Reading by Five Alberta Authors

Five Alberta authors to feature in North/West Passages online event marking 50^th Anniversary of The Writers’ Union of Canada

For more information, interviews or photos, contact Jackie Carmichael at Carmichael dot Jacqueline at gmail dot com

Five Alberta authors will feature in an upcoming online event marking the 50^th Anniversary of The Writers’ Union of Canada.

North/West Passages is a year-long monthly Zoom-based reading series celebrating authors from The Writers’ Union of Canada.

Featured readers on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 6 pm Alberta time will include authors Lori Hahnel, Katherine Koller, Sharon Butala, paulo da costa, and Anna Shannon.

“I’m dazzled by the calibre of writing this series is attracting. Each of these authors are impressive, amazing writers,” said host and organizer Jackie Carmichael, who represents Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut on TWUC’s national council.

“We’re especially proud to dedicate this year-long series to celebrating The Writers’ Union of Canada’s fifty years of service to the Canadian writing community, and the readers who benefit from these original works produced by these writers,” Carmichael said.

The events are free to the public. Attendees need to register in advance to attend, and receive the link via email. Register here to attend!  

MORE ABOUT THE FEATURED AUTHORS:

Lori Hahnel’s latest novel, Flicker, is published in the University of Calgary Press’ Brave & Brilliant Series. Her last book, Vermin: Stories, won an Alberta Literary Award, and was a finalist for a High Plains Book Award, the CAA Fred Kerner Award and the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts Glengarry Book Award. Her previous books are the novels Love Minus Zero and After You’ve Gone, and the story collection, Nothing Sacred. Her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio, and has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Joyland, The Saturday Evening Post and many other journals and anthologies. Lori was Calgary Public Library’s Author-in-Residence in 2020 and has taught creative writing at Alexandra Writers’ Centre and Mount Royal University. She has also acted as a mentor through the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, The Writers’ Guild of Alberta and AWCS.

Katherine Koller writes for stage, screen and page. Her books are Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays, Art Lessons (novel) and Winning Chance (stories). Short fiction has also been published in Grain, Room, Epiphany, Alberta Views, Very Much Alive, Polish[ed] and EDify; poems in Prairie Journal, NorthWord, Happiness Reflected and online at Poetry Pause; and creative nonfiction in Prairie Journal, The Pandemic and Me, WestWord and (forthcoming) Please Don’t Interrupt.

Sharon Butala has published 22 books of fiction and nonfiction, including her newest, Leaving Wisdom. Her honours include the Marian Engel Award, the W.O. Mitchell Award. She’s been shortlisted three times for the Governor General’s award, once for the Commonwealth Prize and once for The Writers’ Trust Fiction Award. She’s an Officer in the Order of Canada, has three Honorary Doctorates and she’s invested in the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.   

Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. The Midwife of Torment is his latest book of fiction. Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations of Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.

Anna Shannon is readying her first novel for publication. It’s based on the researched history of a 19th century Quebec City photographer named Alice, wet and dry plate photographic technology, and the tumultuous events in western Canada in 1885. Her short stories, prose and essays have appeared in The Coachella Review, Remington Review, The Existere Journal of Arts and Letters, and more. Her short story, “The Tenant” was a finalist in the Regulus Press’ Literary Taxidermy contest, and published in 34 Stories/124 Beloved. Anna is a proud board member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, and member of The Writers’ Union of Canada. She is a technical writer, former governance specialist, and former theatrical costumer. She lives in Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 land with her husband, and her feline writing partner. 

Host Jackie Carmichael is an author and book coach. She represents Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut on the National Council of The Writers Union of Canada. A longtime journalist, her work has appeared in many publications, including The Edmonton Sun, the Dallas Morning News, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Her honours include First Prize from the APME for feature series writing. She is the author of Heard Amid the Guns: True Stories from the Western Front and The FabJob Guide to Become a Party Planner. Her book , Tweets from the Trenches  was shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Awards. She lives in St. Albert with her family, including two noisy Shetland sheepdogs. 

For more information about The Writers’ Union of Canada, visit writersunion.ca 

Workshop – Memoir as Medicine for the Heart

Join me for a free, in-person Memoir Workshop sponsored by the Writers Guild of Alberta.

A Vocation to Write: Sharing Your Words, Your SELF, with Community

Join paulo da costa for an in-person memoir workshop: Memoir as Medicine for the Heart, in Calgary, where he will explore the complexities of sharing oneself with the world through words.

Memoir Workshop, facilitated by paulo da costa

Saturday, September 23rd, 11 AM – 12:30 PM | In-Person | Free Event

Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, 1721 29 Ave SW Unit 640, Calgary, AB T2T 6T7

Register at the WGA website using the form found at the bottom of this link https://writersguild.ca/alberta-culture-days-a-vocation…/

Memoir as Medicine for the Heart

Writing with candour about family and communities of affection may be a challenging endeavour. Memoir also offers the potential to enlighten and reward past experiences with insight and understanding, illuminating and perhaps even healing the heart. When owning the subjective perspective and experience as your own, writing on difficult and intimate subjects can still prompt feelings of discomfort and pain for all involved. How much should you reveal about your personal history and inner feelings when the web of connections is so complex, and family and community lives intersect in both obvious and unseen ways? Truth, kindness, and revelation are the medicinal ingredients paulo incorporates to honour those he writes about, as well as the wounds he may come upon, in himself and in those unwittingly brought to the page. Come explore the journey of writing Memoir with paulo da costa, two-time award-winning author of creative non-fiction. His memoir, Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.

Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and nonfiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. The Midwife of Torment is his latest book of fiction, and Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.

Find paulo online: paulodacosta.ca | FB: paulo.dacosta.73550 | TW: paulocostaautor | IG: paulodacostaauthor | Good Reads: 3519403.Paulo_da_Costa