On June 26, 2016 at Studio 89 in Mississauga long-time WEN member John Ambury launched his first book titled “Living Waters”. It is a collection of poems and short stories. Several WEN members came out to support the launch.
All posts by Maurus Cappa
June 1, 2016 WEN Receives Award from Andrea Horwath
Jasmine Jackman accepts an award from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath at the last CEMA (Canadian Ethnic Media Association) meeting in May of 2016. The award recognizes the Writers and Editors Association for their contributions to the community.
April 16, 2016 Wallace House Launches Anthology
Wallace House Writers’ Guild Book Launch
The Wallace House Writers’ Guild, many of whom have joined WEN, are launching their first anthology titled “Through the Brown Door.” You are welcome to attend the launch on Saturday, April 16th from 1 to 4 PM at the historic Wallace House located at 137 Woodbridge Ave in Woodbridge.
They also plan to attend the WEN meeting in May to present their anthology.
A Flower for Allie by Isobel Raven
There is something singularly attractive about Isobel Raven’s short stories. I have just reread A Flower for Allie after a two-year gap, and lost none of my enthusiasm.
Ten of the stories are set in rural southwestern Ontario, 1930-50, and six in Toronto, 1990-2000. The author draws us quickly into her chosen times and places. Each story moves fast but without haste. Every word contributes to plot, character, or atmosphere; there is no waste. The seemingly effortless style is direct and clear, fresh, invigorating, good-natured, and insightful (one senses decades of careful observation).
Isobel Raven reminds us how ordinary stories about ordinary people become extraordinary in the hands of extraordinary writers. While providing discreet details that build a vivid and convincing picture, she does not tell too much – leaving us to imagine how matters might develop in the rest of the story, and beyond.
Though her voice is her own, Isobel Raven reminds me pleasingly of Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, and Stephen Leacock. Indeed, Munro, the book’s dedicatee, wrote to her, “I am delighted with the stories, which seem to me to have a unique tone and a special, keen vision.” I share that delight.
This book stands firmly, fittingly, right up there in my Canadiana shelves.
Barry Clegg
Writers Community of Simcoe County Contest
The Writers Community of Simcoe County have contacted WEN to announce that they are having a short-story contest. Deadline is March 31, 2016. Please go to their website for more details.
Breakfast Meeting December 10
Our annual Holiday Party and Member’s Readings will be held on December 10 th at Canadiana. A special breakfast menu will be served and there will be music, balloons, door prizes and and a fifty-fifty draw. Come out and support fellow WEN members who will be reading their latest creations. It promises to be an entertaining meeting.
Breakfast Meeting November 19
Antanas Sileika (Antanas Šileika) is a Canadian novelist and critic.
He was born in Weston, Ontario – the son of Lithuanian-born parents.
After completing an English degree at the University of Toronto, he moved to Paris for two years and there married his wife, Snaige Sileika (nee Valiunas), an art student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. While in Paris, he studied French, taught English in Versailles, and worked as part of the editorial collective of the expatriate literary journal, Paris Voices, run from the upstairs room of the bookstore, Shakespeare and Company.
Upon his return to Canada in 1979, Antanas began teaching at Humber College and working as a co-editor of the Canadian literary journal, Descant, where he remained until 1988.
After writing for newspapers and magazines, Antanas published his first novel, Dinner at the End of the World (1994), a speculative story set in the aftermath of global warming.
His second book, a collection of linked short stories, Buying On Time (1997), was nominated for both the City of Toronto Book Award and the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, and was serialized on CBC Radio’s Between the Covers. The book traces the lives of a family of immigrants to a Canadian suburb between the fifties and seventies. Some of these stories were anthologized in Dreaming Home, Canadian Short Stories, and the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour. In 2015, the book was long listed for Canada Reads and the Lithuanian translation was nominated for Book of the Year.
Antanas Sileika has worked frequently as a reviewer of books for radio, television, and print.
His third book, Woman in Bronze (2004), compared the seasonal life of a young man in Czarist Lithuania with his subsequent attempts to succeed as a prominent sculptor in Paris in the twenties. The novel was a Globe Best Book of that year.
He is the director for the Humber School for Writers in Toronto, and is a past winner of a National Magazine Award.
His most recent novel, Underground, appeared from Thomas Allen in 2011. The story is set in the underground resistance to the Soviet Union in the late 1940’s. It was named as one of the Globe and Mail’s 100 Best Books of 2011.
Breakfast Meeting October 15
Debby de Groot
Debby de Groot started her working life in the classified section of The Star in Johannesburg, and then moved on to publishing in 1982 with a seven-year stint at Harper Collins, and a small business representing publishers in outlying areas and sub-Saharan Africa. She also spent four years with Southern Book Publishers, as Sales and Marketing Director, before immigrating to Canada in 1997, and working on contract with Key Porter Books as Publicity Manager. After leaving Penguin Group (Canada) in 2006, where she was Director, Publicity and Marketing, she formed her own book pr consultancy, ddg Publicity and Marketing. Together with Meisner Publicity and Promotion, the company re-formed as Meisner, de Groot & Associates early in 2008.
Breakfast Meeting September 17
Travis Belanger is the founder and owner of MKTG 101, a budgeted marketing solutions firm for individuals and smaller businesses. After graduating from high school with his first business, and the valedictorian, director, and entrepreneurship awards; he enrolled in the Business Administration program at Brock University. His university career culminated in numerous, invaluable marketing experiences. In his third year, he planned a strategic partnership that resulted in him being placed in charge of a major marketing initiative for a week-long conference in Las Vegas. As graduation approached Travis saw the societal gap in the employment of new, talented graduates. He saw creative, hard-working students who would graduate and be unable to secure meaningful employment. Travis created MKTG 101 with the intention of building the experience of these talented students so they would be able to excel in the workforce after graduation. On the opposite side, individuals and businesses without a large marketing budget are provided an affordable option. Since the inception of MKTG 101, Travis has been involved in every project taken. His experience with finding cost effective solutions for any project has helped numerous clients in a range of industries including: bridal, construction, music, energy, education, events, and literary.
Breakfast Meeting July 16
Member’s Readings