Sunday, December 11, 2011

CAMARADERIE OF WAR by SUSAN EVANS SHAW

SUNDAY JAN 8, 7.30p.m., Homegrown Hamilton, 27 King William Str.,
Until 1999, Susan Evans Shaw was a research technician in Health Sciences at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. She now chooses to apply her skills to writing and history. Her father and her husband were both geologists. Their influence helped cultivate her interest in the past, but the real catalyst was the discovery of her grandfather's letters, written home during World War 1. Susan and photographer Jean Crankshaw co-authored Heritage Treasures: The Historic Homes of Ancaster, Burlington, Dundas, East Flamborough, Hamilton, Stoney Creek and Waterdown published by James Lorimar and Company. The book won the 2004 Arts Hamilton Award for non-fiction. In 2011, Canadians at War: A Guide to the Battlefields of World War 1 with photographs by Jean Crankshaw and others, was published by Goose Lane Editions. Susan lives in a Hamilton high-rise with her two cats, Lottie and Maui.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

STORIES ON A DECEMBER EVENING

SUNDAY DEC 11, 7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
Homegrown Hamilton, 27 King William Street.
In the LitChat tradition, you are welcome to read your story in our spirited company to warm up this December evening.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

THE REWARDS AND CHALLENGES OF BEING A PLAYWRIGHT with Stephen Near

TUES NOV 8,8.00p.m. at Homegrown Hamilton, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Street, Hamilton.
STEPHEN NEAR is a Hamilton-based playwright, performer, and educator, and a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, Theatre Ontario and the Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators (CODE). He has studied with Sheldon Rosen, Floyd Favel, Linda Griffiths and David Copelin. Stephen’s plays include Quintessence (Reaching Symmetries Theatre, Finalist – 2000 Toronto Fringe Festival New Play Contest), Shadow Court (In The Moment Theatre), Out Of Character (In the Moment Theatre), Monstrous Invisible (Monkeyman Productions) and Test (Monkeyman Productions). His newest play Interface won 1st Prize in the Hamilton Fringe Festival New Play Contest and was produced as part of the 2011 Festival. Stephen is the Artistic Director of Hamilton's Reaching Symmetry Theatre, a current member of the Theatre Aquarius Playwrights Circle and the Program Director of the Hamilton Arts Council.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

WHAT MAKES FICTION WORK

TUES. OCT 11, 7.30-9.00p.m. LitChat at Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Street, Hamilton with R.W. MEGENS.
We will discuss the elements of fiction that make it appealing and enduring for readers. You are invited to bring passages or books that have writing that made them enduring in some way.
R.W. Megens' book of poetry, The Infinite Ache, was published by Serengeti Press. Xaviera Hollander, author of The Happy Hooker, said this about the collection: “I was aroused by R.W. Megens’ titillating poems. They celebrate the connection between personal happiness, sexual fulfilment and intimacy.” Megens has edited seven anthologies of Kairos, a collection of poetry and prose – one of which published a short story awarded The Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland Stewart Journey Prize. He won the Hamilton and Region Literary Award and the Prickly Poetry Contest

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

SMALL PRESS PUBLISHING - THE REALITIES FOR AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS

TUES SEPT 13
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
Homegrown Hamilton, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Str., Hamilton
NOELLE ALLEN is the publisher of Wolsak & Wynn a small press based in Hamilton and is also the chair of the board for gritLIT: Hamilton's Literary Festival. Join us and Noelle for an evening of discussion and interaction.

Friday, May 13, 2011

PLAY PRODUCTION: LET'S TALK ABOUT IT

TUES JUNE 14. 7.30-9.00p.m. at Bread & Roses Cafe, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Str., Hamilton
MATTHEW BANDURA has had a love of theatre for all his life. He was initially only interested in acting having done 3 years of Theatre Aquarius Summer program (Sweeney Todd, Evita and Grease) and other high school and community plays. At McMaster University he worked as an assistant stage manager for the Honour Performance Series’ Casket Case. The next year he got his first major role in Merit, also part of the HPS. He was then in Black Box Fire’s Man Beast Tango and the Hamilton Fringe Festival’s Purple. Most recently Matthew was one of the directors of Stressed: A Musical Review as part of the Major Production Workshop. He also co-adapted and co-directed The Yellow Wallpaper, which won four awards including Best HPS Production. He is now a graduating with an honour’s degree in English and Theatre & Film.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

WORK AND WRITING

TUES MAY10 7.30p.m - 9p.m. Bread & Roses Cafe, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King william Street, Hamilton.
CHRIS PANNELL gives us an insight into a life on work, writing and more.
Chris Pannell is part of the organizing committee for the Hamilton reading series Lit Live and also serves on the board of Hamilton’s annual gritLiT literary festival. He is a former Treasurer of the Kairos Literary Society, a former Chair of the HARAC Literary Committee, and a former board member of Hamilton Artists Inc.

He has published three poetry books Drive (2009), Under Old Stars (2002) and Sorry I Spent Your Poem (1999). In 2010 Drive won both the Acorn-Plantos People’s Poetry Prize and the Arts Hamilton Poetry Book of the Year. Pannell is also the author of a set of three poetry broadsheets entitled Fractures, Subluxations and Dislocations which won the Hamilton & Region Arts Council poetry book award in 1997.

In 2009 he appeared at Wordfest, the Banff-Calgary International Literary Festival, In 2010, he read at the Authors at Harbourfront Series in Toronto and also at the University of Prince Edward Island. For over fifteen years he has been an active promoter of poetry and creative writing through workshops and public readings, at which he has appeared across Canada and in England.

From 1993 until 2005 he ran the new writing workshop at Hamilton Artists Inc. and edited two book-length anthologies from the group, Your Baggage is in Buffalo and Between a Dock and a High Place. In the fall of 2009 he restarted the new writing workshop and continues to run it to the present day. His poems and articles have been published in many Canadian literary magazines and in England too.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

EDMUND WILSON

TUES APRIL 12, 7.30p.m.-9p.m. Bread & Roses Cafe, Sky Dragon Centre, 27 King William Street.
DAVID COHEN will lead a discussion on EDMUND WILSON, the late great American critic, novelist, playwright, journalist, historian.
David Cohen is a writer. He won the Short Article - Non Fiction award at the Arts Hamilton Literary Awards 2010. When not writing, he helps organize activities and events for the Hamilton chapter of Independent Jewish Voices Canada. In the past, he worked as a journalist and publicist. David was born in Montreal, migrated to Toronto in the late sixties and has resided in Hamilton since 1980, where he lives with his wife, the artist Marcia Labelle. Their daughter, Jenny, a mezzo soprano, will give a recital with pianist Michael Rose on May 15 at the First Unitarian Church on Dundurn South. David also gardens, badly, and feeds birds. He loves to cycle long distances and is a fan of bike racing. He has worked as a bike-racing journalist.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Saturday, January 15, 2011

THE FUTURE OF POPULAR POETRY IN CANADA

FEB 8, 7.30p.m.-9.00p.m., Bread & Roses Cafe, 27 King William Str., Hamilton.
JAMES DEAHL
will lead in a discussion on the future of popular poetry in Canada: a consideration of the prospects for People's Poetry and Confessional Poetry in the 21st century