Sunday, March 11, 2012

ALTERNATIONAL MEDIA by GARY BARWIN

Sunday APRIL 15
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m. at Homegrown Hamilton,
27 King William Str.,
GARY BARWIN discusses
Alternational Media: Small Press, Micropress, Poetry Zines, Chapbooks, Broadsides, Blogs, Online Journals, Literary Ephemera, and DYI Publish, what they are, how they are made, and what their context is.
Gary is a writer, composer, multimedia artist, performer, educator and more. For more check his website at
www.garybarwin.com/

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

PHILIP LARKIN: POET, ANTHOLOGIST, CRITIC

SUNDAY MARCH 11, 7.30p.m.to 9p.m. at Homegrown Hamilton, 27 King William Str., Hamilton
DAVID COHEN is a freelance writer. His interests are international and local: a just and peaceful resolution to the Palestine-Israel conflict and a more prosperous and livable Hamilton through modern public transit (read LRT) and a denser, more attractively built form.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

USING CINEMA TO CREATE MORE AND BETTER POEMS by ALEXANDRA OLIVER

SUNDAY FEB 12, 7.30 -9.00p.m. Homegrown Hamilton, 27 King William Str.
ALEXANDRA OLIVER was born in Vancouver and currently lives in Toronto. She has been nominated for a CBC Literary Award and the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry regularly appears in journals worldwide, and her first collection, Where the English Housewife Shines, was published in 2007 in London, England. She has performed her poems at Lollapalooza and The National Poetry Slam, and on CBC Radio One and National Public Radio, and was a featured performer and interviewee in the 1998 documentary, Slam Nation. Oliver is currently completing an MFA at the University of Southern Maine and co-editing (with Annie Finch) an anthology of poetry in non-iambic meters. Her second collection is due out soon.

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