the loose-knits are: Mary Ann Moore, Kim Goldberg, Kim Clark, Leanne McIntosh, David Fraser, Rie Okamura and Gordon May.

Who is a Covert Povert?

Whoever considers herself one.

Who can organize a Covert Povert happening?

Whoever has a collaborative poetry project looking for an audience.

Who cooked up all this craziness?

2 Kims (Goldberg & Clark)

Mark your calendars and pass it on!

Roaming Poets

2011-09-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Roaming Poets
in Qualicum Beach
October 1, 2011 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
The Old School House Arts Centre at 1:00
and
at
Town Square beside the Vancouver Island Regional Library at 2:30
Come and stroll, talk poetry, and breathe in the fresh air
Meet and listen to four fantastic poets,
Yvonne Blomer, Daniela Elza, David Fraser, and Kim Goldberg
Open Mic too, so bring something to share.

Yvonne Blomer

Kim Goldberg

David Fraser

Daniela Elza

WordStorm

2011-08-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

WordStorm Society of the Arts News

Hazelwood Writers' Festival a Great Success
Check back at the WordStorm link for an up-coming photo essay on all the performers.
http://www.wordstorm.ca/

WordStorm: The Fall Season Starting September 26th
Performers will be Linda Crosfield, David Fraser, Ursula Vaira, and Lisa Shatzky
http://www.wordstorm.ca/

Lorna Crozier who was originally scheduled will be reading in April 2012.

WordStorm October 31 Halloween Night
This night will be a themed night with readers/performers and audience encouraged to come in costume related in some way to what they plan to read. There will not be an open mic but there is an advanced sign-up to be a reader that night, so just email us at ascentaspirations@shaw.ca to be put on the list. Don't wait as this list has filled up quickly in the past.

Haiku Workshop

Saturday, August 20, 2011
2:00pm to 3:30pm
Nanaimo Harbourfront Library
Second Floor Meeting Room

Come and join Kamal Parmar, local writer and poet, in learning how to write the world's shortest 3-line poem--Haiku.

Unleash your creative Muse, sharpen your sensitivity, and develop an acute sense of observation and perception. You'll be surprised where your creativity can lead. What is an 'aha' moment in haiku? What is a 'caesura' or a pause? You'll learn all this and more, in this interactive, informal and informative presentation.

Refreshing juice and cookies will also be provided.
Registration is FREE.

2011-07-27T10:16:00.001-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine News

Ascent Aspirations Magazine August Issue
Ascent

Hazelwood Writers' Festival, August 7th, featuring internationally acclaimed slam poet, Sheri-D Wilson, Saltspring Island poet and publisher, Mona Fertig, and international Scottish poet, Gerard Rochford and acclaimed local writers from Vancouver Island.
HazelWood

Yearly Anthology Contest (Publishing Date 2012)
Theme: Disorders
Disorders

Special Anthology of Art and Children's Stories Contest
Children's Stories

Close to Quitting Time , An Anthology Celebrating Work (prose and Poetry) 1 Copy Left
Close to Quitting Time

Archived Copies of Ascent Aspirations Print Magazine
We are no longer publishing a print magazine so these copies are becoming collector's items. Special offer. See details.
Anthologies

Caught in My Throat, David Fraser's fourth collection available on-line
Web Site

Wilderness Writing Retreats
FMI and to register:
Workshops
250-332-5958.
Web Site

--

My next performance is at the Hazelwood Writers' Festival, August 7th.
Hazelwood Writer's Festival
Hazelwood

David Fraser's Site
Ascent
WordStorm
Patricia Carroll's Art Gallery

Hazelwood Writers’ Festival

2011-07-15T22:51:00.001-07:00

The Second Annual
Hazelwood Writers’ Festival
Hazelwood Herb Farm
Sunday, August 7th, 2011, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
13576 Adshead Road, Ladysmith, B.C., Canada V9G 1H6 Phone: (250) 245-8007
info@hazelwoodherbfarm.com
Admission: $5.00 (Gate receipts go to the local writers.)

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Sheri-D Wilson, a central figure in the re-emergence of poetry in Canada and beyond, Mona Feritg, Saltspring Island publisher and poet, and international guest poet, Gerard Rochford from Scotland, along with local writers and performers: Yvonne Blomer, Kirsten Emmott, David Fraser, Kim Goldberg, Harvey Jenkins, Judith Millar, Kamal Parmar, Cindy Shantz, Patricia Smekal, Ursula Vaira, Naomi Wakan, Ann Graham Walker, and M.C. Warrior. Come and enjoy the sights and smells of the Hazelwood Herb Farm and listen to these talented writers, poets and musicians. The event is supported by the Canadian League of Poets and the Writers’ Union of Canada.

There is seating but it is advisable to bring a folding chair
Email us at ascentaspirations@shaw.ca to let us know you are coming.

2011-06-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations News July, 2011

July 2011 Issue, Volume 15, Number 7, ISSN 1715-085X

Poetry: Ava Collopy, Timothy Dyson, N.L. Hoffman, Clinton Van Inman, Irene Kaesermann, Lavinia Kumar, Tennae Maki, Kenna Mary McKinnon, Michael Spring
Flash Fiction: Matt Freese, Mary Lou Kersey
Visual Art: Patricia Carroll, and Greg Evason
Essay: Adaptation by Charles Frederickson and My First Full Time Job by Micki Lynn Haskins Phillips

Two New Contests

Children's Story Contest

Anthology 2012 Contest

David Fraser's fourth collection Caught in My Throat

David Fraser's Schedule of Future Performances

Hazelwood Writers' Festival

2011-05-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations News June 2011

June 2011 Issue, Volume 15, Number 6, ISSN 1715-085X
June Issue

Poetry: Tiana Diaz, Greg Evason, Julie Ellinger Hunt, Leland Jamieson, Nancy M. Maclean, Norman Olson,
Sarah Rehfeldt, Don Schaeffer, and Veron Waring.
Flash Fiction: Janet Shell Anderson, and Rola Cedar.
Visual Art: Patricia Carroll, and Norman Olson.
Essay: Empowering Tools by Charles Frederickson

Two New Contests

Children's Story Contest

Anthology 2012 Contest

David Fraser's fourth collection
Caught in My Throat

David Fraser's Schedule of Future Performances

Hazelwood Writers' Festival

--
WordStorm, May 30th, Acme Food Co. 14 Commercial Street, Nanaimo. Come out and hear Bren Simmers, Margaret Thompson, Mary Ann Moore and Di Brandt 6:30 onward.

Hazelwood Writer's Festival

Cambridge Arts Festival

David Fraser

Ascent Aspirations Publishing

WordStorm

Patricia Carroll Gallery

2011-05-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

MayWorks Poetry: Wendy Morton & David Fraser

Photos of the Event

Date: Saturday, May 21st, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: Nanaimo Musieum, 100 Museum Way, Nanaimo

Contact Person: David Fraser
Email: ascentaspirations@shaw.ca
Website: http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/Mayworks%20Sept%20Flyer2.pdf
Description: Join poets Wendy Morton and David Fraser for Day Two of Nanaimo’s Mayworks Poetry Festival celebrating working class poetry. Come early at 1:00 pm to have Wendy or David write a flash poem about your own life and work after a brief interview with you.

And bring a poem of your own about work or everyday life to share at the open mic at 2:00 pm.

(Let’s hope you already made it to Day One of the Festival on Saturday, May 14, featuring poets Kate Braid and Kim Goldberg.)

Nanaimo’s Mayworks Poetry Festival is sponsored by Nanaimo Duncan and District Labour Council, Wordstorm Society of the Arts, Nanaimo Museum, Canada Council for the Arts, and League of Canadian Poets.

SCHEDULE (Saturday, May 21)

1:00 pm – Flash Poetry: Be interviewed by one of our two featured poets, Wendy Morton or David Fraser, who will then write you a short poem on the spot about your life and work. Interviews available on a first come, first served basis.

2:00 pm – Welcome, Opening Remarks, Open Mic Poetry
2:30 pm – David Fraser
3:00 pm – Short break
3:10 pm – Wendy Morton
3:40 pm – Wrap Up

THE POETS:

WENDY MORTON has authored five poetry books and a memoir. Her latest book, What Were Their Dreams, is a collection of poems and archival photos about Canada’s history. Some of the poems are based on stories told to Wendy by First Nations people in the Alberni Valley. She is the recipient of the Spirit Bear Award instituted by poets Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier, and The Golden Beret from the Calgary Spoken Word Society. Both awards honour Wendy’s enduring contributions to the poetic community in Canada.

DAVID FRASER is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies including Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. He has published four collections of poetry, Going to the Well (2004), Running Down the Wind (2007), No Way Easy (2010) and Caught in My Throat (2011). To keep out of trouble, he helps develop Nanaimo’s spoken-word series, Wordstorm.
Cost: Free Event

Mayworks Poetry: Kate Braid & Kim Goldberg

2011-05-05T15:13:00.001-07:00

Press Release
Mayworks Poetry: Kate Braid & Kim Goldberg

Photos of the event

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Nanaimo Museum

100 Museum Way at Commercial Street

Nanaimo, BC V9R 5J8

(250) 753-1821

Join poets Kate Braid and Kim Goldberg and guitarist Evan Westre for Day One of Nanaimo’s Mayworks Poetry Festival celebrating working class poetry. Come early at 1:00 pm for the free writing workshop with Kate and Kim.

And bring a poem of your own about work or everyday life to share at the open mic at 2:00 pm.

And be sure to return on May 21 for Day Two of the festival with poets Wendy Morton and David Fraser.

Nanaimo’s Mayworks Poetry Festival is sponsored by Nanaimo Duncan and District Labour Council, Wordstorm Society of the Arts, Nanaimo Museum, Canada Council for the Arts, and League of Canadian Poets.

SCHEDULE (Saturday, May 14)

1:00 pm – “Write About Your Work” – Take a free workshop with Kate Braid and Kim Goldberg who will use guided meditation to help you create a short piece of writing related to your own work, past or present. (Remember, work can be anything from brick-laying to brain surgery to babysitting.)

2:00 pm – Welcome, Opening Remarks, Open Mic Poetry
2:30 pm – Kim Goldberg
3:00 pm – Short break
3:10 pm – Kate Braid & Evan Westre (guitar)
3:40 pm – Wrap Up

THE POETS:

KATE BRAID has worked as a secretary, childcare worker, lumber piler, journey carpenter, construction contractor and creative writing instructor. Her five poetry books have won or been nominated for various prizes including the Pat Lowther Award, BC Book Prize, Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Prize and the Vancity Women’s Book Prize. She also co-edited, with Sandy Shreve, the first book of Canadian form poetry – In Fine Form. Kate will be reading from Turning Left to the Ladies – a wry, sometimes humorous, sometimes meditative look at one woman’s relationship to her craft and the people she met along the way. Kate will be joined by guitarist Evan Westre. Evan has studied and performed classical, jazz, electronic, folk and world music, and is part of the band Screaming Room.

KIM GOLDBERG is a poet, journalist and author of six books. Her latest book is RED ZONE, a poem diary of homelessness in Nanaimo. It has been taught in literature courses at Vancouver Island University and elsewhere. Critics have compared the writing in RED ZONE to the work of Allen Ginsberg, John Steinbeck and Marge Piercy. Kim is a winner for the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature, and a finalist for Canada’s Lampert Memorial Award for her previous poetry collection, Ride Backwards on Dragon.

MayWorks Poetry Festival, Nanaimo

2011-04-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

MayWorks Poetry Festival, Nanaimo
Nanaimo Museum, 100 Museum Way, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5J8, 250-753-1821
www.nanaimomuseum.ca

Sponsored by The Nanaimo Duncan and District Labour Council,
WordStorm Society of the Arts, the Nanaimo Museum, Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets
Saturday May 14th and Saturday May 21th, 2011, 1:00 - 4:00

May 14, 2011

Kim Goldberg is a poet, journalist, and the author of six books. She is the 2008 winner of the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature. Her poems and short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies around the world. Her latest book is RED ZONE, a poem diary of homelessness in Nanaimo.

Working as a secretary, childcare worker, lumber piler, journey carpenter, construction contractor and a construction
and creative writing instructor, Kate Braid has written five books of poetry that have won or been nominated
for various prizes including the Pat Lowther Award, the BC Book Prize, the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Prize and the Vancity Women’s Book Prize. She also co-edited with Sandy Shreve, the first book of Canadian form poetry, In Fine Form. She has published three books of non-fiction and her poems and personal essays have been widely published and anthologized. Braid will be reading from Turning Left to the Ladies, a wry, sometimes humorous, sometimes meditative look at one woman’s relationship to her craft, and the people she met along the way.

May 21, 2011

Wendy Morton has 5 books of poetry in the world, and a memoir. Her latest book, What Were Their Dreams is a book of photo-poems, about Canada’s history; the poems are on archival photos. Some of the poems are stories of First Nations residents of the Alberni Valley that have been turned into poems. She is the recent recipient of The Spirit Bear Award, instituted by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier and The Golden Beret Award from the Calgary Spoken Word Society both honouring her enduring contributions to the poetic community in Canada. She lives in west of Sooke, in the same old house for 37 years. She is a raven watcher. Wendy and David will be listening to anyone’s life stories and composing poems for them on the spot.

David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island. He is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, www.ascentaspirations.ca since 1997. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. He has published three collections of poetry, Going to the Well (2004), Running Down the Wind (2007) and No Way Easy (2010). To keep out of trouble he helps develop Nanaimo’s spoken-word series, WordStorm. www.wordstorm.ca. David and Wendy will be listening to anyone’s life stories and composing poems for them on the spot.

2011-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

WordStorm MONDAY, April 25th, 2011
Acme Food Co. Lower Lounge, 14 Commercial Street, Nanaimo, BC, 7:00 pm

Featured Performers

Anny Scoones

Anny on the beach with her 17 year old lab, Alice Mary.

Anny Scoones - Featured Reader

Web Site

Anny Scoones grew up in the Maritimes with her war-artist (WWII) parents and her old horse Missy who she would ride while her parents painted the New Brunswick countryside. Anny spent many summers with her Gran on Galiano Island where she grew to love the west coast and eventually settled in North Saanich on historic Glamorgan Farm, one of the oldest farms on the Island and still retains eleven original log barns and structures.

Anny is a three time municipal councillor who fights for the preservation of agriculture and hertage, "green" architecture, bicycle lanes and an anti-pesticide by-law.

Glamorgan Farm is home to many heirloom gardens and heritage breeds of livestock, including the Gloucester Old Spot Pig and the Naked Neck Hen and the Russian Woolly Horse. Glamorgan Farm also is home to the Healthy Harvest Co-op, a group of (adult) disabled gardeners. The themes of Anny's three books are home, our relationships with each other and nature, and the joys and heart breaks of rural life.

In May Anny will be taking her famous artist mother, Molly Bobak (age ninety-one) around Nova Scotia for a road trip. Books by Anny Scoones

The Lightning Readers for tonight will be

Don Howlett

David Fraser

Ann Graham Walker

Violet Walter

Linda Thompson

David Merrifield

Roneen Marcoux

Cindy Shantz

David Gooden

Vicky Drybrough

Kirsty Elliot

Winona Baker

Sharon Berthchild

April is National Poetry Month

2011-04-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

April is National Poetry Month, and Nanaimo is jumping right in on the first week. I hope you can join us. It’s all absolutely free!

Tuesday, April 5, 11:00 am-Noon: Urban Poetry Café on Radio CHLY, 101.7 FM. Or listen to us live online here: http://chly.ca/the-program-schedule/listen/ Your hosts: Leanne McIntosh, Shirley Goldberg and Kim Goldberg, sharing poems from across the continent and around the world. (Part of the “Changes” radio program.)

Thursday, April 7, 7:00-8:00 pm: 3 Poets & A Dinner Plate at Wellington Library, 3032 Barons Road. An hour of poetry readings with David Fraser, Leanne McIntosh and Kim Goldberg. More info here: http://wp.me/pCfUU-2v

Sunday, April 10, 1:00-2:30 pm: Poem Gallery Unveiling and Readings at Harbourfront Library downtown. More than twenty local poets are included in the library’s latest Poem Gallery. And many of them will be on hand to read their selection on display. More info here: http://wp.me/pCfUU-1N

And coming up in May, you won’t want to miss Nanaimo’s first Mayworks Poetry Festival featuring Kate Braid, Kim Goldberg, Wendy Morton and David Fraser. Readings take place on two consecutive Saturdays: May 14 and May 21 from 1:00-4:00 pm both days at the Nanaimo Museum downtown. More info here: http://wp.me/pCfUU-26

May the metaphors be with you!

Kim Goldberg ;)
www.pigsquashpress.com

2011-03-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

WordStorm MONDAY, March 28th, 2011
Acme Food Co.
14 Commercial Drive
Nanaimo BC
6:30 - 9:00
Reserve Ahead
ascentaspirations@shaw.ca

Featured Performers

Performers

Christopher Levenson

Christopher Levenson - Featured Reader
Christopher Levenson, who came to Canada from the U.K. in 1968 to teach English and Creative Writing at Carleton University in Ottawa, has published ten books of poetry and two chapbooks, most recently Local Time, 2006, from Ottawa’s Stone Flower Press, and edited three poetry anthologies. He was co-founder in 1978 of Arc poetry magazine and its first editor; co-founder and Series Editor of Carleton University Press’s Harbinger Poetry series, specifically for first books of poetry; and served for a year as Poetry Editor for the Literary Review of Canada. In addition to the twenty five full year credit Poetry Workshops he conducted for Carleton, he also started and ran the Ottawa Poetry Group, whose anthology Soundings he co-edited in 2005. He moved to Vancouver in the Fall of 2007.

Judy Mayhew - Featured Reader

Judy Mayhew

Judy Mayhew lives in Qualicum Beach, where she writes short stories and novels. Her short stories have been published in literary journals and commercial magazines. She is working on her third novel.

The Lightning Readers for tonight will be reading from Walk Myself Home, an anthology to end violence against women, edited by Andrea Routley, published by Caitlin Press, 2010.

Walk Myself Home

Lightning Reader: David Fraser

David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island. He is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, since 1997. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry and Walk Myself Home. He has published three collections of poetry, Going to the Well (2004), Running Down the Wind (2007) and No Way Easy, 2010. To keep out of trouble he helps develop Nanaimo's spoken-word series, WordStorm. www.wordstorm.ca Home Site: Link

Lightning Reader: Harvey Jenkins

Harvey Jenkins was born in Alberta but spent most of his growing up years on a small, mixed farm in the southwest corner of Manitoba. Harvey and his wife, Sharron, moved to Vancouver Island in 1989.
He has had poems published in various Prairie newspapers and anthologies. One of his poems appeared in Ascent Aspirations Magazine in 2008. In the Fall of 2010, a poem was published in An Anthology of Canadian Contemporary Poetry, plus the just released, Walk Myself Home: An Anthology to End Violence Against Women.
In the last three summers, Harvey’s poems have appeared on the ‘Poem Gallery’ at the Harbourfront Library in downtown Nanaimo. And again, two of his poems will appear on this ‘Poem Gallery’ in 2011.

Lightning Reader: Madeleine Nattrass

Music: Paul Bezooyen

Paul Bezooyen is a singer/songwriter residing in Nanaimo with a keen interest in combining music with photography and video. He’ll be playing guitar instrumentals from his latest CD entitled “Out of the Blue”. On his website you may listen to his work and view his videos. Website

Chris Levenson Workshop

2011-03-08T11:50:00.001-08:00

“Dont Miss a Beat!”

Exploring Cadence and Verse Movement
Where does a line of poetry end? And why just there and not two words later or earlier? Why this fuss about line breaks? What difference do such matters make to the sound and the tone and so also the meaning of the poem as a whole? This workshop’s aim is to get people talking about alternative ways of shaping lines for maximum impact.

DATE: Monday March 28th 12:30 to 4:30

LOCATION: Acme Food Co, Bombay Lounge,
14 Commercial Street, Nanaimo

COST: $60.00

MAXIMUM NUMBER of PARTICIPANTS: 17

RESERVATIONS to David Fraser, ascentaspirations@shaw.ca
Make cheques out to WordStorm Society of the Arts and mail them to: David Fraser, 1560 Arbutus Drive, Nanoose Bay, BC, V9P 9C8

In this workshop we will look at the way poets from John Donne to Philip Larkin, from W.B. Yeats to Dennis Lee and Pat Lowther have manipulated word order and the rhythms of the speaking voice. We will consider not just traditional metrical verse but also several alternative ways of escaping from the predictability of the iambic line. Since even free verse—especially free verse—needs to be structured, we will explore such innovations as syllabics or William Carlos Williams’ triadic line and participants will have time within the workshop to practise these techniques for themselves.

Christopher Levenson, who came to Canada from the U.K. in 1968 to teach English and Creative Writing at Carleton University in Ottawa, has published ten books of poetry and two chapbooks, most recently Local Time, 2006, from Ottawa’s Stone Flower Press, and edited three poetry anthologies. He was co-founder in 1978 of Arc poetry magazine and its first editor; co-founder and Series Editor of Carleton University Press’s Harbinger Poetry series, specifically for first books of poetry; and served for a year as Poetry Editor for the Literary Review of Canada. In addition to the twenty five full year credit Poetry Workshops he conducted for Carleton, he also started and ran the Ottawa Poetry Group, whose anthology Soundings he co-edited in 2005. He moved to Vancouver in the Fall of 2007.

Also come to WordStorm at the Acme Food Co. March 28th and hear Christopher Levenson read his work.

Tongues of Fire featuring... David Fraser & Matthew Christopher Davidson!

2011-01-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

Solstice Cafe
529 Pandora Avenue
Victoria, BC
Well, seems we've officially gone insane down here at Tongues of Fire headquarters.

"How bout a swell double feature to warm up a late January night?" we ask you. And you reply "gosh, really!?" Yup. Because our awesome-ossity knows no boundaries. Also, we like you, and think you deserve something nice.

So we're bringing Wordstorm's founder David Fraser down from Nanaimo to share his work AND pairing him up with Victoria's own thoughtful cuddle-muffin of a poet, Matthew Christopher Davidson!

That *ping* you just heard was our collective joy-nerve snapping!

Tongues of Fire (DOUBLE) featuring...
David Fraser & Matthew Christopher Davidson!
Thursday January 27
Solstice Cafe 529 Pandora Ave
doors and open mic sign up at 7.00 show at 7.30
still only $5

Ascent Aspirations Magazine November 2010 Issue

2010-11-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine November Issue 2010
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/
Current Issue

Short Fiction by Matthew James, Steven Marshall Newton, George Sparling, and Lynsey Miller

Poetry by Sue Littleton, Brad Bisio, Hank Threadgill, Barbara Panos, Elise Gregory, Henry "Hank" Sosnowski, Greg Evason, Patrick Shea, Richard N. Bentley, and Andrew H. Oerke

Visual Art by Don Schaeffer

Review by Susana Boéchat

Essay by John Joyce

Print Anthology Contest (Theme - Work) Closes November 10th
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentspring2011.htm

--
Editor's Web Site

Magazine Main Page

WordStorm

The Art of Patricia Carroll

2010-10-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

The WordStorm Society of the Arts & Poetry Gabriola Society
present

Canada Speaks in Nanaimo: Medicine Stories, a fiction workshop with internationally renowned storyteller Richard Van Camp

Thursday, November 11, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Place: Kin Hut, 2730 Departure Bay Road, Nanaimo
Price: $45. includes annual membership in the WordStorm Society
$35 for members of the WordStorm Society

Description: Richard Van Camp will lead an interactive workshop to explore the notion of “empowering fiction.” Respect for life, having a positive influence, and the medicine power of animals will be among the topics covered. Be sure to bring a notebook and pen as you will be inspired to write!

RESERVATIONS are available by request from ascentaspirations@gmail.com or by mail from The WordStorm Society of the Arts, 1560 Arbutus Drive, Nanoose Bay, BC V9P 9C8. Please send a brief letter of request with your contact information, names of people attending, and a cheque made out to The WordStorm Society of the Arts in the appropriate amount. For further information, phone: 250-729-2630.
Please Note: Richard will be giving a two-hour workshop called Empowering Fiction at Poetry Gabriola on Saturday, November 13, 2010. The workshop is open to 12 participants at a cost of $35 which includes a light lunch. Call 250-247-7604 to reserve your place.
www.poetrygabriola.com

Richard Van Camp

A Dogrib (Tlicho) Dene from Fort Smith, NWT, Richard Van Camp is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author. He is the author of the novel, The Lesser Blessed, and two collections of short stories, Angel Wing Splash Pattern and The Moon of Letting Go, as well as two children’s books with Cree artist, George Littlechild: A Man Called Raven and What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? His baby book, Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, was the official selection of the Books for BC Babies program and was given to every newborn baby in British Columbia in 2008. His first comic book, Path of the Warrior, is published with Cree artist, Steve Sanderson, through the Healthy Aboriginal Network. His second comic book is Kiss Me Deadly and will be out this Fall, 2010. Richard was awarded Storyteller of the Year for both Canada and the US by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers in 2007. Richard is part of the Poetry Gabriola project, Canada Speaks, and will be performing at Poetry Gabriola (November 11 to 14, 20010). www.poetrygabriola.com You can visit Richard on Facebook and on his official website: http://www.nativewiki.org/Richard_Van_Camp.

Spinning Wheels and Northern Lights

2010-10-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

The WordStorm Society of the Arts & Poetry Gabriola Society
present
Canada Speaks in Nanaimo: A Special Evening with multi-disciplinary spoken word artist, songwriter and theatrical creator Evalyn Parry and storyteller and author Richard Van Camp
on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 from 8 to 10 p.m.

“Spinning Wheels and Northern Lights”
Canada Speaks in Nanaimo: A Special Evening
with Evalyn Parry and Richard Van Camp

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 8 to 10 p.m.
Place: The Lounge at Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo
Price: $15 general/$10 students
Description: Join Evalyn Parry and Richard Van Camp for “Spinning Wheels and Northern Lights”, an evening of poignant, outrageous and innovative storytelling and music. Please see Evalyn’s and Richard’s bios below.

RESERVATIONS are available by request from ascentaspirations@gmail.com or by mail from The WordStorm Society of the Arts, 1560 Arbutus Drive, Nanoose Bay, BC V9P 9C8. Please send a brief letter of request with your contact information, names of people attending, and a cheque made out to The WordStorm Society of the Arts in the appropriate amount. Tickets are also available at House of Indigo in Nanaimo, Mulberry Bush Bookstore in Parksville and at WordStorm, the evening of October 25, 2010. For further information, phone: 250-729-2630.

Evalyn Parry

Evalyn Parry is an acclaimed spoken word artist, songwriter and theatrical creator based in Toronto. From 19th century cycling heroines to 21st century sailors; from feminine protection to bottled water to the quest for the Northwest Passage, Evalyn’s outspoken creations hold out a powerful vision of social and personal change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred. Accompanying herself on guitar, water bottle, shruti box and loop pedals, Evalyn shoots from the hip and aims for the heart. Fierce, funny, poignant and provocative, she has been winning over audiences at storytelling, poetry, music and theatre festivals from coast to coast in North America. Her work has been widely broadcast and anthologized; she has released three CDs, written and produced five plays, and her latest performance project SPIN (starring The Bicycle as Muse, Musical Instrument, and Agent of Social Change) will premiere at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto in March 2011. Evalyn is part of the Poetry Gabriola project, Canada Speaks, and will be performing at Poetry Gabriola (November 11 to 14, 2010).
www.poetrygabriola.com www.evalynparry.com

Richard Van Camp

A Dogrib (Tlicho) Dene from Fort Smith, NWT, Richard Van Camp is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author. He is the author of the novel, The Lesser Blessed, and two collections of short stories, Angel Wing Splash Pattern and The Moon of Letting Go, as well as two children’s books with Cree artist, George Littlechild: A Man Called Raven and What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? His baby book, Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, was the official selection of the Books for BC Babies program and was given to every newborn baby in British Columbia in 2008. His first comic book, Path of the Warrior, is published with Cree artist, Steve Sanderson, through the Healthy Aboriginal Network. His second comic book is Kiss Me Deadly and will be out this Fall, 2010. Richard was awarded Storyteller of the Year for both Canada and the US by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers in 2007. Richard is part of the Poetry Gabriola project, Canada Speaks, and will be performing at Poetry Gabriola (November 11 to 14, 20010). www.poetrygabriola.com You can visit Richard on Facebook and on his official website: http://www.nativewiki.org/Richard_Van_Camp.

RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY, 2010

2010-09-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY, 2010 October 4th to October 11th

Poets across Canada will visit juvenile detention centres, alternative schools and youth centres October 4th to 9th, 2010, during the seventh annual Random Acts of Poetry event, sponsored by The Canada Council for the Arts.

For the first time, the event is focused on bringing poetry to young people. “We want to draw attention to youth literacy, which is a crucial issue for Canada’s future,” says Claire Rettie, executive director of the READ Society, a non-profit literacy organization serving children, youth and adults in Victoria, British Columbia.

READ supports the national event in conjunction with Sooke poet Wendy Morton, wendymorton@shaw.ca 250-642-3542, the event founder. During the week, 30 poets across Canada, from Victoria, B.C. to Pasadena, Newfoundland, will commit Random Acts of Poetry in their cities. Poets will read to youth and hand out copies of their poetry books.

“We will choose poems that speak to young people and hope to encourage them to find poems in their own lives,” says Morton, who will read at LÁU,WELNEW Tribal School in Saanich, B.C. She believes that poetry is a way into language for those who have barriers to it.

Since 1976, READ has provided tuition assistance for children and youth from low-income households in Victoria so they can improve their reading, writing, mathematics and study skills.

Across Canada poets will commit Random Acts in: Calgary, Edmonton, Elmvale, Fredericton, Gibsons, Kincardine, Laval, Montague, Montreal, Moose Jaw, Nanaimo, Parksville, Ottawa, Pasadena, Quebec City, Sooke, Stratford, Thamesford, Toronto, Vancouver, Verdun, Victoria, Windsor, Winnipeg and Wolfville.

Participating Parksville Poet

David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including recently, Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. He has published three collections of poetry, Going to the Well (2004), Running Down the Wind (2007) and No Way Easy, (2010). To keep out of trouble he helps develop Nanaimo’s spoken-word series, WordStorm. www.wordstorm.ca
David believes everyone has a story to tell and a meaningful way to tell it, is through poetry. David will be working with students from the Pass Woodwinds Alternative School in Parksville.
Home Site: www.davidpfraser.ca
Contact: ascentaspirations@shaw.ca 250-468-7313

WordStorm's Fall Season Kick-off

2010-09-06T12:20:00.001-07:00

WordStorm September 27th Event
The Red Martini Grill
75 Front St, Nanaimo. Starts at 7:00

Featured Readers

Naomi Beth Wakan has written/compiled over thirty-five books, including Haiku – one breath poetry, (Heian International), an American Library Association selection. Recent titles are Segues; Late Bloomer – on writing later in life; Compositions: notes on the written word; and Book Ends: a year between the covers; all from Wolsak and Wynn; Double take – response tanka from The Modern English Tanka Press; and Sex After 70 and other poems from Bevalia Press. Her writing workshops inspire and empower the novice writer. Naomi is a member of Haiku Canada, Tanka Canada, The League of Canadian Poets, and Poetry Gabriola. Her poetry and essays have been printed in numerous magazines including Geist, Room of One’s Own, Moonset and Red Light and been read on CBC. She lives on Gabriola Island with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan.

Clea Roberts lives in Whitehorse, Yukon on the Takhini River. Her poems have appeared in The Antigonish Review, CV2, The Dalhousie Review, The International Feminist Journal of Politics, Lake: A Journal of Arts and the Environment, The Malahat Review, Prism International, and Room. Roberts has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Centre, the Atlantic Centre for the Arts, and is a three-time recipient of the Yukon Government Advanced Artist Award. Her work has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and her poem, “When We Begin to Grow Old,” won the After Al Purdy Poetry Contest. Clea is the former co-organizer of the Whitehorse Poetry Festival.

Susan McCaslin is a poet, educator, scholar, workshop facilitator, and author of fourteen volumes of poetry, including her most recent, Lifting the Stone (Seraphim Editions, 2007). She has edited two anthologies of poetry, Poetry and Spiritual Practice and A Matter of Spirit, and is on the editorial board of Event: the Douglas College Review. Susan lives in Fort Langley, British Columbia. After twenty-three years as a professor of English and Creative Writing at Douglas College in New Westminster, B.C., Susan is now a full-time writer, giving poetry workshops, talks, and readings. She has a new volume of poetry called Demeter Goes Skydiving forthcoming from the University of Alberta Press in the spring of 2011.

Elizabeth Rhett Woods’ professional writing debut was “A Way of Loving”, broadcast on CBC Radio’s “Introducing” in 1968. Her 90-minute verse drama, “Maya”, was featured on CBC Radio’s Tuesday Night, in 1974, and a verse vignette, “Life and Death Along The Gorge”, was on “Out Front”, in 2000. Her first novel, The Yellow Volkswagen, was published by Simon & Schuster, Canada, in 1971, followed by The Amateur (PaperJacks, 1980), Double Entry Death (serialized in the short-lived tabloid, The Victoria Literary Times, 2004), and Beyond the Pale, about temptation and consequences (Ekstasis Editions, 2006). After a chapbook, Gone, was published by Ladysmith Press in 1971, her first book-length collection, Men, was published by Fiddlehead Poetry Books, in 1979, followed by Bird Salad (Moonstone Press, 1990), Family Fictions (Wolsak & Wynn, 2002), The Absinthe of Desire (Ekstasis Editions, 2004), and 1970: A Novel Poem (Ekstasis Editions, 2007). Woman Walking: Selected Poems, was published by Ekstasis Editions in 2009.

Please visit the web site for further details, future readers and for reservations for a seat at the event and also for a table for dinner prior to the show.
Show Reservations: Mary Ann Moore at flyingm@interlog.com
Dinner Reservations: Phone The Red Martini Grill and tell them that you are coming to the show and you also want to eat something before the event. The Red Martini Grill is not open to the public for WordStorm, so we have the place to ourselves.

--
David's Web Page

Ascent Aspirations Magazine September Issue

WordStorm

The Art of Patricia Carroll

Ascent Aspirations Magazine September Issue

2010-08-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations September 2010 Issue

Ascent Aspirations Magazine September Issue

Poetry by Clarissa Jakobsons, Michael Keshigian, Thom Dworsky, Jennifer Jayne Scobie, John Middlebrook, Doug Tanoury, Ben Macnair, Michael McIrvin, Elizabeth Crocket.

Short Fiction by Frank Sikora, and Cecelia Chapman

Essay by Norman Olson.

Visual Art by Patricia Carroll and Diana Y. Paul

Ascent Aspirations Anthology Contest

Learn about Ascent Aspirations Magazine via
Facebook

Follow on
Twitter

2010-08-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Publishing
Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest
Ascent Aspirations Spring 2011 Anthology

We have decided to create one anthology a year in the spring and for this year we have massaged the theme and are open to your best and most exciting work within our guidelines. We still like the theme of work and social issues related to work and daily life. After all no matter what we are doing in life, work is definitely involved. So you can bend and twist your material to fit the theme. In other words interpret the theme very broadly and come at it from whatever direction you wish.

Poems or prose can be widely viewed in terms of work; we all work in some fashion, even the animals and plants in their own way so that opens it up to nature. Lovers work at being and staying in love. The theme doesn't have to deal with the traditional nine to five.

Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest

Contest closes October 10th, 2010 (Cover Art Tentative)

The anthology (ISBN) will be published by the end of February 2011. Email

The publication will be a perfect-bound book (ISBN rather than ISSN) with a glossy art designed cover.

First Prize for Poetry - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

First Prize for Flash Fiction - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Second Prize for Poetry - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Second Prize for Flash Fiction - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Third Prize for Poetry - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Third Prize for Flash Fiction - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Plus 6 - $10 (CND) honourable mention awards with 1 copy of the anthology

Plus all additional contributors in the collection will receive one copy of the anthology.

The goal is for the contest to generate the costs for publishing the anthology. If the entry fees and sales of the anthology exceed the costs, then the additional money will be used to fund future print anthologies with prize money being more widely distributed among all the authors who appear in the anthology.

Rules & Guidelines:

The anthology will contain poetry and flash fiction.

Poems and flash fiction can be published elsewhere as long as the author holds the copyright or unpublished and not sent elsewhere. Submit your poem(s)/flash fiction with a brief bio by e-mail to ascentaspirations@shaw.ca.

In the subject heading say Spring 2011 Work Anthology.

By mail with your contest fee include a cover page with the poem(s)/flash fiction title(s) and the first line beside each title, your name, address, phone number and e-mail. IN ADDITION ALSO INCLUDE EACH POEM/FLASH FICTION ON A SEPARATE PAGE WITHOUT YOUR NAME. We will be using the printed copies of your poems for judging and the electronic copies sent by email for the designing of the book pages should you be included in the anthology.

Maximum length of each poem is 60 lines and spaces between the stanzas count as lines. The maximum length for flash fiction is 800 words.

Contest fee: $5 for one poem or 3 poems for $10. $10 for each piece of flash fiction. You can send as many poems/flash fiction pieces as you wish.

Send your entry information, and POEMS/FLASH FICTION with payment to:

either David Fraser, or Ascent Aspirations Publishing

1560 Arbutus Drive

Nanoose Bay, BC

V9P 9C8

Please do not send a SASE as in the past, as we will be publishing the winners' list on the web and will notify everyone.

All submissions will remain the copyright of the author.

*Additional copies of the perfect-bound anthology will be available at time of publication.

Retail Prices without shipping costs $16.95 CND/16.95 US

The prices of additional copies including shipping and handling are as follows:

In Canada and USA ($19.95 CND and 22.95 US)

To Other International Destinations ($24.95 US)

Advanced Ordering of the Spring 2011 Issue can be done by email.

Pricing at this point is an estimate based on current postal rates and may be subject to slight changes without notice when advanced ordering is announced.

Hazelwood Herb Farm Writers' Festival

2010-08-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 8th, 2010
2:00 PM to 4:30 PM

Enjoy an afternoon of readings by local authors, featuring: Sandy Shreve & M. C. Warrior, with David Fraser, Kim Goldberg, Leanne McIntosh, Judith Millar, Mary Ann Moore, Cindy Shantz, and Patricia Smekal.
Cost: $5.

Info: 250-245-8007.

Location: Hazelwood Herb Farm, 13576 Adshead Road (8 km north of Ladysmith, 16 km south of Nanaimo).

No Way Easy Book Launch

2010-07-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Nanaimo

July 29, 7 pm

BOOK LAUNCH: DAVID FRASER'S NO WAY EASY
...
Fed member David Fraser will be reading from his third collection of
poetry, No Way Easy. To help celebrate the event, two other local
poets - Patricia Smekal and Mary Ann Moore - will also be reading a few
poems from their recent works. Location: Back Page Books, Wesley
Street,

Book Launches and Readings

2010-07-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Book Launches and Readings

Ascent Aspirations Magazine July Issue

2010-06-29T20:32:00.001-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine, July Issue
Poetry, Short Fiction, Visual Art

Current Issue

2010-06-03T21:52:00.001-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine
Newsletter

Ascent Aspirations Magazine has gone monthly and the June Issue is posted on the web.
Current Issue

Our newsletter will come out once a month, and announcements for Ascent Aspirations Magazine will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, the Google Group for Ascent Aspirations and the Just for the Moment Blog.
Facebook
Facebook Link
Twitter
Google Groups
Blog

Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Winter 2010. There are a few copies left. If you would like to order a copy just email us or go to the web page for details. Copies are also available at Back Page Books
Back Page Books

Ascent Fall 2009

Ascent Aspirations Next Contest Anthology Winter 2010
Ascent Winter 2010

What’s New Page is updated regularly so check back randomly.
What's New

Titles of Current Content – Check out the details at the link above.
Your Own Wise Self, a women’s circle
One-day Poetry Courses – June 2010
Poetry: A Meditative Practice
Pandora’s Collective presents a ‘Poetry Picnic’ Fundraiser
Keep The Pen Moving:
"Mixed Singles"
The Vancouver International Storytelling Festival
Free Self-publishing Workshop
"Open Truths" With Lorraine Gane
High School Students' Poetry Slam Camp
"Learning to be Astonished" With Lorraine Gane
New Writing Weekend
The Victoria Writers' Society Summer E-Camp
The Life And Art of George Fertig
Shane Koyczan Fundraiser For Project Literacy
Braveheart with Barbara Adler
Canadian Author's Association National Conference in Victoria
Seeing Takes Time
Pride In The Word
Write on Bowen Festival of Readers and Writers
Poetry Writing Retreat at the Honeymoon Bay Lodge and Retreat Centre
Island Mountain Arts: A Workshop With Patrick Lane
Port Moody Writers' Group
JackPine Press is pleased to announce the launch of two new chapbooks!
The Voice: VISIBLE VERSE 10th Anniversary Celebration & Festival
Hazelwood Herb Farm & WordStorm: An Afternoon of Readings
Sharpen Your Writing Skills!
Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts
Share Your Story
Summer Dream: A Night of Honour
Awaken to the Path…Ignite Your Passion
The Spirit Bear Award Created by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier
New Monthly Poetry Series in Nanaimo
Qualicum Acoustic Café
StoryTelling Evenings

Ascent Aspirations Magazine

2010-06-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

The June Issue of Ascent Aspirations Magazine in now on the web.
www.ascentaspirations.ca

Visit Current Issue

Cover Art by Norman Olson

The World of Norman Olson

Visit me on Facebook and follow the events of Ascent Aspirations and WordStorm

Follow me on Twitter

WordStorm May 31

2010-05-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

WordStorm
www.wordstorm.ca

Now at
THE RED MARTINI GRILL
75 Front Street 1, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5H9
(Cross Street: Front ST and Anchor WAY)
Phone: (250) 753-5181

The Red Martini Grill Home Page
Location Map

MONDAY, May 31st, 2010

WordStorm MONDAY, May 31st

Featured Performers

MONDAY, May 31st, 2010

For further details visit What's New
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/whatsnew.htm
Performers

Wendy Morton

Wendy Morton receiving the Spirit Bear Award from Patrick Lane

Wendy Morton has 5 books of poetry in the world, and a memoir. Her lastest book, What Were Their Dreams is a book of photo-poems, about Canada's history; the poems are on archival photos. Some of the poems are stories of First Nations residents of the Alberni Valley that have been turned into poems. She is the recent recipient of The Spirit Bear Award, instituted by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier and The Golden Beret Award from the Calgary Spoken Word Society both honouring her enduring contributions to the poetic community in Canada. She lives in west of Sooke, in the same old house for 37 years. She is a raven watcher.

Frank Moher

Frank Moher's plays have been seen internationally, at theatres including South Coast Rep (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the Canadian Stage Company (Toronto), Workshop West Theatre (Edmonton), the Asolo Theater (Sarasota, Fla.), Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), The Bunkaza Theatre (Tokyo), and Dodona Theatre (Prishtina, Kosova). They include Pause, The Broken Globe, Down for the Weekend, Odd Jobs, Sliding for Home (with Gerald Reid), The Third Ascent, Prairie Report, Kidnapping the Bride, Farewell, McLuhan: The Musical (with Gerald Reid), Supreme Dream (with Rhonda Trodd), All I Ever Wanted, Tolstoy's Wife, Weather, and Big Baby. He is currently at work on Moonbound!, a musical adaptation of H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon. His plays are published online by ProPlay and by the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Also a journalist, Frank edits the online magazine http://backofthebook.ca. He has taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta (where he was a Distinguished Visiting Artist), and is currently Chair of the Department of Creative Writing and Journalism at Vancouver Island University. He lives on Gabriola Island.

Rhonda Ganz

Wendy Morton and Rhonda Ganz

Rhonda Ganz is delighted to have a poem in Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. A stanza from that poem showed up on Vancouver buses as part of the 2010 Poetry in Transit project. At the end of 2009, the Times Colonist newspaper commissioned her as one of five poets to write a poem to celebrate solstice. Previously published in Ascent Aspirations and several chapbooks edited by Patrick Lane, Rhonda is pleased to be a featured reader at Wordstorm, where she has often been an appreciative member of the audience. When not writing poetry, Rhonda works as a graphic designer and editor and dotes on her husband and three cats. She reads entirely too much crime fiction, if such a thing is even possible.

WordStorm will now be held on MONDAY May 31th at 6:30 PM. (Readings start as usual at 7:00 PM.)

If you have any questions about this WordStorm or others, please don't hesitate to contact Cindy Shantz at cindyshantz@shaw.ca or phone Cindy Shantz at 722-2566 and leave a message or email David Fraser at ascentaspirations@shaw.ca

Cindy Shantz & David Fraser and the WordStorm Committee

2010-05-21T00:27:00.001-07:00

MAYWORKS FESTIVAL EVENT
May 29th, 6:30
An evening of Poetry, Story Telling, Music and Song
Featuring Local Writers, Spoken Word Poets and Storytellers of all ages
at The Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery
133 McMillan Street, Parksville

Enjoy listening to our Featured Readers and Performers.
Or if you like the thunder of applause, sign up for the Open Mike at 6:30
and blow us away with your writing, whether it is prose, poetry, music or song. The theme for the evening is work and poverty and any social issues related to this theme, so bring your material to the open mike for this theme.

FEATURED PERFORMERS
David Fraser
Kim Goldberg
Carollyne Haynes
Roneen Marcoux
Bill Perry
M.C. Warrior

Doors Open at 6:30
Performance starts at 7:00
Admission is $3.00 at the door.
Come early as space is limited!
Reserve at: Ascent Aspirations Magazine
or arrive after 6:30
Space generously provided by the Oceanside Community Arts Council.
A Collaboration with OCAC. MayWorks and WordStorm Society of the Arts

Contact David Fraser at ascentaspirations@shaw.ca

Exciting Evenings Out

2010-05-11T22:12:00.001-07:00

Easy Writers Rev it Up with "One Sweet Ride"

Dear Fans of Exciting Evenings Out:

Entertainment, laughter, inspiration . . . great atmosphere, good friends, excellent food . . . you'll find all this at the Red Martini Grill on Tuesday, May 18, when the Easy Writers launch their book, "One Sweet Ride".

This is not an evening of dull book-readings, but an evening of animated readings and performance of monologues, storytelling and poetry, with themes and styles as varied as the writers’ personalities. And it’s FREE!

You can kick off the evening at 5:00 o’clock with dinner at the Red Martini Grill (www.redmartinigrill.ca) -- we'll be there too -- or join us at 6:30 pm when our performance begins. If you’re still in high gear when we’re finished, stick around and listen to The University Jazz Band jam, starting at 8:00 pm.

You can reserve for the performance by contacting: cindyshantz@shaw.ca or phoning:

(250) 722-2566. (The Red Martini Grill has limited space, and several people have already made reservations, so we advise reserving early.)

If you would also like to reserve for dinner, please phone the Red Martini Grill directly at:

(250) 753-5181 – but don’t forget to also reserve the performance through Cindy Shantz.

Our book, “One Sweet Ride”, will be for sale at $15.00 a copy, and any or all of the Easy Writers would be happy to sign your copy (which no doubt will be worth millions in the distant future).

We look forward to seeing you!

Easy Writers

Ascent Aspirations Magazine

2010-04-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

The May Issue of Ascent Aspirations Magazine is on the web.
www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm

2010-04-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

All Photos by Kim Goldberg

BUTTERTUBS
April 10, 2010

The following poem is a collective work assembled from couplets written on-site at Buttertubs Marsh by nine of the participants in our Poets in the Marsh event on the weekend. The authors are listed at the end, but not in the same sequence as the couplets since the poem now stands as an organic whole authored by all of us.

Poets in the Marsh was a National Poetry Month event supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets. I am indebted to Leaf Press publisher Ursula Vaira for this idea of generating a collective poem from couplets written by many different people. Ursula does this annually on the Leaf Press website and has come up with some remarkable poems.

Last year's tuffed rushes give way to iris shoots
Frisky mallards mate, red-winged blackbirds sing

What is it like to be a bird
Peered at through eyes that spring forth?

Island of cattails unmoored
Sailing to new shores

Birds, turtles, poems, sky and water
Combine in sunshine, sound, quietude and power

Yellow-rumped warbler climbs high
Out of sight

There must be many things involved in creating poetry
As many things as are involved in creating birds, I wonder?

Poets birdwatching sacred life, but even more sacred
Are the people - faces reflecting this story of God

The clarity of birds is appreciated
The contemplation of the marsh refreshing

Birdwatchers turn this way
And the silence is broken

Marsh wren building sixth nest for picky mate
Behind new subdivision

Writing on the back of a book
A poet names a bird

Bullrushes sway in the breeze with red-winged blackbirds
Collecting seeds - Buttertubs Marsh in the poem storm

* * *

Poets (in alphabetical order): Barbara Botham, Rod Corraini, David Fraser, Leona Gallant, Kim Goldberg, Cathryn Gunn, Marjorey Hope, Leanne McIntosh, Tim Merrill

ECLUCKTOMANIA!

2010-04-04T14:27:00.001-07:00

They're back by popular demand & are delighted to present
ECLUCKTOMANIA!
Saturday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
Joe Cunningham Ford Gallery
Oceanside Arts Council
133 McMillan Street, Parksville
Don't miss "Eclucktomania", an eclectic mix of humorous and poignant spoken word, monologue, merriment and more.
includes performances featuring original writing by award-winning writers
Cindy Shantz and Judy Millar
Eclucktomania (first performed at Nanaimo's Port Theatre in Feb., 2010, had audiences crowing:
"The most enjoyable entertainment I've attended in ages." "I had so much fun!"
$10.00 at the door. Seating is limited. First come, first seated.

For more information, call (250) 722-2566 or e-mail cindyshantz@shaw.ca

Writers in Transition

2010-04-03T11:56:00.001-07:00

WRITERS IN TRANSITION (WIT)

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

POETRY READING/OPEN MIC

Sunday, April 18, 2010

1-4 p.m.

The Walter Petryschuk Turret Room

The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts

127 Christina Street South

SARNIA, Ontario

Free Admission

In celebration of National Poetry month, poets James Deahl, Jeff Seffinga, Peggy Fletcher, Debbie Okun Hill, Norma West Linder and Lynn Tait will reflect on their summer 2009 pilgrimage to Al Purdy’s grave and his A-frame home on Roblin Lake, Ameliasburgh Ontario. Their reading and insight will be part of the Sarnia launch of And Left a Place to Stand On. This 224-page book published by Hidden Brook Press is a national tribute to Al Purdy and features the works of 54 Canadian poets. It was edited by Allan Briesmaster, John B. Lee, Linda Rogers, and R. D. Roy. One hundred percent of the book's profits will go to The Al Purdy A-frame Trust to help save Purdy's home for a writers' retreat. Many other books will be launched including the work of Carmen Ziolkowski. An open mic will follow. Light refreshments. More information: www.lawrencehouse.ca and www.hiddenbrookpress.com/HBP.html

New Contest for Print Anthology

2010-03-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Publishing

Work & Issues Related to Work

John Ruskin said, "The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it. "
We are our work, whether we bake bread, drive a cab or a bulldozer, teach school, manage money, serve coffee, save lives, plant trees, catch fish, harvest crops, sell stuff, write stories, deliver goods, or solve the problems of going into space. Everyone has a narrative about work, so give us your best, and most compelling writing, prose or poetry concerning some issue, some moment at work.

Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest

Contest closes October 10th, 2010

The anthology (ISBN) will be published by the end of February 2011. Ascent Aspirations Magazine has discontinued its print issues in favour of producing one slightly larger anthology as a book rather than a serial.

Email: ascentaspirations@shaw.ca

The publication will be a perfect-bound book (ISBN rather than ISSN) with a glossy art designed cover.

First Prize for Poetry - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

First Prize for Flash Fiction - $100 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Second Prize for Poetry - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Second Prize for Flash Fiction - $50 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Third Prize for Poetry - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Third Prize for Flash Fiction - $25 (CND) & 1 copy of the anthology

Plus 6 - $10 (CND) honourable mention awards with 1 copy of the anthology

Plus all additional contributors in the collection will receive one copy of the anthology.

The goal is for the contest to generate the costs for publishing the anthology. If the entry fees and sales of the anthology exceed the costs, then the additional money will be used to fund future print anthologies with prize money being more widely distributed among all the authors who appear in the anthology.

Rules & Guidelines:

The anthology will contain poetry and flash fiction.

Poems and flash fiction can be published elsewhere as long as the author holds the copyright or unpublished and not sent elsewhere. Submit your poem(s)/flash fiction with a brief bio by e-mail to ascentaspirations@shaw.ca.

In the subject heading say Spring 2011 Work Anthology.

By mail with your contest fee include a cover page with the poem(s)/flash fiction title(s) and the first line beside each title, your name, address, phone number and e-mail. IN ADDITION ALSO INCLUDE EACH POEM/FLASH FICTION ON A SEPARATE PAGE WITHOUT YOUR NAME. We will be using the printed copies of your poems for judging and the electronic copies sent by email for the designing of the book pages should you be included in the anthology.

Maximum length of each poem is 60 lines and spaces between the stanzas count as lines. The maximum length for flash fiction is 800 words.

Contest fee: $5 for one poem or 3 poems for $10. $10 for each piece of flash fiction. You can send as many poems/flash fiction pieces as you wish.

Send your entry information, and POEMS/FLASH FICTION with payment to:

either David Fraser, or Ascent Aspirations Publishing

1560 Arbutus Drive

Nanoose Bay, BC

V9P 9C8

Please do not send a SASE as in the past, as we will be publishing the winners' list on the web and will notify everyone.

All submissions will remain the copyright of the author.

*Additional copies of the perfect-bound anthology will be available at time of publication.

Retail Prices without shipping costs $16.95 CND/16.95 US

The prices of additional copies including shipping and handling are as follows:

In Canada and USA ($19.95 CND and 22.95 US)

To Other International Destinations ($24.95 US)

Advanced Ordering of the Spring 2011 Issue can be done by email.

Pricing at this point is an estimate based on current postal rates and may be subject to slight changes without notice when advanced ordering is announced.

Help make the Spring 2011, Work & Related Issues Anthology a successful not-for–profit venture.

Ascent Aspirations Magazine original Logo

Ascent Aspirations Publishing

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Poets in the Marsh, Nanaimo, BC

2010-03-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 10th, 2010
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
poetry, nature, birds, Buttertubs Marsh, Kim Goldberg, David Fraser, Leanne McIntosh, wildlife, outdoors, climate change, wetlands, environment, authors, poets

Join local poets Kim Goldberg, David Fraser and Leanne McIntosh for a 2-hour ramble around Buttertubs Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Nanaimo with frequent stops for bird watching and poetry reading. It’s all part of National Poetry Month.

This year’s theme for National Poetry Month is “Climate Change.” And wetlands are among the first and most sensitive areas affected by global climate change and environmental degradation. Your poet-guides at Buttertubs will be spilling the verse on these topics and more. Come find out what the Virginia Rail said to the snail, or what the Hooded Merganser encountered when she dove deep down.

Buttertubs Marsh is home to more than 200 species of birds, many of which nest here during the spring and summer. The marsh is a birdwatcher’s oasis and a poet’s retreat. All participants will be given a checklist of the most common bird species found at Buttertubs in April. Kim Goldberg is an experienced birdwatcher who is on a first name basis with the feathered denizens at Buttertubs.

There will also be a short writing exercise where participants will have a chance to compose a brief poem of their own while at the marsh.

BRING: binoculars, pen, paper, sturdy walking shoes, warm clothes. And if you feel like it, bring a nature poem of your own to share along the way.

No dogs are allowed at Buttertubs.

We will meet at the main parking lot at the end of Buttertubs Drive, off Bowen Road. The loop trail around the marsh is a very easy level walk. But it will take us at least two hours to make our way around because of our stops for poems and birds. (It is a 45-minute walk without stops.)

Poets in the Marsh is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets.

Be there or be denatured!

2010-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

David will be reading at the Wentworth Library Poetry Series, Nanaimo on April 1. at 7:00 pm.
Also he will be a part of the performance of One Sweet Ride, reading material from the book, One Sweet Ride and also new work along with 5 other writers, Judith Millar, Cindy Shantz, Diane Clarence, and Patricia Smekal at the Acoustic Cafe, Qualicum Beach at 7:30...http://www.myspace.com/qbquac

Poetry Reading Schedule 2010

2010-03-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

"Squeezing through the cracks, searching for the sunlight, the artist manages to blossom."

Schedule: Dates of Appearance from Future to Least Recent

No Way Easy, David Fraser's Third Collection of Poetry, Launch, Planet Earth Poetry, November,19 2010
The Black Stilt Cafe, Victoria, BC

Planet Earth Poetry

Reading at Planet Earth Poetry at the Black Stilt Cafe, Victoria, BC, 7:00 pm TBA 2009
Chapbook launch featuring Glenairley Poets.

One Sweet Ride Switzerland Tour September 11 - 23, 2010
Aarau, Basil, Zurich

Reading at Hazelwood Herb Farm, August 8th 2010
Cedar, BC

MayWorks May 29, 2010
Oceanside Arts Council, Parksville, BC

One Sweet Ride Performance May 17th, 2010
The Red Martini Lounge, Nanaimo

WordStorm Erotica Night April 26, 2010
The Red Martini Grill, Nanaimo

Poets in the Marsh April 10th, 2010
at Buttertubs Marsh, Nanaimo

One Sweet Ride Launch April 2th, 2010
Acoustic Cafe, Qualicum Beach

Reading at the Wellington Library Branch, Thursday, April 1st, 2010
3032 Barons Rd., Nanaimo, at 7 p.m.

One Sweet Ride Launch Friday,March 5th, 2010
Planet Earth Poetry, The Black Stilt Cafe, Victoria

Reading Thursday, March 4th, 2010
at the Wellington Library Branch, 3032 Barons Rd., Nanaimo, at 7 p.m

WordStorm Tuesday, March 23rd

2010-03-20T23:42:00.000-07:00

WordStorm TUESDAY, March 23rd
Now at
NANAIMO CENTRE STAGE
the city's newest arts & performance centre
25 Victoria Road, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 4N9

Featured Performers
Richard Lemm

Award-winning author Richard Lemm was born in Seattle, Washington, and immigrated to Canada in 1967. He has an MA in English from Queen's University and a PhD from Dalhousie University. He has been a faculty member at the Banff School of Fine Arts, and has been writer in residence and poetry instructor for various community colleges, regional libraries, public school districts, and summer writing programs across the country.

An award-winning poet and past-president of the League of Canadian Poets, he is the author of four books of poetry; his most recent collection is Four Ways of Dealing with Bullies. He is the author of Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger, a biography of the "People's Poet" of Canada. In 2007, Shape of Things to Come, a collection of stories was published by Acorn Press.

Richard lives in Charlottetown where he is professor of Canadian and English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Pam Galloway

Born in northern England, Pam Galloway now lives in Vancouver. Her poetry is published widely in literary magazines and anthologies and on the website of the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (www.parl.gov.ca ). In 2008/2009 one of Pam's poems travelled on the skytrain and buses as part of "Poetry In Transit".

She worked collaboratively with Quintet, a group of poets in Vancouver to produce their poetry collection, Quintet: Themes and Variations, (Ekstasis Editions 1998). Her first book of poetry Parallel Lines was published in 2006, (Ekstasis Editions). Recently, her poetry was included in the photographic/poetry collection A Verse Map of Vancouver. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC.

Winona Baker

Winona Baker is a poet, wife, and mother of four children. She has won international awards for haiku and tanka; her poems have been translated into French, Croatian, German, Greek, Japanese, Romanian, and Yugoslavian and are published in over 80 anthologies in North America, Europe, New Zealand, and Japan. She has published five poetry books: Clouds Empty Themselves, Not So Scarlet a Woman (Red Cedar Press, 1987), Beyond the Lighthouse (Oolichan, 1992), Moss-Hung Trees (Reflections, 1992), and Even a Stone Breathes (Oolichan, 2000).

&

Kirsty Elliot

Kirsty Elliot lives on a little island homestead and is delighted to be leaving the dirty diapers behind to join you for a night of poetry.

Ascent Aspirations Magazine Winter 2010 Print Anthology

2010-03-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

The long awaited Winter 2010 Print Anthology has arrived, is in the
post to the contributors and is available for purchase. You can email
us and request copies and snail mail the money or you can visit the
web page and order via PayPal. Books will be shipped immediately.

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentfall2009.htm

Remember we are no longer sending out emails to our list, but rather
communicating to this google group and posting updates on Facebook,
Twitter and the Blog, Just For the Moment. So invite your friends and
fellow writers to join our group.

Communication will be once or twice a month and communication between
members is limited to the sender and the replier, so you will not be
receiving emails of dialogue among everyone.

David Fraser

Manager and Editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine
http://twitter.com/Ascent2009
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552001160&ref=profile
http://wordstorm-wordstorm.blogspot.com/

Ascent Aspirations Magazine March Issue

2010-03-06T21:45:00.001-08:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine

Newsletter

Ascent Aspirations Magazine has gone monthly and the March Issue is posted on the web.

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm

Our newsletter will come out once a month, and announcements for Ascent Aspirations Magazine will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, the Google Group for Ascent Aspirations and the Just for the Moment Blog.

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552001160&ref=profile

http://twitter.com/Ascent2009

http://groups.google.com/group/ascentaspirations

http://wordstorm-wordstorm.blogspot.com/

What’s New Page is updated regularly so check back randomly.

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/whatsnew.htm

Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Winter 2010 is at the printer. If you would like to order a copy just email us or go to the web page for details.

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentfall2009.htm

--
www.ascentaspirations.ca
www.wordstorm.ca
www.patriciacarroll.ca

WordStorm February 25th - Four Featured Readers/Performers at the Nanaimo Centre Stage

2010-02-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

See More Details at www.wordstorm.ca

Paul Nelson

Father/Poet/Teacher Paul Nelson, is co-founder of SPLAB, author: Organic Poetry (Oct. 08, VDM Verlag, Germany) & A Time Before Slaughter (Oct. 09, Apprentice House,) a serial poem re-enacting the history of Auburn, WA (originally called Slaughter. Worked 26 years in radio, interviewed Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Sam Hamill, Robin Blaser, Wanda Coleman, Eileen Myles, Jerome Rothenberg, George Bowering & others. He earned his M.A. from Lesley University in Organic Poetry, a study of North American poets writing (to different degrees) spontaneously, writes one American Sentence every day & lives in Seattle.
On Friday February 26th Paul will be giving a workshop in Nanaimo sponsored by the WordStorm Society of the Arts. Click here for the link. Workshop

Leanne Boschman

Leanne Boschman is a prairie transplant to the West Coast. Her poems have been published in Other Voices, Dandelion Magazine, Geist Magazine, Prism International, Room of One's Own, and Rhubarb. They have also been included in Creekstones: Anthology of Northern BC Poets, Half in the Sun: Anthology of Mennonite Writing, and Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. Leanne's first collection of poems entitled Precipitous Signs: A Rain Journal was published in April 2009 by Leaf Press.

Leanne's day job has been teaching English, Creative Writing, and Women's Studies for Northwest Community College since 1991. This year she teaches one on-line class each semester because she has just begun a PhD program called Languages, Cultures, and Literacies at Simon Fraser University. She will be commuting there from Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

Mark Warrior

M.C. Warrior was born in England and educated Harrow School and U.B.C. Worked as a coast logger for eight years (rigging slinger, chaser, landing bucker) and a commercial fisherman (seine crew) for 23. Also worked as Fishermen’s Union Organizer and now works as the Lead Strategic Researcher for the Labourers’ Union’s organising drives in Western Canada. He has read at City Lights Books for San Francisco’s Labor Fest and been published in various magazines and anthologies, both here and abroad– most recently in Rocksalt.

&

Kit Pepper

Kit Pepper has lived on Gabriola Island for 18 years. She works in the Faculty of Education at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. Her recent book entitled Let Beauty Be: A Season in the Highlands, Guatemala is an exploration of her time in a small Guatemalan community in which she volunteered as a health and education worker. She is currently working on a manuscript for a second book of poems which includes a long poem sequence centred around unique features of tango.

2010-02-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine
Newsletter

Ascent has gone monthly and the February Issue is posted on the web.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm

Our newsletter will come out once a month, however announcements for Ascent Aspirations Magazine will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and the Just for the Moment Blog.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552001160&ref=profile
http://twitter.com/Ascent2009
http://wordstorm-wordstorm.blogspot.com/

What’s New Page is updated regularly so check back randomly.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/whatsnew.htm

Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Winter 2010 will be going to the printer this week. If you would like to order a copy just email us or go to the web page for details.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentfall2009.htm

2010-01-29T16:02:00.001-08:00

WORDCHICKZ PRESENT 'ECLUCKTOMANIA'

Tuesday, February 9, 7:30 PM at Studio on Stage, Port Theatre

Judith Millar and Cindy Shantz

Start saving up your buck, buck bucks for the WordChickz premiere of ECLUCKTOMANIA, an eclectic mix of humorous and poignant spoken word, monologue, merriment and more with WordChickz Cindy Shantz and Judith Millar.

Cindy and Judith have always been in love with words and delight audiences with their original material which emphasizes that all of us have layers. One of Shantzs poems shows a childs perspective in church; a short story describes what happens when two very different women sit beside each other in an airplane; a monologue illustrates how the main character, a waitress, changes her life because of an encounter with a customer.

Shantz has been published in newspapers and anthologies and is the founder of Easy Writers, a Vancouver Island writing group which recently published an anthology of their writing, One Sweet Ride. She is also cofounder of WordStorm, Nanaimos popular spoken word event, where she has been a featured performer.

Millars material takes a humorous look at everything from the communication problems that can arise between men and women, to a poem she wrote from the point of view of dog. Shell share an essay on how she learned to belly dance, the tale of a philandering librarian who gets his comeuppance, and take a satirical stab at technology. A serious writer as well as a humorist, shell conclude with a story about a woman coming to terms with her mothers Alzheimers. An award-winning writer of short stories, essays, poems and song lyrics, Millar was recently awarded the John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award for one of her short stories.

As an opening act for Eclucktomania, and also as a part of the Port Theatres Random Acts Studio-on-Stage series, Starlight Reverie will play Celtic music, gypsy swing, romantic pop, tangos and mazurkas.

Shantz and Millar look forward to seeing you at Eclucktomania. Buck! Buck!

Tickets $15.00. Reserve at Port Theatre Ticket Centre (250) 754-8550 or online at www.porttheatre.com

WordChickz look forward to seeing you! Buck! Buck!

Ascent Aspirations Magazine - February 2010

2010-01-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine, February Issue 2010
Poetry, Short Fiction, Essays, Reviews, Visual Art
Check out the What's New Page for Workshops, and Events.
www.ascentaspirations.ca
www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm

Cover Design by Patricia Carroll
www.patriciacarroll.ca

2010-01-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

One Day Workshop with Paul Nelson

What’s the force behind powerful poetry? Lorca called it Duende and Charles Olson poem as high energy construct. The process of training your ear to capture the chaotic energy of the moment is sometimes called Organic Poetry, where composition is an occasion of experience
or experiment in consciousness. This is an entertaining workshop for serious writers
of all levels of experience who enjoy the sense of community. It includes sound from interviews with poets of this tradition, lively discussions & writing exercises designed to help you allow the act of writing to be an exhilarating revelation of content.
An All-day Workshop with Paul Nelson
February 26, 2010
Father/Poet/Teacher Paul Nelson, is co-founder of SPLAB, author: Organic Poetry (Oct. ‘08, VDM Verlag, Germany) & A Time Before Slaughter (Oct. ’09, Apprentice House,) a serial poem re-enacting the history of Auburn, WA (originally called Slaughter. Worked 26 years in radio, interviewed Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Sam Hamill, Robin Blaser, Wanda Coleman, Eileen Myles, Jerome Rothenberg, George Bowering
& others. He earned his M.A. from Lesley University in Organic Poetry, a study of North American poets writing (to different degrees) spontaneously, writes one American Sentence every day & lives in Seattle.
http://www.globalvoicesradio.org/paul-nelson.html
http://splab.org/?p=55
http://www.facebook.com/splab
http://www.inpeoria.org/paulresume.htm
http://voices.e-poets.net/NelsonP/
http://twitter.com/Splabman
When: Friday, February 26, 2010
Where: TBA in Nanaimo or Parksville, Vancouver Island, BC
Workshop Cost: $60.00
Time: Morning 9:00 - 12:00
Break for Lunch 12:00 - 1:00
Afternoon: 1:00- 4:00
Payment and Reservations: WordStorm Society of the Arts, 1560 Arbutus Drive, Nanoose Bay, BC, V9P 9C8. Make cheque out to WordStorm Society of the Arts.
Maximum Participants - 15.

WOW - WordStorm Oceanside WordWorx

2010-01-16T16:51:00.001-08:00

WordStorm OceanSide WordWorx
January 23rd at 6:30

An evening of Poetry, Story Telling, Music and Song

The Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery
133 McMillan Street, Parksville

Featured Performers

Leslie McBain & Patricia Smekal

Patricia Smekal: After spending many years in Australia, Pat returned with her husband to her native west coast and retired on Vancouver Island. She has since studied poetry at the Victoria School of Writing, facilitated poetry courses for Malaspina Elder College, and become an enthusiastic participant in Patrick Lane’s master classes. Pat strongly believes poetry should be read aloud, and is a frequent reader at WordStorm, a spoken-word event in Nanaimo. Her poetry has appeared in various anthologies and magazines, and has won a number of prizes across Canada.

Lightning Readers are welcome to read or perform for Five minutes at the open Mic. Email us or show up and sign-up at the door. Donation of $3.00 at the door.

Ascent Aspirations Magazine - January Issue

2010-01-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine January Newsletter
January Ascent Aspirations On-line is up at
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm
As we have gone monthly, we will not be sending a monthly newsletter, since due to restrictions from our service provider, we sometimes cannot get all our newsletter bundles out in a timely fashion, so we invite you as a matter of course each month to visit the site to read each issue, with or without a newsletter reminder or be connected as a fan of Ascent Aspirations
Magazine on Facebook or linked through Twitter.
Submissions for Future On-line Issues
We are trying to read submissions as they come in so as not to be backlogged
as many magazines are. As we read, we will make our decisions and will notify you as to which issue your work will appear.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/guidelines.htm
Ascent Aspirations Anthology Contest Fall2009/Winter2010
The first rounds of judging have been completed and all the contributors have been chosen. The final round of blind judging has just been completed
and the prize winners are announced. To view the contributors’ list and prize winners go to and scroll down at:
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentfall2009.htm
Main Page
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/

WordStorm Society of the Arts

2010-01-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

WordStorm Society of the Arts
WOW – WordStorm Oceanside WordWorx
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery
133 McMillan Street, Parksville
Featured Performers/Readers
Leslie McBain and Patricia Smekal
Check out the link for further details: http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/oceansidewordworx.htm
WordStorm
Thursday, January 28th
NANAIMO CENTRE STAGE
the city’s newest arts & performance centre
25 Victoria Road, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 4N9
Featured Readers/ Performers
Kim Goldberg
Rumblings from the RED ZONE
where poetry meets modern dance...
with Holly Bright, and Allannah Dow
and Doug Smith
Check out the link for further details:
http://www.wordstorm.ca/
Writers’ Table
If you are a writer with collections, chapbooks or CD’s to sell, and are part of the audience or a reader/performer for the evening, you are welcome
to bring your published work to display and sell at our book table for both WOW and WordStorm.

North American Sentence

2009-12-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

Buddha beneath the willow sits with begging bowl filling up with leaves.

North American Sentence

2009-12-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Each wrinkle on his rolling face, each glint of eye shows him so alive.

North American Sentence

2009-12-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Men, games, politics mixing in raging foaming comic pots of stew.

WordStorm November 26th

2009-11-22T21:43:00.000-08:00

An Evening of Song, music and poetry with Dinah D from Gabriola, Margaret Doyle from Victoria and Kate Braid

http://www.wordstorm.ca/

One Sweet Ride , An Easy Writers' Anthology

2009-11-18T16:51:00.001-08:00

One Sweet Ride Performance

Easy Writers will perform in Parksville, November 21st at Oceanside WordWorx, Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery, 133 Macmillan Ave. at 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:30. Cost: $3.00 which goes to support the Arts Council.

You’ve seen them around the Gabriola Poetry Festival 2009, and about Nanaimo at WordStorm and individually at Oceanside WordWorx in Parksville,

and now Easy Writers, Vancouver Island’s most dynamic performance poetry collective, invites you this evening on stage
and through the pages of their new book, One Sweet Ride. It promises to be quite a trip through poetry, storytelling, monologues, and satire.
It’s entertaining, poignant, and FUN!
Open Mic will be at the beginning of the evening. Come and sign-up to read or perform your work. If you are a regular, bring a friend. This promises to be an exciting night.

Oceanside WordWorx

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/oceansidewordworx.htm

One Sweet Ride

http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/onesweetride.htm

Poetry Gabriola Festival

http://www.poetrygabriola.com/fest09.shtml

North American Sentence

2009-10-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Heron perched on gazebo roof is buffeted by gusts of wind.

Random Acts of Poetry
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/
Visit this site to see not only photos of me doing random acts but all of the poets involved from coast to coast in Canada.

North American Sentence

2009-10-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Wild orange poppies give back the garden to her purple winter mums.

WordStorm October 15th. Great Photos of Open Mic and readings by Jay Ruzesky, Michael Kenyon and John Lent read from their new books published by Thistledown Press.

Jay Ruzesky reading from The Wolsenburg Clock (Thistledown).

A Novel

ISBN 978-1-897235-62-1; paper; $18.95 CAD; 128 pages, trade paper; August 2009

Micheal Kenyon Reading from The Last House (Brick).
ISBN-13: 978-1-894078-74-0
Price: $19.00
and The Beautiful Children (Thistledown)
ISBN 978-1-897235-47-8; paper;
$18.95 CAD; 192 pages , trade paper; March 2009

John Lent reading from Cantilevered Songs (Thistledown.
Poetry
ISBN 978-1-897235-66-9; paper; $16.95; 80 pages, ; September 2009

Links

Thistledown Press http://www.thistledownpress.com/
Brick Books http://www.brickbooks.ca/
WordStorm http://www.wordstorm.ca/
Open Mic and October 15th Photos http://www.wordstorm.ca/wordstormphotosoct09.htm
Ascent Aspirations Magazine http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/

North American Sentence

2009-10-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Holding one orange in the hand; better than juggling so many more.

Kim Goldberg, Leanne McIntosh and David Fraser, the Oceanside rappers for Random Acts of Poetry had a final meeting to swap RAP stories over coffee and tea at The Vault in Nanaimo.

Random Acts of Poetry National Web Site
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

North American Sentence

2009-10-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

"The heart beats faster, open mic, breathing oxygen, igniting fire."
WordStorm
October 15th
Nanaimo Centre Stage
25 Victoria Street, Nanaimo, BC
http://www.wordstorm.ca/

Featured Readers: Jay Ruzesky, Michael Kenyon, John Lent, with their new books from Thistledown Press

Random Acts of Poetry: Day 5

2009-10-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

The Stanford Auto Boys out of Parksville in the past fixed my rusted-out '87 Tercel 4x4 wagon, nursed it along for six years before the chassis buckled on the hoist. We shared a laugh and a few memories of rusted cables, a duct-taped sun-roof, and a leaky windscreen.

They loved the poem, "Goodbye to the '87", shed a tear and did a lot of laughing, all before their work day began. Scotty, the owner said, "You should send that poem into Toyota as a testimonial." Henk said, "David, you're like a leaf on the ground. You never know what lurks beneath a leaf." I took that as a compliment.

This is the Career Centre ESL Class in Parksville. The students listened to a few poems and then they were introduced to the North American Sentence and they all took a big risk by writing and sharing one. We all left as poets. The experience reminded me of just how much I like teaching.

Random Acts of Poetry: Day 4

2009-10-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

Even the rabbits cannot escape listening to a poem.

"My Random Victim says, " I heard about Random Acts of Poetry on CBC before I left Nova Scotia to come here for a vacation. Imagine being read to all the way out here in Parksville. Wow!"

Poems in the sunshine at the Parksville Beach

Grade eight student and her tutor enjoy a poem before their after-school lessons begin.

The peaceful life of poetry, and strolls along the beach in a new home, Parksville.

Random Acts of Poetry: Day 3

2009-10-08T16:57:00.001-07:00

Fair Trade - A Poem for a Haircut

Tears at Petsville in Parksville after listening to a tribute poem to a favourite pet.

David reads to Lauren Sabine, Arts Administrator and then is delightfully surprised when he is "poemed" back.

"Someone grows pansies
in the garden of her life
elements of love."

- Lauren Sabine

Two honeymooners fresh from camping in Tofino listen to a poem at the Coombs, Goats on the Roof Market. The bag of apples and the squash have symbolic significance.

Random Acts of Poetry: Day 2

2009-10-06T15:26:00.001-07:00

This morning was the video shoot for Shaw Cable for Random Acts of Poetry. After the interview I "poemed" Beth Ross, the videographer, and then we went inside the Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery where a meeting was going on. They were more than happy to herea few short poems, be videod and receive a book. It was a busy morning. If you are in the area of Qulicum Beach all the way down to Duncan or Ladysmith, you can see me reading and being interviewed Wednesday Oct. 7th all day.

National Site: http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

Random Acts of Poetry: Day 1

2009-10-05T22:50:00.001-07:00

One golf pro, two pro shop staff and a starter listen to me read a poem and receive a free book of poetry. Afterwards they all said, "I didn't know you wrote poetry, David" and the starter went out to the practice putting green and started reading poetry to all the players.

The staff at Nanoose Edibles, an organic farm, take time from their busy work to listen to two poems and receive free books.

One listener while leaning outside Quality Foods in the Red Gap Plaza said, "I should always take time each day to slow down and listen to poetry for a few moments. We all don't do this kind of thing in our everyday lives."

Garage under construction? Take a break and listen to some poems.

Who ever thought that while she was taking her dog for a walk that she would have someone on the trail read a poem and give her a book. Why? Because it is National Random Acts of Poetry Week!

Random Acts of Poetry

2009-10-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

David reads to Doe Shires, the miniature horse with his head through the plywood, and the curious sheep.

I am getting ready for Random Acts of Poetry which will be happening across Canada from October 5th to October 11th. 31 poets from the east coast to the west coast will be approaching strangers randomly and reading them a poem, distributing free books, and "I've Been Poemed" stickers.
It will be an exciting week, so if you are in the Oceanside area on Vancouver Island, you can hear me read you a poem. I will be at the Fairwinds Golf Club, Oceanside Community Arts Council, SOS Thrift Store and the Salvation Army Store, Quality Foods and Thrifty Foods, Standford's Auto, Coomb's Market, the Parksville bottle depot and Nanoose Edibles organic farm as well as the byways of the city of Parksville generally and two ESL classes at the Career Centre in Parksville. Look for me with my Random Acts of Poetry sign.

David Fraser

National Press Release

Random Acts of Poetry, a celebration of poetry and literacy, begins its sixth year during the week of October 5 to 11, 2009. Random Acts of Poetry is a project of the Victoria READ Society, a non-profit literacy organization, established in 1976. Random Acts of Poetry is funded by The Canada Council for the Arts.

“It’s a great joy to touch people’s lives in this unique way,” says Claire Rettie, READ’s executive director. “Poetry is an invitation to nourish our literacy, and hearing a poem aloud is a rare treat.”

During the week, 31 acclaimed poets across Canada, from Victoria to Newfoundland, will commit Random Acts of Poetry in their cities and adjacent small towns. On buses and subways, in donut shops and cafes, police stations, grocery stores, shelters, curling rinks, on city streets and country lanes, poets will read poems to strangers and give them their books. Poets will also read their poems in ESL and Adult Literacy classes.

Patrick Lane, one of Canada’s premier poets, says of Random Acts of Poetry, “There are no accidents. Nothing is random. A poem sits in a poet’s pocket and jumps out when you least expect it. It can nestle in a mechanic’s ear, a politician’s hand, a waitress’s bright eye, somewhere, anywhere. You look up from work and there’s a poem. It reads itself to you. It asks you to take a break. It says: Right here. Right now.”

“Poetry,” says Wendy Morton, founder of Random Acts of Poetry, “is the shortest distance between two hearts. I have read poems to hundreds of people, many of whom hadn’t heard a poem in thirty years, and watched their eyes fill up with tears. Some burst into laughter or laid a hand on my shoulder, hugged me, took my hand. Poetry can connect us with each other as humans as no other art form I know. Poetry is a gift that we can create from whatever life has in store for us.”

Random Acts of Poetry contributes toward READ's Education Access program to help children and youth from low-income households improve their reading, writing, mathematics and study skills. Households contribute what they can and READ pays the rest by fund raising with the community.

Across Canada poets will commit random acts in: Victoria, Shawnigan Lake, Sooke, Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Desboro, Stratford, Toronto, Port Perry , Trenton, Ottawa, Port McNicoll, Montreal, Laval, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Montague, Wolfville, Halifax, and St. John’s.

* 31 POETS TO COMMIT ‘RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY’ ACROSS...
* Sheri-D Wilson
* Sandra Kasturi
* Leanne Boschman
* Brad Cran
* Shauntay Grant
* Charles Mountford
* Susan Musgrave
* Kristan Anderson
* David Fraser
* Joe Blades
* Alexis Kienlen
* Wanda Campbell
* James Dewar
* Kelly-Anne Riess
* Vivian Hansen
* Kim Goldberg
* Carmelo Militano
* Kate Marshall Flaherty
* Leanne McIntosh
* Terry Ann Carter
* Monica Kidd
* Michael Mirolla
* Wendy Morton
* MacDonald, Hugh, Charlottetown, PEI
* Patrick Coppens
* Élizabeth Robert
* Roger Bell
* Domenico Capilongo
* Luciano Iacobelli
* Taylor Leedahl
* Barbara Pelman

North American Sentence

2009-09-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Heart beats faster, open mic, breathing oxygen, igniting fire.

WordStorm October 15th
http://www.wordstorm.ca/

Oceanside WordWorx October 31st
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/oceansidewordworx.htm

Random Acts of Poetry October 5th to 11th
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

North American Sentence

2009-09-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

The sad chained lonely hound next door howls even on cold moonless nights.

Magazine Links:
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/magazinelinks.htm

North American Sentence

2009-09-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Before first light I barefoot dance across the moon-silver-coated grass.

Random Acts of Poetry

For Immediate Release – September 21, 2009
Vancouver Island Poets, Kim Goldberg, Leanne McIntosh and David Fraser - "Never too tired to read poetry."

RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY COMING TO NANAIMO AND OCEANSIDE

It’s that time of the year again when the leaves are turning, the bears are denning and the poets are, well, poeming.

From October 5-11, three local poets armed with satchels of rhymes will be launching surprise poetry readings at the unsuspecting public on the streets of Nanaimo and Oceanside.

David Fraser, Kim Goldberg, and Leanne McIntosh will be joining 28 other acclaimed poets across Canada, from Victoria to Newfoundland, to commit unplanned poetic deeds and give away hundreds of books during Random Acts of Poetry week, a nationwide literacy initiative now in its sixth year.

David Fraser, Nanoose Bay poet and spoken-word promoter of WordStorm in Nanaimo and Oceanside WordWorx in Parksville, (www.wordstorm.ca) will be hitting the bricks with his poetry in Oceanside, reading from his books Running Down the Wind, and Going to the Well and giving away copies. Look for him at Thrifty Foods, Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery, Coombs Market, Quality Foods, and the Parksville SOS.

“The idea is to get poetry and poetry books into the hands of ordinary people who might not have a lot of exposure to poetry,” says Goldberg, who joined the program three years ago.

“Poetry is a doorway to the heart,” she adds. “I have been astonished at how moved strangers have been when I read them a poem and then give them the book afterwards. Some have had tears in their eyes.”

Goldberg will spend the week wandering the streets and alleys of downtown Nanaimo’s “red zone” reading poems and giving away copies of her latest book RED ZONE - a verse map of Nanaimo’s homeless population.

Watch for Nanaimo poet Leanne McIntosh committing random poetic acts along Stewart Avenue, the Harbourside Walkway and Maffeo Sutton Park, where she will be giving away copies of her two poetry collections The Sound the Sun Makes and Liminal Space. She will also share her poetry with Literacy Nanaimo, the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society and Woodlands Secondary School.

Random Acts of Poetry is funded by The Canada Council for the Arts and is a project of
the Victoria READ Society, a non-profit literacy organization established in 1976. The project is the brainchild of Victoria poet Wendy Morton.

Every October the week-long campaign steers the nation’s poets out of the coffee houses and onto the streets, where they read poems to strangers and collectively give away hundreds of poetry books in donut shops, bistros, bus shelters, police stations, grocery stores, curling rinks and anywhere else a poem can be unfurled. Participating poets also bring their poems and books to ESL and Adult Literacy classrooms across the country.

Local contacts:

Kim Goldberg (Nanaimo), phone: 250-741-8577, email: goldberg@ncf.ca
Leanne McIntosh (Nanaimo), phone: 250-754-0081, email: lcmc@shaw.ca
David Fraser (Nanoose Bay), phone: 250-468-7313, email: ascentaspirations@shaw.ca

National Contacts:

Wendy Morton, Coordinator, phone: 250-642-3542, email: wendymorton@shaw.ca
Claire Rettie, Victoria READ Society, 250-388-7225, email: crettie@readsociety.bc.ca

3 photos attached: various poses of the trio of local poets (Kim Goldberg, Leanne McIntosh, David Fraser) who will be committing Random Acts of Poetry in Nanaimo and Oceanside October 5-11, 2009.

North American Sentence

2009-09-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

Wild wind rattles late summer seeds, scatters next year's growth among the ferns.

North American Sentence

2009-09-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

Lofty ladder, painter's careful hand, brush strokes bring tattered home to life.

Ascent Aspirations Magazine
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/

Current Magazine and Contest plus much more.

North American Sentence

2009-09-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

"The salmon's quick flash of tail darts toward his eternal home."

Artist, Pat Carroll's Web Site:http://www.patriciacarroll.ca/

North American Sentence

2009-09-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Late summer sun still in the sky; the wasps abandon their paper nest.

Oceanside WordWorx
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/oceansidewordworx.htm
An evening of Poetry, Story Telling, Music and Song

The Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery
133 McMillan Street, Parksville
Web Site

September 26th, 2009

An evening of Poetry, Story Telling, Music and Song
Featuring Local Writers, Spoken Word Poets and Storytellers of all ages
at The Oceanside Community Arts Council Gallery
133 McMillan Street, Parksville

Enjoy listening to our Featured Readers and Performers.
Or if you like the thunder of applause, sign up for the Open Mike at 6:30
and blow us away with your writing, whether it is prose, poetry, music or song. The theme for the evening is work and poverty and any social issues related to this theme, so bring your material to the open mike for this theme.

Doors Open at 6:30
Performance starts at 7:00
Admission is $3.00 at the door.
Come early as space is limited!
Reserve at: Ascent Aspirations Magazine
or arrive after 6:30
Space generously provided by the Oceanside Community Arts Council.
A Collaboration between OCAC and WordStorm Society of the Arts

North American Sentence

2009-09-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

With many things to do I sit within the moment by moment time.

Look for Random Acts of Poetry Across Canada.

Check us out at the Blog.

http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

North American Sentence

2009-09-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

Acquiring stuff to make us satisfied leaves us empty in the end. _ David Fraser

Ivan E. Coyote: http://www.ivanecoyote.com/

Ivan just finished two great workshops and a performance with Leigh Joseph
http://www.myspace.com/leighjosephmusic
in Nanaimo sponsored by the WordStorm Society of the Arts.
http://www.wordstorm.ca/wordstormsociety.htm

North American Sentence

2009-09-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

Even in the turmoil of disturbance the drama doesn't matter.

Michael Brown - The Presence Process

http://www.namastepublishing.com/brown.asp
http://www.merrynjose.com/artman/publish/article_629.shtml
http://www.susunweed.com/review-presenceprocess.htm

Ivan E. Coyote in Nanaimo Sept. 11 & 12

2009-09-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 11th, 2009
6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
[]

Date and Time: Friday, September 11, 2009 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Place: Beban Park, Rooms 7-8, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo

Price: $35.

Description: Join award winning writer and storyteller Ivan Coyote in a three-hour workshop designed to get all those "remember whens" out of your head and on to the page. Ivan is the author of six books, four of which are short memoirs pulled from the writer's life. She will touch on tips for translating "told" stories into a written form, how to transform ideas into outlines, and some of the challenges and rewards about including real people in your work.

Reservations are available by request from ascentaspirations@shaw.ca or by calling Mary Ann Moore at 250-729-2630.

Website: www.wordstorm.ca

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
[]

Date and Time: Saturday, September 12, 2009 from 8 to 10 p.m. (with a 10-minute intermission)

Place: Vancouver Island University, Building 356, Room 109

Price: $10

Description: Ivan E. Coyote is a storyteller, an award-winning writer and performer who will share stories from her four story collections including the latest, The Slow Fix. The stories Coyote has told, from Anchorage to Amsterdam, are based on her own experiences. Those experiences are deeply personal, funny, poignant and heart felt. Be prepared to laugh, be entertained, become unsettled and in the end touched by everything that makes us human.

Reservations are available by request from ascentaspirations@shaw.ca or by calling Mary Ann Moore at 250-729-2630.

Website: www.wordstorm.ca

North American Sentence

2009-09-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

Cagey raven hiding something rare leads me away far up the beach.

http://twitter.com/Ascent2009
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/2009/09/31-poets-to-commit-random-acts-of.html

RAP - Random Acts of Poetry

2009-09-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kim Goldberg, Leanne McIntosh and I, with our intrepid photographer, Karen, spent the afternoon doing our pre-RAP photo shoot to advertise the up-coming Canadian National Random Acts of Poetry. This is an annual event that occurs from October 5th to October 11th where over 30 nationally acclaimed poets from coast to coast lay on the lines and rhymes out on the streets of their neighbourhood.

Here is the national press release. More to come later with local photos.

31 POETS TO COMMIT ‘RANDOM ACTS OF POETRY’ ACROSS CANADA

Random Acts of Poetry, a celebration of poetry and literacy, begins its fifth year during the week of October 5 to 11, 2009. Random Acts of Poetry is a project of the Victoria READ Society, a non-profit literacy organization, established in 1976. Random Acts of Poetry is funded by The Canada Council for the Arts.

During the week, 31 acclaimed poets across Canada, from Victoria to Newfoundland, will commit Random Acts of Poetry in their cities and adjacent small towns. On buses and subways, in donut shops and cafes, police stations, grocery stores, shelters, curling rinks, on city streets and country lanes, poets will read poems to strangers and give them their books. Poets will also read their poems in ESL and Adult Literacy classes.

Patrick Lane, one of Canada’s premier poets, says of Random Acts of Poetry, “There are no accidents. Nothing is random. A poem sits in a poet’s pocket and jumps out when you least expect it. It can nestle in a mechanic’s ear, a politician’s hand, a waitress’s bright eye, somewhere, anywhere. You look up from work and there’s a poem. It reads itself to you. It asks you to take a break. It says: Right here. Right now.”

“Poetry,” says Wendy Morton, founder of Random Acts of Poetry, “is the shortest distance between two hearts. I have read poems to hundreds of people, many of whom hadn’t heard a poem in thirty years, and watched their eyes fill up with tears. Some burst into laughter or laid a hand on my shoulder, hugged me, took my hand. Poetry can connect us with each other as humans as no other art form I know. Poetry is a gift that we can create from whatever life has in store for us.”

Across Canada poets will commit random acts in: Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Desboro, Toronto, Port Perry , Trenton, Ottawa, Port McNicoll, Windsor, Montreal, Laval, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Wolfville, Halifax, and St. John’s.
Contacts:
Wendy Morton, 250-642-3542 Claire Rettie, Victoria READ Society, 250-388-7225
email: wendymorton@shaw.ca email: crettie@readsociety.bc.ca

North American Sentence

2009-09-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

In the Sitka forest even squirrels can scold a barking dog.

North American Sentence

2009-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Twisted mats of writhing, tide-washed, angry kelp searching for the sea.

2009-09-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today Jamie and Skye were movie stars who were videoed for Shaw Cable while they were sheep herding and doing a bit of agility. Pictures are of the pretty sheep and Queen another sheep dog also learning how to do it right.

"We could learn from dogs who work, work, work for a ruffle and a 'good boy'"

Storyteller Ivan E. Coyote

2009-09-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release: September 1, 2009
Storyteller Ivan E. Coyote presents an evening of stories and a writing workshop

The WordStorm Society of the Arts and Vancouver Island University’s Out On Campus club are hosting Chest Air: an evening of stories with Ivan E. Coyote. Ivan E. Coyote is an award-winning author, storyteller and spoken word artist who will share stories based on her own experiences. Those experiences are deeply personal, funny, poignant and heart felt. Be prepared to laugh, be entertained, become unsettled and in the end touched by everything that makes us human.
Opening for Coyote will be Leigh Joseph of the Squamish First Nation who lives in Victoria. She tells stories of her own experiences through songs she composes in a “folk singer/songwriter” style accompanied by a resonator guitar called a dobro. The dobro was designed to project over brass instruments in the days of the big band.
The songs and storytelling performance will take place on Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. at Building 356 (Education/Social Sciences), Room 109 at VIU. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 general admission. They are on sale at the Student Union office at VIU; Falconer Books at Port Place Mall and the Black Dog Café in Lantzville.
The WordStorm Society of the Arts hosts popular monthly reading events in Nanaimo offering a venue for writers to perform and read their work. The Society promotes visiting writers and performing artists by bringing them to Nanaimo to be enjoyed by local audiences. Out On Campus is a club geared towards Vancouver Island University’s GLBTTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited, queer) and queer-friendly community.
A workshop called “Turning Real Life into Stories” takes place on Friday, September 11 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Room 7/8 at Beban Park. The workshop is designed to get all those "remember whens" out of your head and on to the page. Coyote is the author of six books, four of which are short memoirs pulled from the writer's life. She will touch on tips for translating "told" stories into a written form, how to transform ideas into outlines, and some of the challenges and rewards about including real people in your work.
To register for “Turning Real Life into Stories”, go to www.wordstorm.ca or telephone Mary Ann Moore at 250-729-2630. The workshop fee is $35.
The events are sponsored by the Canada Council, The Writers’ Union of Canada and The Buccaneer Inn.
Born and raised in Whitehorse in the Yukon, Coyote is the author of four collections of short stories, one novel, two CDs and four short films. Her first love is storytelling and over the past 13 years, she has become an audience favourite at music, poetry, spoken word and writers’ festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
The Globe and Mail called Coyote “a natural-born storyteller.” Ottawa X Press said: “Coyote is to CanLit what k.d. lang is to country music: a beautifully odd fixture.” The Vancouver Sun said: “Ivan E. Coyote shapeshifts between female and male, between fact and fiction, appearing at a scene of iniquity to find something hopeful there.”
Coyote is a columnist for Xtra West! Magazine, writes regularly for The Georgia Straight and CBC Radio, and pops up in periodicals all across the continent. Her first novel, Bow Grip, was released in the fall of 2005 and was awarded the Relit award for best fiction and named by the American Library Association as a Stonewall honour book in literature.

Contact:
Mary Ann Moore
Vice-President
The WordStorm Society of the Arts
250-729-2630
flyingm@interlog.com

North American Sentence

2009-09-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

So many smooth-shaped stones each asking uniquely to be picked.

American Sentences Workshop Handout
http://www.globalvoicesradio.org/American_Sentences_Workshop_Handout.html

Ascent Aspirations Magazine News

2009-09-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

Ascent Aspirations Magazine - September 2009 Issue

Ascent Aspirations Magazine September Issue
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/
As you know we have successfully gone monthly on-line. we are hoping the change will give you smaller chunks of exciting writing throughout the month and each month you will be ready for the next issue.

This month
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm

Poetry by:
Cassandra Dallett, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Linda Woolven, Kevin Gauthier, Sally Miller, Don Shaeffer, Gaia Standing, and Peggy Landsman

Short Fiction by:
Aaron Carnes, Phoebe Wilcox, and Katrina Dobson.

Essays by:
Michael Levy and Gary Lehmann

Two Reviews by:
Rola Phoenicia

Visual Art Exhibits by:
Charles Frederickson, Patricia Carroll, and Nabeela Hasan

Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Contest
Contest closes October 15th, 2009.
Extension due to production schedule, staff vacations, and general email list house-keeping.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/ascentfall2009.htm

Editor's Blog
http://wordstorm-wordstorm.blogspot.com/

Print Issue Back Copies
Some back copies of Print Issues are still available check the links for Anthologies 1-7.
Order two for a special price and we include the shipping. See bookstore link.
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/aapublishing.htm

Random Acts of Poetry coming this October across Canada
http://national-random-acts-of-poetry.blogspot.com/

North American Sentence

2009-09-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Funding Issue: The government of British Columbia in the midst of an economic downturn that has cut its tax revenue is passing some of this budgetary loss onto the arts community by drastically cutting the funding of most arts organizations. The preparation for the winter Olympics continues, with its obvious expenditures with no sense of how the hosting of these events will benefit the province in the long run. The edifices of the Olympics will remain in most cases to serve the elite.

When civilizations fall into ruin and disappear, the glory and the might are gone but their art remains. What does that say about where we should put our priorities?

"Our lasting art is first cut when the wolf arrives." David Fraser

Shelley said it well in his sonnet. It is ironic that the art remains. The clay tablets telling the story of Gilgamesh remain albeit in fragments, but still the story remains.

OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

- Shelley

North American Sentence

2009-08-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

"Each smooth-shaped stone that rolls beneath the waves has a scar too deeply cut." - David Fraser

Explore content on American Sentences.
http://www.americansentences.com/ - Allen Ginsberg
http://poetry.about.com/od/poems/a/ginsbergsentenc.htm

North American Sentence

2009-08-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Even on my birthday the dogs demand a walk.

Ascent Aspirations Magazine for September is up on the web at:
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/tableofcontents.htm
Cover Artist: Patricia Carroll
http://www.patriciacarroll.ca/

North American Sentence

2009-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Conversation as the curling wave roar meets the shingle's chatter back.

China Beach: http://www.explorevancouverisland.com/China_Beach_Vancouver_Island_BC.htm
Photos: http://images.google.ca/images?q=China+Beach+BC&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=NcaYSp_GL4SAswPp-_ikAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

Author Alert - The Writers' Union of Canada

2009-08-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

AUTHOR ALERT! Sept. 4th is last day to OPT OUT of the Google Books Settlement
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Today at 6:19pm
To all authors anywhere in the world:

The following message has been prepared by author and former contract lawyer Katherine Gordon. It is intended for any and all authors concerned about retaining meaningful rights to their work in the context of the impending Google Books Settlement. Remember: if you do nothing by September 4th, then you are "in." This post will tell you How and Why to OPT OUT.

Please use the "Share" function to post this note on your own Facebook profile.

This message is being sent to you by members of The Writers' Union of Canada (TWUC) who have opted out of the Google Books Settlement, notwithstanding advice by TWUC National Council to the contrary. The BC/Yukon region of TWUC passed a resolution at our last meeting asking TWUC to send members a list of the cons of the settlement as well as the pros, for balance and to help the members make a reasoned decision. We think it imperative that members receive as much information as possible before the final date for opting out, which is September 4.

Please note: if you do not opt out of the settlement by September 4th, then under the terms of the settlement, if it is subsequently upheld in court, YOU WILL BE BOUND BY THE SETTLEMENT. This settlement affects authors and their books in every country of the world.

Below are instructions for opting out, should you choose to do so. Please note that this is entirely your own decision and we do emphasize that you should read as much of the available information on the settlement in order to make that an informed decision.

Here is a link to the website form for opting out (which also contains FAQs):
http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/r/enter_opt_out

Follow the instructions as set out on the website. It is recommended that you print out the form before pressing send, as you will not receive an online acknowledgement that it was sent. You may also wish to send a hard copy opt out letter to the address provided.

A sample letter to Google and to the settlement administrator is also attached. (Not possible to attach in this Facebook posting. If you would like a copy of Katherine's sample opt-out letter, just email me, Kim Goldberg, at: goldberg@ncf.ca ) This opt-out letter was created and sent by Katherine Gordon, a BC TWUC member. Her advice was that opting out is not sufficient if you do not want Google to illegally scan your books and sell them online: it is also necessary to write to Google and specifically forbid them to do it. This letter has not received legal review, although Katherine is a former corporate and contract lawyer. She is happy for anyone to feel free to use and/or modify the letter for their own use as they wish.

It is also recommended that you cc your publisher or anyone else with a licence to use your copyrighted work, for their information.

Why have so many of us chosen to opt out?
There are many factors to consider in this decision. This is not a complete list by any means: we repeat, it is fundamental that you take some time in the next week to pay attention to the details and not let the date of September 4 slide by without making sure of what you want to do.

However, this list comprises many of the key reasons we do not support being part of the settlement:

- Google is not the only digital marketer in the world, but the settlement effectively provides it with mass marketing power disproportionate to the return it will provide to rights-holders.

- We do not believe there is any disadvantage in marketing our books on other digital fora, including our own publishers' websites.

- The fine print of the settlement contains many hidden and sharp drawbacks for rights holders. These include no payment for a minimum of five years; no ongoing commitment financially to the book registry; no monitoring of Google figures and revenue returns; no commitment to what commercial fees it would lever from any books; exclusion from the settlement of books it does not consider to be commercially available in the US, which it deems to be out of print and therefore fair game for theft of copyright; and control over sale pricing of books.

- Google has already proved itself both unreliable and untrustworthy. It has been stealing copyright for a considerable period of time and had to be sued to slow it down (it hasn't stopped). It has also made numerous mistakes in the works illegally scanned to date.

- Allowing our books to be scanned and available to a mass market by Google, who have little interest in anti-piracy and few filters to prevent it, exposes our works to even more piracy than Google itself is committing.

- Sitting back while our copyright is being freely used in this manner and failing to take action to protect it erodes our legal rights at law. In due course, our private property rights in our copyright will be entirely lost if we do not strive to protect them in some manner.

- Ethically, we are opposed to a multibillion dollar corporate giant imposing this on the millions of authors worldwide who have no choice or capacity to fight them. Google has attempted to keep the settlement as quiet as possible - many authors will simply never have heard of it and their works will be sold by Google without recourse. This is unacceptable.

- Authors who are caught by the settlement and do not have a contract that specifies the royalty division on e-rights now have to negotiate the split with their publishers under extreme pressure. This is unfair and untenable. 63% of revenues sounds good: but at this stage, it is looking like 63% of sweet F-A.

On balance, considering these and the other many arguments against it (just google "Google settlement" and you will find many media commentaries that favour opting out), we have chosen to opt out rather than be steamrollered into effectively giving away our rights to Google.

Please consider these thoughts carefully and make a well-informed decision.

North American Sentence

2009-08-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

In among the flinking kelp-bed light wave-rolling otters bob their heads.

Artwork by Patricia Carroll
http://www.patriciacarroll.ca/