Tag Archive for: Author

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Bite-Sized Lit: A Celebration of Short Story Month

Join us to celebrate Short Story Month this May with a panel of local authors specializing in the short story form. They will chat about the joys and challenges of writing short stories and will read from recent works. 

Panellists: Carleigh Baker, Shashi Bhat & Jen Currin

Carleigh Baker headshot  Shashi Bhat headshot  Jen Currin headshot

Panel Host: Cathy Stonehouse

Cathy Stonehouse headshot

This event will be presented in person at the New Westminster Public Library, and broadcast live via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately the event will not be recorded.

Celebrating Poetry Month

Join us to celebrate New Westminster’s newest Poet Laureate and National Poetry Month! Janet Kvammen (new Poet Laureate), Alan Hill (former Poet Laureate) and Emily Molinari will read from their recent poetry. There will also be an open mic session at the end of the event. Registration for the 5-min open mic sessions will take place at the start of the afternoon.

 

Presented in partnership with Royal City Literary Arts Society.

art by Janet Kvammen.

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Family Storytime with special guest, BC author Stephanie Watterson

Join us for a very special family storytime in recognition of Neurodiversity Celebration week (March 17-23)!

We’ll begin with a short storytime with an NWPL librarian, followed by a readaloud of BC author Stephanie Watterson’s new picture book Septopus. Finally, we’ll share colouring pages and an informal Q&A with Stephanie.

Drop-in.

About the Author:

As her parents first chosen (adopted) child, Stephanie knew she was different. Despite her biological grandmother being illiterate, Stephanie started to read the swear words on the playground at the age of three. Today, she edits client’s manuscripts, empowers new BIPOC authors, and reads with fuzzy blankets at home. Stephanie was diagnosed with dyslexia, yet her literature processing skills were much higher than her peers, which inspired the start of Stephanie’s story in the form of Septopus. Her goal is to teach others about their own inner strength. She desires to empower those who are born different while building a better future for the next generation.

BYO Book Club

Do you love chatting about books? Join our Bring Your Own (BYO) Book Club and come and chat about your current reads. Whether you loved it or hated it, there’s always something to say about the book you’re reading, and here’s your chance to share recommendations with others without following a regular book club schedule.

 

This event is drop-in.

Author Talk: katherena vermette

False claims to Indigenous identity has gotten headlines across the country in recent years, with famous writers, academics, and artists uncovered as “pretendians.” The issue has been the subject of popular podcasts, feature articles in major magazines, and even a CBC documentary.

Bestselling author katherena vermette’s new novel, real ones, tells the story of sisters who must face their past trauma when their mother is called out for false claims to Indigenous identity. It’s a novel that explores the impact that pretendianism has on Indigenous peoples, and pays homage to the long-fought, hard-won battles of Michif (Métis) people to regain ownership of their identity.

For the second event of this lineup, join katherena vermette in conversation with award-winning writer Michelle Cyca.

NWPL members can access this talk in two ways:

  1. register to attend online here: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present and watch at home
  2. attend a live screening of the virtual event in the library (a good choice if your internet at home is unreliable or you’d like to chat with others about the presentation)

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BC Libraries Present: Indigenous Fiction

A series of compelling author talks presented virtually by BC’s Public Library Community

For the second year in a row, BC’s public libraries are hosting a virtual author series to bring new insights and voices to library users in every corner of British Columbia: BC Libraries Present. Public libraries are known as centres of dialogue on many important ideas in their communities. To build upon that role, Public Library InterLINK has brought together many libraries, both big and small, to host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.

For the second season of this series, the topic is Indigenous Fiction. Indigenous writers have been a crucial part of the literary landscape for a long time, with stories that bring important perspectives and capture the imaginations of diverse audiences. Indigenous fiction in particular is breaking ground with award-winning and bestselling novels that are shifting conversations and opening minds across the country.

The fall 2024 lineup will feature three phenomenal authors who have garnered top praise and huge readership across the country, providing an opportunity for readers across BC to be part of a live conversation of their essential new books.

Author Talk: Jessica Johns

Jessica Johns’s debut novel, Bad Cree, is a gripping story about intergenerational trauma that follows a Cree millennial who has haunting dreams about her dead sister and Kokum. This groundbreaking horror novel that grapples with the effects of grief and the power of kinship, got a country-wide spotlight on CBC Canada Reads 2024.

For the third event of this lineup, join Jessica Johns in conversation with award-winning writer Selina Boan.

NWPL members can access this talk in two ways:

  1. register to attend online here: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present and watch at home
  2. attend a live screening of the virtual event in the library (a good choice if your internet at home is unreliable or you’d like to chat with others about the presentation)

_____________________________________________________________________

BC Libraries Present: Indigenous Fiction

A series of compelling author talks presented virtually by BC’s Public Library Community

For the second year in a row, BC’s public libraries are hosting a virtual author series to bring new insights and voices to library users in every corner of British Columbia: BC Libraries Present. Public libraries are known as centres of dialogue on many important ideas in their communities. To build upon that role, Public Library InterLINK has brought together many libraries, both big and small, to host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.

For the second season of this series, the topic is Indigenous Fiction. Indigenous writers have been a crucial part of the literary landscape for a long time, with stories that bring important perspectives and capture the imaginations of diverse audiences. Indigenous fiction in particular is breaking ground with award-winning and bestselling novels that are shifting conversations and opening minds across the country.

The fall 2024 lineup will feature three phenomenal authors who have garnered top praise and huge readership across the country, providing an opportunity for readers across BC to be part of a live conversation of their essential new books.

Author Talk: Alicia Elliott

Following the success of her groundbreaking memoir A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Alicia Elliott’s new novel And Then She Fell has quickly become an award-winning national bestseller. It’s a story about Native life, motherhood, and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences.

Join Alicia Elliott in conversation with award-winning author Carleigh Baker.

NWPL members can access this talk in two ways:

  1. register to attend online here: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present and watch at home
  2. attend a live screening of the virtual event in the library (a good choice if your internet at home is unreliable or you’d like to chat with others about the presentation)

_____________________________________________________________________

BC Libraries Present: Indigenous Fiction

A series of compelling author talks presented virtually by BC’s Public Library Community

For the second year in a row, BC’s public libraries are hosting a virtual author series to bring new insights and voices to library users in every corner of British Columbia: BC Libraries Present. Public libraries are known as centres of dialogue on many important ideas in their communities. To build upon that role, Public Library InterLINK has brought together many libraries, both big and small, to host these events and provide access to award-winning authors to library users across the province.

For the second season of this series, the topic is Indigenous Fiction. Indigenous writers have been a crucial part of the literary landscape for a long time, with stories that bring important perspectives and capture the imaginations of diverse audiences. Indigenous fiction in particular is breaking ground with award-winning and bestselling novels that are shifting conversations and opening minds across the country.

The fall 2024 lineup will feature three phenomenal authors who have garnered top praise and huge readership across the country, providing an opportunity for readers across BC to be part of a live conversation of their essential new books.

Bridges Panel: Queer Asian Authors on Writing Chosen & Given Family

Join us at the library for an author panel discussion about queer Asian authors writing about their family – chosen or given. Family can be a loaded term for queer folks, and our panel aims to unpick some of the thorny issues, and provide some insight into the writing process.

The event will be live in person and also livestreamed via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. It will not be recorded.

About the Panelists

Against a graffitied background, a person with dark, somewhat shaggy hair, looks into the camera and has their hands crossed on a railing in front of themKawika Guillermo  is the award-winning author of Stamped: an anti-travel novel, All Flowers Bloom, and Nimrods: a fake-punk self-hurt anti-memoir. He has also many short stories, and a video game based on his first novel. He has lived in Portland, Las Vegas, Seattle, Gimhae South Korea, Nanjing China, Hong Kong, and currently resides in Vancouver, Canada, where he works as an Associate Professor of Social Justice at the University of British Columbia.

Against a white background, an Asian woman with long dark hair looks toward the camera with a slight smile, her head tilted to the right.

 

Chinese Canadian author Catherine Lewis (she/her/hers) is a finalist for the Bisexual Book Awards’ Bi Writer of the Year. Her debut chapbook Zipless (845 Press), currently in its third printing, is a finalist for the Bisexual Book Award for Poetry. Her writing has been longlisted for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize, nominated for a 2024 Pushcart Prize, and published in The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, The Humber Literary Review, Pulp Literature, and Plenitude Magazine.

A graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University, Catherine is a two-time Banff Centre Literary Arts alumna. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, she lives in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Against a grey background, an Asian person with short spiky dark hair, wearing a grey t shirt, looks into the camera with their head on a slight angle.

 

Candie Tanaka is a trans writer challenging the binaries continually reconstructed between self and other in literary fiction. Their work explores archive and memory in a futuristic context. They are a creative writing graduate of The Writer’s Studio program at Simon Fraser University, recently completed a MLIS (Master of Library and Information Studies) at the University of Alberta, earned a Certificate of Distinction from BCIT’s New Media Design and Web Development Program and have a BFA in Intermedia from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. In 2017, they were awarded a fully funded literary residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity that helped them further push the boundaries of their writing practice.

Candie lives in Vancouver, BC and is in the final revision stages of a first novel, working on a second manuscript, as well as penning a suite of poems about working on the waterfront. They have published work with Anvil Press, Guernica Editions and Orca Book Publishers. Their latest YA novel is called Baby Drag Queen and was released on April 11, 2023.

About the Moderator

Against a bright red graphic design background, an Asian woman with mid-length dark hair and wearing a pale shirt looks off to the left.Isabella Wang is the author of the chapbook, On Forgetting a Language, and her full-length debut, Pebble Swing, shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Among other recognitions, she has been shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year Contest, The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Contest and Long Poem Contest, and was the youngest writer to be shortlisted twice for The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Essay Contest. She is in her Masters of Sociology at SFU. An editor on the Room collective, she is also a youth mentor with Vancouver Poetry House, poetry mentor with the UBC Learning Exchange, web coordinator with poetry in canada, and directs her own non-profit editing and mentorship program, 4827 Revise Revision St. 

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Bridges Workshop: Journal Comics and Zine Making

Local artist and graphic novelist, PJ Patton, will be leading a workshop on journal comics and zine making.

This hands on workshop requires registration and has limited spots. It is suitable for adults and teens. Please register below.

About the Workshop Presenter

A man with dark hair and a checked shirt looks into the camera.PJ Patten is a self-taught graphic illustrator, tattoo artist, and poet whose work is influenced by the intersection of his Japanese heritage with his American military upbringing. Patten’s parents met in Japan where his father was stationed, and the family was raised in Huntington Beach, California where he started airbrushing surfboards in the popular surfing community. 

Patten’s own lived experience of homelessness and addiction as a young adult led to the publishing of his first published book Tower25: Strung Out, Homeless, and Standing Up Again. The evocative and emotional illustrations in the book are inspired by the traditional Japanese artform of Haiga, which blends watercolour painting and haiku. Patten uses inkstone and brushes that belonged to his Oba-chan (Japanese for “grandmother”) that she herself used to create art. His preferred mediums are acrylic paints on canvas, pen, ink, watercolours on paper.

As part of his mental health journey, Patten spent ten years living at a buddhist retreat center, immediately after which he began working on his graphic novel Tower 25. He is currently the visual artist in residence for Changing the Conversation Series Around Homelessness based in Metro Vancouver. Patten has led graphic novel workshops for at-risk youth and given talks on comics and his own recovery story. He has had his paintings and drawings exhibited in and around Vancouver B.C., and is currently working on a new project – also a graphic novel – telling the stories of the children who spent time in Canada’s Japanese Internment Camps.  

Patten is a grateful resident on the unceded and stolen lands of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueum peoples who have been here since time immemorial. He operates out of his studio in Burnaby, where he also makes his home with his wife and two stepsons.

About Arts New West

With a stylized A on the left hand side, the words read Arts New West in turquoise.Founded in 1967 as the Arts Council of New Westminster, Arts New West is a not-for-profit community arts organization built by artists and arts groups with a shared interest in visual, performing, and literary arts. Our goal is to foster, support and promote the arts for all age groups, cultures and Indigenous community members.

About Wildfires Bookshop

On an orange background the text in pale pink, WildFires Bookshop.Wildfires Bookshop is a queer + south asian owned space, located on the stolen and occupied territories of the Halq’emeýlem speaking peoples. We curate books that celebrate both historically and presently excluded voices and stories, and serve as a community-building space that encourages the joy of learning, connection, and care.

Bridges Reading: Poetic Justice

Join us for a celebration of poetry! At this friendly session, former New Westminster poet laureate, Alan Hill will host and guest poets, Jónina Kirton and Jessica McMillan will read from their work and answer any audience questions. The event will end with an open mic time for others to share their work. The open mic list (5 minutes each) will be available for sign up at the beginning of the event.

The event will be live in person and also livestreamed via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. It will not be recorded.

About the Poets

A smiling older woman with grey hair looks into the camera.Jónína Kirton, a Red River Métis and Icelandic poet received the 2016 Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for an Emerging Artist in the Literary Arts category. Her second collection of poetry, An Honest Woman, was a finalist in the 2018 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She just released her third book, Standing in a River of Time.

In a black and white photo, a woman with a thick headband and dark hair looks sideways into the camera with a slight smile.

 

Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet and teacher with an English MA and creative writing certificate from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio. Her work has appeared in over 30 publications across Turtle Island including Crab Creek Review, The Humber Literary Review, Funicular, Pinhole Poetry, and Rose Garden Press. Jessica was a finalist for The Fiddlehead’s 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest. She won the 2022 Royal City Literary Arts Society Write On! Contest for Poetry and has received poetry nominations for the Pushcart and Best of the Net. She lives on the land of the Halkomelem-speaking Peoples with her little family and large dog

In front of some trees, a smiling older man in a bright blue shirt and glasses looks into the camera.

 

Alan Hill was born in the UK and immigrated to Canada in 2005. He is the former Poet Laureate of the City of New Westminster, BC (2017-2020), former president of the Royal City Literary Arts Society (RCLAS), and was the editor and curator of A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster, published in partnership with New Westminster Arts Services. His writing has been published internationally and his poetry has appeared in Event, CV2, Canadian Literature, The Antigonish Review, subTerrain, Poetry is Dead, among others. He works in the field of community development and immigrant settlement and lives in New Westminster, BC. His book In The Blood, was published by Caitlin Press in 2022. 

About RCLAS

A purple and grey logo reading Royal City Literary Arts Society RCLAS

The Royal City Literary Arts Society’s mission is to maintain and build a welcoming community of writers and readers, to support the goals of writers at all stages of their development, and to promote an appreciation of all forms of literary arts.  We are committed to building community capacity through the literary arts, promoting literacy, social connection and cross-cultural understanding and the central importance of the written and spoken word in community life.