FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 17 March 2009

ATLANTIC INK, The Writers Festival announces 2009 Short List Four provinces! A weeklong fanfare of writers, books, readings, workshops! May 4 to 9, 2009!

The shortlists have been announced. Five first time writers are being recognized for debut novels championed by some of Canada’s most innovative small presses. www.atlanticink.ca is resplendent with readings, signings, workshops and the complete details of the nominated authors and books for the May celebration when writers will be applauded from Charlottetown to Saint John, Fredericton to Wolfville, St. John’s to Halifax from May 4 through 9.

Collectively travelling an estimated 23,872 km, all paths will converge in Halifax on Friday, May 8, 7 pm at the Saint Mary’s University Sobey Building in the Scotiabank Theatre.

Alistair MacLeod will deliver ATLANTIC INK’s first keynote – A Writer’s Life: Geography as Inspiration – as prelude to four readings by the winners of this year’s writers’ book prizes. This year’s nominees are: 12th annual Atlantic Poetry Prize Shades of Green, Brent MacLaine, The Acorn Press Breaker, Sue Sinclair, Brick Books Sky Atlas, Alan R. Wilson, Fitzhenry & Whiteside 19th annual Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children=s Literature Lightning and Blackberries, Joanne Jefferson, Nimbus Publishing The Nine Lives of Travis Keating, Jill MacLean, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Submarine Outlaw, Philip Roy, Ronsdale Press 19th annual Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize Quintet, Douglas Arthur Brown, Key Porter Books Evidence, Ian Colford, The Porcupine’s Quill Skin Room, Sara Tilley, Pedlar Press 32nd annual Evelyn Richardson Non-fiction Prize Dangerous World: Natural Disasters, Manmade Catastrophes, and the Future of Human Survival, Marq de Villiers, Penguin Canada Loyalists and Layabouts, Stephen Kimber, Random House Canada Halifax at War, William D. Naftel, Formac Publishing Schedule of Events All events for Atlantic Ink, The Writers Festival, except where indicated, are free and open to all members of the public (dates and times are subject to change.

Visit www.atlanticink.ca for up-to-the-minute details, changes and additions). Monday 4 May 7 pm Reading: Ian Colford, Sue Sinclair, Sara Tilley, St. John’s, NL hosted by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador Philip Roy visiting schools in Prince Edward Island through May 6 Jill MacLean visiting schools in St. John’s, NL through May 6 Tuesday 5 May Noon Presentation: Marq de Villiers, Fredericton Public Library, 12 Carlton Street, Fredericton Wednesday 6 May Noon Reading Sue Sinclair, Sara Tilley, Spring Garden Road Library, Halifax Noon Reading: Marq de Villiers, Saint John Free Public Library, 1 Market Square, Saint John 7:30 pm Reading: Douglas Arthur Brown, Brent MacLaine, Alan R. Wilson, Charlottetown, PEI hosted by the PEI Writers’ Guild Joanne Jefferson visiting schools in the Annapolis Valley through May 7 Thursday 7 May 8:30 am – 4:00 pm Workshop: Punctuation and Mechanics with Frances Peck (Editors’ Association of Canada), United Way Boardroom, 7th Floor, Royal Bank Building, 46 Portland Street, Dartmouth. Register on-line at www.editors.ca 7 pm Reading: Brent MacLaine, Sue Sinclair, Alan R. Wilson, Study Lounge – Ward Chipman Building, UNBSJ, Saint John 7 pm Reading: Marq de Villiers, Alderney Library, Dartmouth Friday 8 May 8:30 am – 4:00 pm Workshop: Clear and Concise: Another Great Editing/Writing Seminar with Frances Peck (Editors’ Association of Canada), Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Fredericton. Register on-line at www.editors.ca Noon Reading: Bill Naftel, Alderney Library, Dartmouth 7 pm ATLANTIC INK Awards Celebration, Scotia Bank Theatre, Sobey’s Building, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax with Keynote Address by Alistair MacLeod Saturday 9 May 10:30 – 2:30 ATLANTIC INK Festival Workshops at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax Detailed author biographies, book descriptions, high resolution book covers and author photographs are available on-line at www.atlanticink.ca

The Arvon Foundation – help us by completing our Online Survey

Over the next two years The Arvon Foundation – a UK charity that supports emerging writers – has the opportunity to develop the main house at The Hurst in Shropshire (UK) as a place for writers and provide a new space for retreats and small group courses. We aim to create a beautiful space with 5 large study bedrooms (including one with full disability access), 2 flexible communal rooms and a large, farmhouse kitchen. All bedrooms will be en-suite and have stunning views across the local countryside and the grounds of the house.

We call this the ‘Hurst Residence’. Before we start the development work, we want to make sure we can offer what writers want. We would like to hear from writers from around the world with their views about this type of space.

Please help by completing the on-line survey by following this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FNOfLL1l75cEW7u3vwHNAQ_3d_3d

Find out about The Arvon Foundation at http://www.arvonfoundation.org

FRYE FESTIVAL UPDATE
Hello, Bonjour!

As many of you might have heard, the Frye Festival will be hosting its 2nd annual Community Read on October 26, 2008 at 2pm at Moncton High School.  We are really excited to be welcoming

Kathy Reichs, best-selling author, forensic anthropologist and producer of the Fox TV series Bones!

To help us with the event, we are looking for 6-8 volunteers to sell tickets at the door, take tickets and sell t-shirts.  If you have time to spare, and would like to meet Kathy, don’t hesitate to send us your name!  More details will be sent to interested volunteers.

Have a great week,
Stéfanie

MEDIA RELEASE

Release date: October 1, 2008

Library Launches Poet Laureate Map of Canada

The Poet Laureate Map of Canada (www.poetrymap.ca) is unique to Canada, and the world! There are literary maps and poet maps, but we haven’t yet found a poet laureate map. Our map features a photo, bio and poem from Canada’s poets laureate, past and present, as well as links, and when available, audio and video files. Quotes, FAQs, and news about poets laureate and poetry also make this site a valuable resource.

A legacy project of Owen Sound’s first Poet Laureate, Liz Zetlin, the web-based Poet Laureate Map of Canada showcases Canada’s poets laureate, municipal, provincial and federal, and provides models for communities that want to create their own poet laureate position.

Liz Zetlin and Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners invited poets laureate and mayors of their host-municipalities to participate.  Response has been overwhelming, with nearly 30 poets laureate and 14 host communities listed on the Map.

We thank all those who have worked to make the Poet Laureate Map of Canada come to be a reality, and gratefully acknowledge the City of Owen Sound for funding this initiative. We invite all who view it, use it and learn from it to help the Library improve and update the Poet Laureate Map of Canada.  We also invite you to add a link from your website to the map. Your comments are welcome at: library@owensound.library.on.ca

The map is being launched to coincide with National Random Acts of Poetry Week, October 1 to 5. For the past four years, Liz Zetlin has performed random acts in the Owen Sound area, raising the profile of poetry in her community.

The Owen Sound & North Grey Union Public Library is pleased to host this poetry map.  We hope that, through the Poet Laureate Map of Canada, poetry continues to take root not only in our homes and hearts, libraries and schools, but begins to flourish in the council chambers and board rooms of the nation.

- 30-

For more information contact:

Judy Armstrong       OR Elizabeth Zetlin

Chief Librarian   Owen Sound Poet Laureate 2007 -2008

519-376-6623 x 201  519-986-4073

How do our writers work and feel about their literary lot? Wordwrights Canada has developed a set of annotated links to books of essays, memoirs, and interviews on their own creative experience by writers from Margaret Atwood through John Metcalf to Peter Van Toorn.

“Canadian Poets and Fiction Writers on Their Art and Writing Life” is online at

http://www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/WWCmem.html

Suggestions for additional annotated links are always welcome.

Best wishes,

Susan Ioannou

****************************

Wordwrights Canada

http://www.wordwrights.ca

e-mail: wordwrights@sympatico.ca

“Where poetry is more than just words”
Save Al Purdy’s Home Tribute

To tear the roots of Canadian poetry is
like felling the maple tree
a century of words
left to rot.

His home & verse, trunk and branches
together with his friend Acorn,
our national history grew leaves…
flowers & fruits as heritage,
from coast to coast,
leagues of poets germinated,
from mountain tops
to glacial crest.

Let’s not allow the lumberjack to tear
down trunks or roots will rot
walls of his home, words,
raison d’être…
Canada’s national treasures.

Near century trees
left to seed
bright foliage for generations.

Your humble supporters,
Canadian Poetry Association President
Donna Allard
331 Elmwood Dr. Suite 4-212
Moncton NB Canada E1A1X6
and
CPA Member
Nat Hall
Shetland Islands, UK

Al Purdy’s Fan Club on Facebook

CARFAC Maritimes Annual General Meeting

Saturday, September 27 at the Port Campus of NSCAD University, Halifax

Before there was CARFAC Maritimes, there were CARFAC Nova Scotia (CARNS), CARFAC PEI and CARFAC New Brunswick. All three have an exciting history, reaching back almost to the beginning of CARFAC itself!

This year, CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens) is celebrating 40 years of defending the rights of visual artists. In recognition of this august history, as part of its Annual General Meeting, CARFAC Maritimes will present an interactive discussion “CARNS in its Heyday”, focusing on the early struggles of one-third of our active regional affiliate.

CARFAC Maritimes Annual General Meeting
Saturday, September 27, from 12 noon to 4 PM
Second floor, Port Campus of NSCAD University, Marginal Road (Pier 21) Halifax, Nova Scotia.

All members of CARFAC Maritimes are urged to attend.
Past members are urged to come and renew their membership.
Artists interested in joining, or finding out about the organization, are welcome.
A special welcome is afforded students of NSCAD University, members of Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS), and delegates from Nations in a Circle (NIAC).

Schedule:
Noon to 1 PM: potluck lunch, socializing, orientation.
1 to 2 PM: CARFAC Maritimes Annual General Meeting
2 to 3 PM: “CARNS in its Heyday” panel discussion
3 to 4 PM: outreach and big ideas.

For further information, email carfac.maritimes@ciut.fm
or phone 506 454 8324
CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens)
Happy Birthday CARFAC – 40 years, 1968 – 2008!
artists working for artists

*******************

Assemblée générale annuelle de CARFAC Maritimes,
Le samedi, 27 septembre, au Port Campus de l’Université NSCAD à Halifax

Avant l’arrivée de CARFAC Maritimes, il existait CARFAC Nouvelle-Écosse (CARNS), CARFAC Ïle-du-Prince-Édouard et CARFAC Nouveau-Brunswick. Les trois associations ont une histoire riche qui date presque depuis les débuts même de CARFAC !

Cette année CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens) célèbre son 40e anniversaire de la défense des droits des artistes visuels. En reconnaissance de cette imposante histoire, CARFAC Maritimes présentera, lors de son Assemblée générale annuelle, une discussion interactive intitulée « CARNS à ses tous débuts », qui se penchera sur les épreuves durant les débuts du tiers de notre partenariat régional vibrant.
Assemblée générale annuelle de CARFAC Maritimes

QUAND ? Le samedi, 27 septembre – de midi à 16h ;
Où ? Au deuxième étage du Port Campus de l’université NSCAD, Marginal Road (Pier 21), Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse.

Tous les membres de CARFAC Maritimes sont priés d’assister.
Les ex-membres sont priés de venir renouveler leur adhésion.
Les artistes intéressé(e)s à devenir membres ou à en apprendre davantage sur notre organisme sont les bienvenu(e)s.
Invitation spéciale lancée aux étudiants de l’université NSCAD, aux membres deVisual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) et aux délégué(e)s de Nations in a Circle (NIAC).

Programme :
Midi à 13h : Repas « potluck », échanges et orientation
13h à 14h : Assemblée générale annuelle de CARFAC Maritimes
14h à 15h : Table ronde « CARNS à ses tous débuts »
15h à 16h : Rayonnement et grandes idées.

Pour de plus amples renseignements :
Courriel – carfac.maritimes@ciut.fm
Téléphone – 506-454-8324

CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens)
Bon anniversaire CARFAC – 40 ans, 1968 – 2008!
des artistes que travaillent pour les artistes

September 3, 2008, 7:00 pm. Town Hall Meeting REGARDING CUTS TO CULTURAL AND HERITAGE GRANTING PROGRAMS.  Board Room, Museum London, 421 Ridout St. North, London, Ontario.   Invited speakers include
Grand Theatre’s Deb Harvey, Controller Gord Hume, Sunfest artistic director Alfredo Caxaj and Penn Kemp.
Contact Carol Kehoe, ckehoe@museumlondon.ca or 519.661.2500 x 4242.

Join our Facebook groups:
Gathering Voices www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3992303404
Save Prom-Art: Promote Canadian Arts and Culture http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=67705440222#/group.php?gid=27449691026&ref=share

September 6, 2008, 1-2 pm. 
SAVE OUR FOREST CITY!
“No Big Box for Meadowlily Woods! Stop the sprawl! No More Wal-Marts! Support Small Businesses!”
Victoria Park @ Richmond / Central Ave., London ON.  Special performances by Bliss Express and Penn Kemp.

Penn is reading in Montreal on September 25, 2008, 7:30 pm for THE YELLOW DOOR POETRY AND PROSE READINGS in Montreal, www.yellowdoor.org. And on September 28 for Matrix magazine’s Pilot Reading Series at Bar Blizzarts, in Montreal. Contact Mike Spry, spry@matrixmagazine.org.

Penn is performing “Gathering Good Company” with the Gerry Fagan Singers to open the Gala of In Good Company, a month long celebration of arts in London. October 5, 8 pm, The Grand Theatre, Richmond St., London ON.  Contact: ingoodcompany@donnacreighton.com, (519) 471-3343.  Also for In Good Company at Aeolian Hall, London on October 24.

The London Free Press video of Penn’s reflections on the Thames in literature is now up on http://torontosun.feedroom.com/?skin=oneclip&ehv=http://sunvideo.canoe.ca&fr_story=bd5a60f786dc45d6046e3231d6bed65e5487d5a9&rf=ev&autoplay=true .

Penn Kemp, Pendas Productions
525 Canterbury Road, London ON N6G 2N5
e: penn@pennkemp.ca

web: www.mytown.ca/pendas/
www.myspace.com/pennkemp
www.mytown.ca/vivalavida

Recent poetry
http://www.goddess-pages.co.uk/
http://www.ditchpoetry.com/pennkemp.htm
http://thecorner.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/2nd-sufi-poetry-carnival/

A message to all members of Poets for Human Rights

Dear Poets,

Poets for Human Rights announces the 3rd Annual Anita
McAndrews Award Poetry Contest and the 3rd Annual
Alexander Popoff Youth Award Poetry Contest.

Both contests offer $100 first prize.

Entries for both contests should relate to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Poets are
encouraged to visit  www.youthforhumanrights.org and
watch the 30 short videos (Watch the Ads tab) to
familiarize yourselves with the 30 articles of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Anita McAndrews Award Poetry Contest is open to
anyone.  $1 per poem reading fee.  Send 2 copies of
each entry (one copy with poet’s name, one “blind”
copy without poet’s name.)  Include a cover sheet with
your name, address, phone number, email address, and
poem title(s).  Make reading fee checks payable to
Artists in Action International.  Send entries to
Artists in Action International, P.O. Box 63,
Clearwater, FL 33757-0063.

Alexander Popoff Youth Award Poetry Contest is open to
poets aged 17 and younger.  Submissions are limited to
one entry per poet. There is no reading fee for
entries.  Email your entries to stazja@yahoo.com, with
“Youth Award entry” in the subject line.  Include your
name, address, telephone number, email address, age,
school and grade.

Submissions deadline for both contests is Saturday,
November 15, 2008.  Winning poems will be read at the
annual Universal Declaration of Human Rights
anniversary event in December (date and location to be
announced.)

For more information about either contest, contact
stazja@yahoo.com

Visit Poets for Human Rights at: http://poetsforhumanrights.ning.com

The 2008 CBC Literary Awards competition is now open! The deadline for submissions is November 1st, 2008. The Awards are Canada*s only literary competition celebrating original, unpublished works in both official languages. There are three categories: short story, poetry, and creative nonfiction, with cash prizes totaling $60,000, courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts, publication in Air Canada*s enRoute magazine and visibility for the winners and their winning entries offered by CBC.
To find out how to enter, go to www.cbc.ca/literaryawards or call toll-free 1-877-888-6788 to request a printed brochure.

Sophie Cazenave,
Awards Administrator
514-597-4489
sophie.cazenave@cbc.ca –