Experientially Speaking Sage Hill Alumni Newsletter (Vol. 9, March 2005)
Announcements
There are now two keynote addresses posted on the Sage Hill website: Writing as delight, the pleasure, presented by Gerry Shikatani on November 28, 2004 at Sage Hill‟s Fall Poetry Colloquium; and Hearing Anne Szumigalski, George Elliott Clarke‟s keynote lecture presented on July 28, 2004 at the most recent Summer Experience. George Elliott Clarke was also the Caroline Heath Lecturer this past fall at the Saskatchewan Writers Guild‟s AGM and conference in Saskatoon.
Go To Our Alumni Page to see our new “Featured Alumni”: Oana Avasilichioaei, Al Pope, Mansel Robinson, and Brenda Schmidt.
UPDATE: BROCHURE 2005 Program Brochures are now available. In our regular mailing we sent out a one-page pamphlet-brochure containing basic information; we have also printed a booklet-brochure that contains comprehensive program details and is available on request. Among this year‟s new (adult programs) faculty are Marilyn Bowering, Nicole Brossard, Warren Cariou, Steven Galloway, Mark Anthony Jarman, Wendy Lill, Candace Savage, and John Steffler. PLEASE NOTE: There have been some changes to the eligibility requirements of the Fall Non-Fiction Colloquium (in short: it’s open to everyone). Please go to the Sage Hill website for more details.
Sadly, Sage Hill and the poets of the Fall Poetry Colloquium 2004 wish to express their deep sorrow at the passing of Sharon Drummond, a participant at that program. Sharon was radiant and worked hard, completing a manuscript during her two weeks there (now under consideration by a publisher). It was a privilege to have Sharon as a participant at Sage Hill. A Scholarship is being planned in memory of Sharon; contact Sage Hill for more information.
A wake was held for Sharon on January 31, 2005 at the home of her friend Betty Jane Hegerat. The funeral service took place in Calgary at 2:00, Tuesday February 1. Please see the tribute to Sharon on the Sage Hill website.
In our continuing attempts to keep the Alumni pages of the Sage Hill website as comprehensive, up to date, and accurate as possible, we invite you to browse the site and to PLEASE LET US KNOW if your name and information (i.e., the year and program you attended) are in need of revision or if they are missing altogether. Also, if you have a website to which you would like us to post a link, please notify us of that as well. Sage Hill's web address is www.sagehillwriting.ca and, of course, our email address is [email protected] Publications, Awards, Etc. [abbreviations: YA (Young Adult); PW (Poetry Workshop); PC (Poetry Colloquium); FPC (Fall Poetry Colloquium); FW (Fiction Workshop); FC (Fiction Colloquium); NC (Novel Colloquium); PL (Playwriting); Intro (Intro); NF (Creative Non-fiction)] note: only most recent program attended is indicated.
—Again, we are delighted to brag about the many successes of former Sage Hill Experients: Congratulations to all!—
Linda Aksomitis (YA ‟96) has three books forthcoming this year. Backroad Mapbook Southern Manitoba and Backroad Mapbook Southern Saskatchewan will both be published this Spring by Backroad Mapbooks/Mussio Ventures in Burnaby, BC. Linda‟s book of children‟s historical fiction, tentatively titled Wrong Side of the Tracks, is forthcoming in September with Coteau Books. Kimmy Beach‟s (PW ‟03) third poetry collection, Fake Paul, will be published this Spring by Turnstone Press. Diane Buchanan (PW ‟03) has a new poetry collection, Between the Silences, forthcoming with Calgary‟s Frontenac House as part of their Quartet 2005 series; Diane will launch the book this April with readings in Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, and Toronto. Visit Frontenac House at
Tracy Hamon (Intro ‟03) will launch her first poetry collection this Spring; her book, titled This is Not Eden, is part of Thistledown Press‟ New Leaf Editions. Tracy was also one of the participants in this year‟s CBC Saskatchewan Poetry Face-Off. And further congratulations to Tracy for winning the 2005 City of Regina Writing Award. Trevor Herriot (NF ‟98) was short-listed for the Pearson Writers‟ Trust Non-Fiction Prize for his prize-winning book Jacob’s Wound: A Search for the Spirit of Wildness (M&S). James Misfeldt‟s (PL ‟00) The Evil Among Us will be one of the plays presented at the 2005 Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre‟s Spring Festival of New Plays, this May in Saskatoon. Wynne Nicholson‟s (PW ‟95) Small Gifts, her first poetry collection, is forthcoming this Spring as part of Thistledown Press‟ New Leaf Editions. Al Pope‟s (NC „02) novel, Bad Latitudes, published in July 2004 by Turnstone Press, has recently been optioned by Smack Films of Toronto. Mansel Robinson (PL ‟95) is scheduled to be the 2005-2006 Writer-in-Residence at the Regina Public Library. Mansel has two new plays in development in 2005: Picking Up Chekhov will be presented as a Platform Play at the Enbridge Playrites Festival in Calgary in March; Greasepaint & Gasoline will be part of the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre‟s Spring Festival of New Plays in Saskatoon in May. Brenda Schmidt (FPC ‟03) will launch her second poetry collection, More than Three Feet of Ice (Thistledown), on April 21, 2005 at the Victoria Inn in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Brenda has a new blogspot, Alone on a Boreal Stage http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com> Maureen Scott Harris (FPC ‟95) published her second poetry collection, Drowning Lessons (Pedlar Press), this past October. Maureen launched Drowning Lessons in Toronto and Windsor in the Fall, and re-launched it on February 9th at St. Peter‟s College in Humboldt, Saskatchewan; the evening also featured Douglas Barbour. Maureen also gave readings recently in Winnipeg and St. Catherine‟s, Ontario, and has readings later this Spring in Toronto, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, and Oakville. David Sealy (PL „00) was the runner-up for the 2005 City of Regina Writing Award. Bren Simmers (FPC ‟03) recently sent Sage Hill a copy of Fire Lookout, a lovely chapbook of ten ghazals, published in a limited edition of 75 copies by La Mano Izquierda Impresora in Victoria. Bren is spending March and April at the Wallace Stegner House in Eastend, Saskatchewan. Jennifer Still‟s (FPC ‟01 and Guest Speaker 2004 Saskatoon Teen Writing Experience) first book-length poetry collection, Saltations, is forthcoming with Thistledown Press in Fall 2005. Kathleen Wall (NC ‟04) has a second poetry collection, Time’s Body, forthcoming this Spring with Hagios Press.
Other News
A number of writers with Sage Hill connections are on the long list for the 5th Annual ReLit Awards: for Short Fiction, Shelley Leedahl for Orchestra of the Lost Steps (Coteau), Bonnie Dunlop for The Beauty Box, and Larry Gasper for Princes in Waiting (Coteau); for Novel, Al Pope for Bad Latitudes (Turnstone); for Poetry, Cecelia Frey for Reckless Women (Ronsdale), Louise Halfe for Blue Marrow (Coteau), Aislinn Hunter for The Possible Past (Raincoast), Donna Kane for Somewhere a Fire (Hagios), and Catherine Greenwood for The Pearl King (Brick). Winners will be announced in May.
Faculty News
Robert Calder, a former member of Sage Hill‟s Board of Directors, won two 2004 Saskatchewan Book Awards for Beware the British Serpent (McGill-Queen‟s University Press); Robert won the Saskatoon Book Award and also in the Scholarly Writing category. Beth Goobie‟s Flux (Orca Books) won the 2004 Saskatchewan Book Award for Children‟s Literature. Louise Halfe, also known as Sky Dancer, has been appointed Saskatchewan’s new Poet Laureate. The announcement was made January 18, 2005 and Louise‟s first official appearance as Poet Laureate was at a tea held at Government House in Regina on February 24, hosted by Linda Haverstock, Saskatchewan‟s Lieutenant Governor. Gerald Hill won the 2004 Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry for his collection Getting to Know You, published by Spotted Cow Press. Congratulations to Gary Hyland, Artistic Coordinator of the Moose Jaw Festival of Words and one of the founders of Sage Hill Writing Experience, on recently being awarded the Order of Canada. Steven Ross Smith, Sage Hill‟s Executive Director, will launch his new poetry collection, Fluttertongue 3: Disarray (Turnstone), later this Spring. Congratulations to Dianne Warren for being awarded the Writers‟ Trust of Canada‟s prestigious Marian Engel Award, given annually to a female writer in mid-career for a body of work and in anticipation of future contributions.
Alumni & Related Websites
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Linda Aksomitis’ („96 YA) website is now www.aksomitis.com Brenda Baker („93 FW): www.brendabaker.com Michael Bryson („00 FC) edits the on-line journal The Danforth Review: www.danforthreview.com Susan Andrews Grace (FPC ‟95) is both a poet and visual artist; you can check out samples of her work in both disciplines at her website: www.susanandrewsgrace.com Shelley Leedahl (Faculty): www.members.shaw.ca/shelleyannleedahl/index.html NEW Al Pope‟s (NC ‟02) website can be found at: www.alpope.com, where you can also link up to his column “Nordicity,” which appears weekly in the Yukon News. NEW BLOG In addition to her website Brenda Schmidt (‟03 FPC) has a new Blog-site: http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com. And her website: http://schevv.sasktelwebsite.net/birdart.htm Arthur Slade (Faculty and „01YA): www.arthurslade.com Kathy Stinson (‟93 FW): www.kathystinson.com Contemporary Verse 2: www.contemporaryverse2.ca Grain Magazine: www.grainmagazine.ca JackPine Press, a chapbook press based in Saskatoon: www.jackpinepress.com milieu press, a women‟s press in Vancouver: www.milieupress.net Prairie Fire: www.prairiefire.mb.ca NEW Considering how many Sage Hill alumni have books forthcoming with Thistledown Press, it seems appropriate to include their link: www.thistledown.sk.ca
Donors
Angie Abdou, Martha Attema, Oana Avasilichioeai, Kimmy Beach, Carolynn Bennett, Claudia Bickel, Cam Bower, Colin Boyd, Wendy Brandts, Diane & Donald Buchanan, Bonnie Burnard, Robert Calder & Holly Borgerson Calder, Calories Bakery & Restaurant, Phil Campagna, Miji Campbell, Sandra Campbell, David Carpenter, Lucia Cino, Hilary Clark, George Elliott Clarke, Coteau Books, Joan Crate, Heather Crichlow, Sally Crooks, Teresa Davidson, Robert Eaton & Val Veillard, Sandy Easterbrook, Ron Evans, Dolores Ewen, Dorothy Field, Leonard Findlay, Linda Frank, Friends of Fiction, Friends of Poetry, Catherine Fuller, Susan Andrews Grace, Ann Goldring, Gabriella Goliger, Reene Granlin, Phil Hall, Jerrold Hamm, Brecken Hancock, Maureen Scott Harris, Betty Jane Hegerat, Doris Hillis, Jacqueline Honnet, Jan Horner, Wally Houn, Bruce Hunter, Maureen Hynes, Christine Irwin, Marilyn Iwama, Walfried Jansen, Catherine Jewison, Abdul Naim Kamal, Donna Kane, Lynn Kavanagh, Robert Kavanagh, Fran Kimmel, Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Barbara Klar, Myrna Kostash, Katherine Lawrence, Sylvia Legris, Alison Lohans, Janice Lore, Mary Love, Manitoba Writers Guild, Wenda McArthur, Ellizabeth McCallister, Don McKay & Jan Zwicky, Jean McKay, Susan McMaster, McNally Robinson, Isa Milman, June Mitchell, Erin Mouré, Helen Mourre, Lorri Neilsen, K. Gordon Neufeld, Luella Newman, Michael & Helen Newmann, N. Wynne Nicholson, Curtis Parkinson, A.S. Penne, Cynthia D. Peterson, Ruth Roach Pierson, Prairie Fire Magazine, Betty Ramshaw, Paula Jane Remlinger, Nancy Richler, J. Jill Robinson, Carol Rose, Diane Salmon, Saskatchewan Writers Guild, David Sealy, Joan Shillington, Bren Simmers, Arthur Slade, Joan Skogan, Adam Sol, Steven Ross Smith, H. & J. Storey, Leona Theis, Geoffrey Ursell & Barbara Sapergia, Julie Vandervoort, Fred Wah, Les Wall, Betsy Warland, Joan Wier, Claire Wilkshire, Joseph Zeman, and anonymous donors.