Looking Through The Rearview Mirror

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since the Festival. Probably my brain is still adjusting too – I’ve just starting noticing the last couple of nights that I’m not writing documents and spreadsheets in my sleep anymore,  so that’s a good sign.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete one of the surveys and share your perspectives, it’s all being taken into consideration as I wrap up my evaluations and we start to think about next year.   

Please continue to stay in touch with ideas and suggestions with comments here and on our Facebook and twitter page… bye for now.

Well? Was It Good For You?

What a great day! Fabulous weather, amazing musicians, authors and performers, dozens of dedicated volunteers, awesome food, and great support from the almost 2000 people who came out to enjoy the day down at the first Word On The Street Lethbridge!  On behalf of the Festival team and the Library staff who have worked so hard to pull this event together, we thank you.

Now we want to hear what you thought. For anyone who took part in some way, we invite you to fill out this 10 question survey and be entered to win an E-Book Reader! Here’s the survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TWOTS2011

And if you’d like to share your impressions please submit photos or comments on our Facebook WOTS Lethbridge page: www.facebook.com/LethbridgeWOTS

Thank you to everyone! Let’s do this again next year!

Colette

It’s Like Christmas!

All my grown up friends are making fun of me because I am so excited about different aspects of The Word On The Street; scheming about the food I’m going to eat, the performers I am going to get to meet face to face, and the Chinese Yo Yo’s.

For months now, I’ve had it in my head that I wanted to get some of these for the Festival. There have been a few hurdles and false starts along the way but in the end we were able to order them through a local supplier who moved heaven and earth to get them here on time.  After I picked them up, you know what happened…  just couldn’t resist and have been showing off my ‘skill’ ever since ….

As far as my grown up friends? I figure they’re just jealous…. just wait til they see the pictures of me with Clifford the BIg Red Dog! Come out and play at the Word On The Street Festival on Sunday, only two more sleeps.

Getting Down And Dirty

What a great day we had last Sunday with a dedicated group of volunteers pitching in to clean up the Library parking lot and grounds in readiness for Festival Day!

Thank you to Brenda and Wade, Sheila, Joel, Katherine, Susannah, Dale, Ethan, Liam, and Fallon. What a great team and so cute in our purple gloves!

For me, one of the highlights was little Fallon enthuisiastically picking up litter (and cigarette butts) singing her own little ditty with all variations of these words … “Cigarette butts… cigarette butts… they stink… lalala…”. My apologies to the two gentleman sitting outside, peacefully minding their own business and having a quick smoke…

I am sure that’s just the beginning of the volunteer fun we’ll be having here on Festival day…  see you all down at the Library Sunday!

PS… spent the day working on author contracts and schedules… a big thank you to our Title Sponsor TD for making all this possible!

Meet the Kindergarten Author

Kara Kotkas was just 5 years old when she wrote her first book, Grandma and Me, the Red Hats and Tea. The story was originally intended to be a birthday present for her grandmother, Ann Polischuk, who is a member of the Red Hats Society. Kara’s inspiration for the book stemmed from her enjoyment of attending Red Hats Society events with her grandmother filled with tea and dessert.

Kara approached her mother, Darci Kotkas, with a plan to write a hardcover book with illustrations, an author photo, and even a barcode. With Darci’s help illustrating and Kara’s hard work, the project grew into being a Christmas surprise for her grandmother. Upon seeing the book in print, she was astonished that her granddaughter had managed to find a book about a grandmother enjoying red hats and tea. With a closer inspection, she finally realized, much to her delight, that the author was none other than her own granddaughter, Kara.

Since that eventful day, the young author has been promoting and speaking about her book to community groups around Lethbridge. Now 8, she is writing stories with friends and working on her second book. We’re very luck to have her joining us at Word on the Street.

“If you have ever felt the unconditional love of a child you will enjoy this heart-warming story. Kara writes with a style beyond her five years.”
-Samantha Whelan, Ambasasador for the National Arts Centre of Canada

It’s Music! No, It’s Poetry! Don’t Matter, Cuz It’s Cool…

So excited to have Sheri D performing at our Lethbridge Word On The Street Festival! Here’s a clip from our CKXU radio show featuring Sheri D right after the intro from host Blaine Greenwood, and check out her amazing accomplishments below:

Sheri-D Wilson has seven collections of poetry; her most recent, Autopsy of a Turvy World (2008, Frontenac House), was launched in April at the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival. Her last collection, Re:Zoom (2005, Frontenac House), won the 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the CanLit award. She has two Spoken Word CDs (arranged by Russell Broom), and four award-winning VideoPoems: Airplane Paula (2001), Spinsters Hanging in Trees (2002), Surf Rave Girrly Girrl (2004), and The Panty Portal (2008), all produced for BravoFACT.

Other Awards Include:
CBC Arts Top Ten Poets in Canada (2009), ffwd Readers’ Choice – Best Poet (2007-2010), Global TV’s Woman of Vision Award (2006), SpoCan Award (2005), Bumbershoot Heavyweight Title for Poetry USA (2003), Gold Award at the Houston Film Festival (2003), Three ACE awards (2003), AMPIA (2003, for best short or vignette), CBC Face-off (2002)

 

Reading Highlights:
Maple Stirrup en El Arco de la virgin 2010 (Barcelona), Art 4 Change 2010 (Harlem), FiEstival maelstrÖm reEvolution 2010 (Brussels), Blue Met 2009 (Montreal), Voix d'Amériques 2008,‘05 (Montreal), Bumbershoot 2003, ‘99, ‘92, ‘91, ‘89 (Seattle), Vancouver International Writers Festival 2002, ‘00, ‘95, ‘93, ‘90 (Vancouver), The World Poetry Bout 2002 (Taos, New Mexico), Poetry Africa 2001 (South Africa), Shakespeare and Co. 2001 (Paris), WordFest 2000, ‘95 (Calgary, Banff), Harbourfront Reading Series 1993 (Toronto), Small Press Festival 1990 (New York City).

 

Other Highlights: Women and Words, 2003-2008 (instructor), Vagina Monologues, 2007: Calgary, First Time Eyes: Unearthing Spoken Word, 2007 essay (Canadian Theatre Review), Heart of a Poet, 2006, featured poet documentary series, Bowery Project, 2005 (Instructor), Alberta Scene, 2005 (a commemoration of Alberta's centennial), Human Rights Symposium 2005: Victoria, Sounds Like Canada, 2002 CBC Poet in Residence, Addicted: Notes From The Belly Of The Beast, 2001 essay entitled Blackout, Confessions a Jazz Play, 1991 text of play (Theatrum). Of the beat tradition, in 1989 Sheri-D studied at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, in Boulder, Colorado.

Alberta Writers Travel The World

Dave Poulsen, Alberta Author

Here’s the profile for another amazing southern Alberta author whose work is known and loved around the world.. After The Word On The Street Festival, David will be touring schools in Japan and Korea next month as his most recent book, the teen/YA novel Numbers was the winner of the Yakura Medal, voted on by English speaking high school students in Japan…..  

David A. Poulsen has been a rock singer, high school football coach, stage and film actor, television host, college English instructor, and most of all–writer.  The author of more than twenty books, his popular Middle Reader series, The Salt and Pepper Chronicles continues to delight readers throughout North America and beyond. Shivers and Shakes is the latest adventure in the series which features teenage detectives, Christine (Salt) Bellamy and Pepper Mackenzie along with Christine’s uber-annoying little brother, Hal. The first book in the series–The Vampire’s Visit was a finalist for the 2008 Silver Birch Children’s Choice Book Award while the fifth Salt and Pepper book—The Prisoners and the Paintings won the 2010 Golden Eagle Book Award in southern Alberta. David delivered the keynote address at a number of Silver Birch celebration events in spring 2008.

Local Poet, Richard Stevenson, Set to Enchant WOTS Audience

We’re delighted to have prolific poet and Lethbridge College teacher Richard Stevenson swinging by Word on the Street to read from his poetry collection. His recent works have used haiku and tanka, forms of Japanese poetry, to express Western Canada’s natural beauty. His most recent collections include Windfall Apples: Tanka and Kyoka (2010), The Emerald Hour (2008), Wiser Pills (2008), and Tidings of Magpies (2005).

League of Canadian Poets Biography:

“Richard Stevenson was born in Victoria, B.C., in 1952 and has lived in western Canada and Nigeria. A college English teacher by profession, he has taught English, Canadian and African literature, Business Communication, Creative and Technical Writing, E.S.L., and humanities courses in high schools and colleges. A former Editor-in-Chief of Prism international, he has served in various editorial, jury, and writing/arts group executive capacities over the years. His own reviews and poems have appeared in hundreds of magazines, anthologies, e-zines, and journals published in Canada, the United States, and overseas. He has also given numerous workshops in writing and publishing and has read to enthusiastic audiences at venues across the country. He also performs with the jazz/ poetry group Naked Ear and rock music/YA verse troupe Sasquatch.”

“Stevenson is adept at making his own poetic windows, framing experience and impression with a feel for how words sound and images might be perceived… His own often off-kilter takes on things are permeated with a gently rueful sense of humour.”
Valerie Warder, NeWest Review of Wiser Pills

Mesmerizing Children’s Storyteller Bringing the Arctic Here

We’re very excited to be bringing in award-winning children’s author Michael Kusugak to the Word on the Street Festival. He’ll be bringing in his unique ability to captivate young minds and many exciting tales from growing up in the Arctic.

Author Bio:

Michael Kusugak grew up in Repulse Bay, NWT (now Nunavut). During his childhood, his family travelled by dog sled, living a traditional Inuit lifestyle. He is the author of seven picture books, including Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, winner of the Ruth Schwartz Award; Hide and Seek; My Arctic 1, 2, 3; and Baseball Bats for Christmas; and was co-writer of A Promise Is a Promise (with Robert Munsch). Today, Michael lives in Rankin Inlet, on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He writes books for children and travels, telling the stories he heard when he was little. Michael’s work has won the Vicky Metcalf Award, which honours a Canadian author of children’s literature whose body of work is judged to demonstrate the highest literary standards, and the Ruth Schwartz Award for children’s literature. He has been short listed for various other awards, the most recent being the Hackmatack Award.

Some of his books have been translated into French, Japanese, Korean, and Braille. A PROMISE IS A PROMISE appeared in a Hollywood movie, “LEAVING NORMAL,” and was made into a play. The play has been performed across Canada and the United States, in schools and in theatres, like the Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg and the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. It is also performed occasionally by the RAG AND BONE puppet company in Ottawa.

The Littlest Sled Dog (2008)

Igvillu is a little dog with big dreams. One of her favorite dreams is of becoming a sled dog. When Igvillu is adopted from her kennel by an Inuit storyteller and moves to northern Canada, she comes face-to-face with real sled dogs. Igvillu loves living in the North, chasing siksiks and dreaming about her future. She’s a dog who believes anything is possible!

Outsmart Winter with Year Round Gardening

Did you know that garlic should be planted in fall or that you can sow a salad garden in late October? Learn to truly eat locally fresh from your own backyard with horticultural expert June Flanagan, as she demonstrates tips from her newest book, Edible Plants for Prairie Gardens: The Best Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs. From heirloom lettuces to mesclun greens and fragrant herbs, Flanagan shows you how to sow seeds this fall that will fill your salad bowl with homegrown organic greens next spring!

The Lethbridge Word On The Street Festival welcomes Lethbridge author and garden expert June Flanagan to speak on fall gardening techniques that will give you a jumpstart on harvesting your own fresh garden produce for the spring. 

Back in the festival office, we’ve been doing some sprouting of our own and hope to have the online event schedule  posted here and on our Facebook page any day now. And yes, we ‘like’ you too!