Tag Archive for: Author

How to Save Your Darlings

Sometimes we must sacrifice words for the benefit of a story. But what if our darlings—characters, scenes, quotes, plot threads, or turns of phrase that we hold dear—don’t really need to be killed? This interactive workshop will discuss how to recognize which elements of a story are worth saving and how to make them count. We’ll explore how literary devices like metaphors, motifs, backstory, and world-building can be used to breathe life into our literary darlings. And we’ll take inspiration from iconic darlings (books and film) that were narrowly saved from the cutting room floor.

 

Advance prep for attendees:

Think of something from one of your own stories—fiction or nonfiction—that is precious to you, but which doesn’t quite belong in the story you’re trying to tell. Come ready to fight for it—to make it worth saving—through a series of thought-provoking exercises. (But be warned: just as not all stories have a happy ending, not all darlings can be saved!)

 

Takeaways you can expect from this workshop:

* How to weave a seemingly unimportant element deeper into a story

* How to differentiate between valuable and extraneous content

* The story-enriching value of iterative editing

* Getting the ideas in your head to shine on the page

* Knowing when to let go (RIP)

 

Mark Cameron, Workshop Leader:

Mark Cameron is an author, poet, and musician who writes across a broad range of genres and forms. He has self-published two novels and is currently working on two book-length projects: a Young Adult speculative fiction novel and a creative nonfiction book about navigating modern overwhelm. A resident of New Westminster, BC, Mark recently earned a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. An aspiring writing instructor, he also co-chairs the Wine Country Writers’ Festival in Penticton, volunteers with Pulp Literature magazine and the Creative Nonfiction Collective, and occasionally blogs at markofwords.com.

Mark Cameron photo in Gibsons, BC

 

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

A Celebration of National Poetry Month

Together with the Royal City Literary Arts Society, we welcome you to the library to enjoy an afternoon of poetry hosted by New Westminster’s Poet Laureate, Janet Kvammen.

Featuring poetry readings by:

  • Marlo Browne: a Barbadian award-winning poet, spoken word artist, host, film-maker and author of 5 poetry books who currently lives in Langley, BC.
  • Barbara Kmiec: a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at SFU, has been mentored by a number of Canadian poets. Among other local and global concerns, her current focus is on how we care for our beautiful planet and for seniors and other loved ones in our midst.
  • and Janet Kvammen: New West’s current Poet Laureate, Janet is a multi-talented artist and poet, making creative work and opportunities for others all around town.

 

There will also be an Open Mic portion of the event hosted by Alan Hill – sign up sheet is available at the event and is first come first served.

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

Write Your Own Story (Ages 8-12)

Join local authors Bryce and Steven Kothlow, authors of The Littles Dinosaur book series, to learn all about writing, publishing, and how to transform your ideas into a finished book! Build your creative writing skills and see first-hand what it takes to bring your own story from idea to publication.

Virtual Author Event: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow: Enshittification

In November 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to describe the decay of digital platforms as the owners prioritize profit over the experience of their users. Cory’s argument clearly resonated and helped people realize that enshittification is everywhere, creeping into many of the services that we now rely on—so much so that the American Dialect Society named it its 2023 Word of the Year, and it was cited as an inspiration for the popular dystopic TV series 2025 season of Black Mirror.

Cory Doctorow will discuss his highly anticipated new book Enshittification with public policy expert Vass Bednar, to help us understand why Big Tech is the way it is, and how we can disenshittify the internet.

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, including The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science-fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His nonfiction book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation is a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the Little Brother series for young adults; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Vass Bednar is the Managing Director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute and the co-author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians. Vas was the host of the Globe & Mail podcast Lately, about navigating life in the new economy. She was also the Executive Director of the Master of Public Policy program at McMaster University.

**Please note, this event is online only and will not take place at the library**

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For the third 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 third season of this series, the topic is upheaval. This year has been marked by tariffs, trade wars, and international conflicts that are destabilizing economies and political systems worldwide. The advent of artificial intelligence is adding to a wave of technological changes that are disrupting the way we work, how we communicate, and our ability to discern truth from propaganda and disinformation.

All events are hosted on the BC Libraries Present Crowdcast channel: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present

BC Libraries Present is a project of BC’s public library federations with the generous financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

Virtual Author Event: Carol Off

Carol Off: At a Loss for Words

As co-host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens for a decade and a half, Carol Off interviewed over 25,000 people, giving her a unique vantage point on this era of increasing polarization. In her bestselling book At a Loss for Words, she explores how language has been distorted and weaponized, and what happens when we lose our shared meaning for words like democracy, freedom and truth.

For our first event of this season, Carol Off will appear in conversation with former Vancouver City Councillor, Andrea Reimer.

Carol Off is a journalist who co-hosted the multi-award-winning CBC radio program, As It Happens, for almost sixteen years. Before that, she covered news and current affairs in Canada and around the world. As a radio correspondent, she reported on politics in Ottawa and Quebec. As a television journalist, she covered the break-up of Yugoslavia; the 9/11 attack on the United States; the election of Vladimir Putin; and politics, conflicts and culture throughout Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Africa. Her first bestselling book, The Lion, The Fox and the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, was published in 2000. Since then, she’s written three more award-winning works of narrative non-fiction, including, most recently, All We Leave Behind: A Reporter’s Journey into the Lives of Others, winner of the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

Andrea Reimer is an Adjunct Professor of Practice at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. She started her public work as a community organizer and in 2002 was elected to the Vancouver School Board. In 2008, Andrea co-chaired Gregor Robertson’s successful campaign for Mayor, ran for Council herself, and went on to be elected to three terms on Vancouver City Council. After leaving municipal politics, Andrea was awarded a prestigious Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design where she studied and taught about urban policy and strengthening democracy. She has been recognized with a number of awards including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award and the World Green Building Council Chairman’s Award.

**Please note, this event is online only and will not take place at the library**

_________________________________________________________

For the third 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 third season of this series, the topic is upheaval. This year has been marked by tariffs, trade wars, and international conflicts that are destabilizing economies and political systems worldwide. The advent of artificial intelligence is adding to a wave of technological changes that are disrupting the way we work, how we communicate, and our ability to discern truth from propaganda and disinformation.

All events are hosted on the BC Libraries Present Crowdcast channel: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present

BC Libraries Present is a project of BC’s public library federations with the generous financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

Virtual Author Event: Alex Neve

Alex Neve: Universal

In his decades-long experience fighting for human rights, Alex Neve has seen the failures and moments of progress for universal human rights—and what humanity can do to fulfill their promise. This fall, he will deliver the 2025 Massey Lectures across Canada, exploring the importance of universal human rights in this era of immense global challenges.

Alex Neve will discuss his book and lectures Universal with journalist Andrea Crossan, executive director of the Global Reporting Centre.

Alex Neve is a Canadian-based international human rights lawyer. He is the former secretary general for Amnesty International in Canada and a former member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. He is a commissioner with the Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation and an adjunct professor teaching in the area of international human rights with the law faculties at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University.

Andrea Crossan is a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. She is an award-winning radio journalist with over 30 years of experience, reporting from over a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, South Africa, Uganda, and Brazil. She is currently the executive director of the Global Reporting Centre (GRC), an independent news organization based out of UBC.

**Please note, this event is online only and will not take place at the library**

_________________________________________________________

For the third 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 third season of this series, the topic is upheaval. This year has been marked by tariffs, trade wars, and international conflicts that are destabilizing economies and political systems worldwide. The advent of artificial intelligence is adding to a wave of technological changes that are disrupting the way we work, how we communicate, and our ability to discern truth from propaganda and disinformation.

All events are hosted on the BC Libraries Present Crowdcast channel: crowdcast.io/@bclibraries-present

BC Libraries Present is a project of BC’s public library federations with the generous financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

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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

**note: April event will be from 3-4:30 and in the Auditorium**

back to regular schedule and location in May

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.