Author Jan DeGrass will launch her new book of stories, Temptations and Travels, that are part imagination, part memory in the natural beauty of the Sunshine Coast Botanical Gardens. Temptations and Travels is a collection of stories that wander freely between fiction and lived experience. Here are tales of travels, trials and temptations. Some tales grow from remembered journeys; others from moments half-forgotten but reshaped and embellished by the storyteller.
A medieval monk is sorely tempted by a visit from a mysterious woodland woman. The author travels across the stark, volatile landscapes of Iceland, where volcanoes and rushing rivers invite wonder and introspection. A mother and daughter guard secrets from one another—each believing silence is an act of love. Elsewhere, life’s lessons are learned in unlikely forms: from a curious emu, from chance meetings with passengers on a train or from a handsome stranger in a remote British Columbia gold-rush town. Together they form a rich mosaic of travel, reflection, and the small
temptations that test human nature.
The dedicated authors from the Mini One-Day Writer’s Retreat will be reading from their manuscripts at the SCWES May Meeting, Sunday, May 31st, 2-4:30 pm, featuring Joan Fletcher’s launch of her scifi novel, “The Data Raiders.”
Ben Nuttall-Smith, a former resident of Sechelt will be interviewed by local author Caitlin Hicks. Ben will read from his memoir, “The Birdie at Willets Cottage” (RutherfordPress.ca) and “Margot, Love In the Golden Years”, and “Puzzles, Plays and Whimsy.”
Also, if you’re interested in participating in the 5th Art & Words Festival, Aug. 21-23, at GPAG, please attend this informational session to sign up. Artists, writers, photographers, and songwriters welcome.
Author Joline Martin will read excerpts from her book, War Resisters, Standing Against the Vietnam War. War Resisters offers a contemporary perspective
on the struggles and triumphs of American Vietnam war resisters who resettled
in Canada on Vancouver Island. This important collection of stories sheds light on an invisible minority, illustrating the courage it took for resisters to leave behind their friends, families, and communities with no certainty of return. Supporters on both sides of the 49th parallel showed compassion to the resisters by helping them escape the US draft and peacefully integrate into Canadian communities. In return, the resisters contributed to their communities as farmers, teachers, caregivers, and more. Joline will facilitate a discussion.
Call for submissions for “Snippets from a Small Town: Understanding Life on the Sunshine Coast,” sponsored by the Small Neighbourhood Grant program. Send your poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and art to cathalynn@gmail.com by Monday, November 17th. Small honorariums available. Launch at Gibsons & District Public Library Wednesday, December 17th, 11 am. Cover art by Sheri Peters.
Join Christian McKay Heidicker author of the middle-grade hit and Newbery Honor-winning Scary Stories for Young Foxes for a creative discussion about his work and life as an artist. This is a live interview on YouTube. Comments will be turned on for questions and moderated by library staff. ASL interpretation will be provided.
9:30 session: https://youtu.be/U2aDBDisHJQ
10:45 session: https://youtu.be/dym7zrMIHg4
