ELIZABETH RUTH on CHASING YOUR TALENT: THE PROCESS AND EXPERIENCE OF WRITING AND PUBLISHING A NOVEL

TUES SEPT 10
7.30p.m-9.00p.m.
Hamilton Room, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library 

Some of the topics that will be raised include:  early inspiration, the role of research in shaping a story, the writer's preoccupations and how they lead us down literary paths we never imagined traveling, the dedication and discipline of wrestling the beast into a work of beauty, things we learn about ourselves along the way, what we see in the work once it's complete, and surviving the industry.

Elizabeth Ruth is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, Matadora (2013) Smoke (2005) and Ten Good Seconds of Silence (2001). She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto and is faculty within the Humber School for Writer's Correspondence Program. In September, Elizabeth Ruth will publish a GoodReads novella entitled, Love You To Death. For more info visit: www.elizabethruth.com 

PAUL LISSON on THOUGHTCRIME and THE 14 EGG CAKE

TUES JUNE 11

7.30p.m.-9p.m.

Hamilton Room,Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library

самизда́т

Samizdat is a Russian word describing literature that must be written and copied in secret. It describes literature that is shared and read through clandestine distribution networks. This is writing that governments and the ruling elite view as dangerous.

“I was most happy when pen and paper were taken from me and I was forbidden from doing anything. I had no anxiety about doing nothing by my own fault, my conscience was clear, and I was happy. This was when I was in prison.”

― Daniil Kharms, Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings

Our publishing house is called Samizdat Press, and we produce Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine (HALmagazine.com). When we began this project, Samizdat was very much on our minds. In this LitChat session we’re going to talk about why.

Dostoyevsky will face the firing squad. Satan will visit Moscow. There will be eggs and false moustaches. Canadian history will be rewritten by the Ministry of Truth.

Paul Lisson is a librarian at the Hamilton Public Library and the Editor of Hamilton Arts & Letters. He studied the History of Books and Printing with Desmond Neill. He studied Rare Books and Manuscripts with Richard Landon. He studied Russian History with R. H. Johnston. He misses these professors; they were great teachers and died too soon. Paul’s writing has appeared in The Beloit Poetry Journal, Prism, Descant, Mid-American Review, Versal magazine out of Amsterdam, and Rampike. He has written about libraries in the Soviet Union for the Canadian Library Journal.

TUES MAY 14                  

7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
HAMILTON ROOM, CENTRAL BRACNH

HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

JOHN S PORTER 

F SCOTT FITZGERALD AND THE PERFECT SENTENCE 
 

Gertrude Stein said that he wrote naturally in sentences. T.S. Eliot said that The Great Gatsby was the first advance in fiction since Henry James. Hemingway said Fitzgerald wrote with the delicacy of the dust on a butterfly’s wing. John Updike said that the Fitzgerald style was built on a combination of poetry and aperçu.

For Fitzgerald, style was a matter of colour and pattern, music and mood. There are good sentences in all his books, but the ones in The Great Gatsby bloom like irrepressible Roses of Sharon on the edge of winter. As the Japanese novelist Murakami says, “the beauty of Fitzgerald’s fluent, elastic prose lies in his ability to alter tone, pattern, and rhythm to create infinitesimal shifts in atmosphere.”

“There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”

J.S. Porter reads and writes in Hamilton. His latest book is Lightness and Soul: Musings on Eight Jewish Writers (Seraphim Editions, 2011).

THE EMERGING WRITER:SERVING MANY MASTERS

TUES APRIL 9

7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.

HAMILTON ROOM, CENTRAL BRANCH, HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

 JEN JONES has lived all over Canada (including the Arctic), and has been variously employed as a writer, cartoonist, courtroom sketch artist and karate instructor, as well as her day job as Batgirl.  Jones teaches creative writing at Mohawk College’s Continuing Education program and also runs Quoth the Raven and Rat Salad Graphix part-time. She was a recipient of the City of Hamilton Arts Award (Emerging Writer) in 2012, and a nominee in 2011. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Art & Design major, English minor) from the University of Alberta, a Visual Communications Diploma from Grant MacEwan University, and a Writing for Publication Certificate from Mohawk College. Ms Jones volunteers on Hamilton’s gritLIT 2013 Literary Festival committee, and is also serving as Vice President of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists/L’Association Canadienne des Dessinateurs Éditoriaux. In 2012, Jen Jones was a featured writer in the Hamilton Spectator’s State of the Arts series. She is a graphic novel aficionado (and proud member of Geeks Night Out, a graphic novel book club), as well as a tenuously playing guitarist in a cacophonic living room band called Utopian Nancy. Jen writes short fiction and novels, and has in progress two short story collections, a novella and a novel about a geologist experiencing unrequited love. She has also written, and is in the process of illustrating, a children’s book, and going through the grueling process of converting one of her poems, Shutting Up Pacino, into a graphic novel. She submits her writing and poetry to various contests/publications with some success, but is still waiting for the Big Break and the villa in Italy.

HONOURING OUR HISTORY THROUGH FICTION

TUES MARCH 12
7.30-9.00 p.m.
HAMILTON ROOM, CENTRAL BRANCH, HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
JEAN RAE BAXTER started writing full time a dozen years ago, following a career in education. She writes for both adults and young adults. Two short story collections A Twist of Malice and Scattered Light and her literary murder mystery Looking For Cardenio comprise the former category. Increasingly she is turning to historical fiction to tell the story of Canada’s past. Freedom Bound (2012), follows The Way Lies North (2007) and Broken Trail (2011), completing her trilogy set during the American Revolution . Jean’s historical fiction has received awards in both the United States and Canada. On February 23 Jean will have received a 2013 Hamilton Wentworth Heritage Association Award at City Hall.

THE PROBLEM OF PERSONIFYING THINGS AS FEMALE IN POETRY

TUES FEB 12
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m. 
HAMILTON ROOM, CENTRAL BRANCH, HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
ADAM GETTY was born in Toronto and has lived in Hamilton since he was 13. He was educated at the University of Toronto but left without taking a degree. His first book, Reconciliation (2003) , won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Hamilton Literary Award and was nominated for the Trillium Poetry Award. His second book, Repose (2008), led to his nomination for the Premiere's Award for Excellence in the Arts for an Emerging Artist. In 2012, he won the City of Hamilton Arts Award in Literature. In addition to writing, Adam edits, works with McMaster University and high school students, and volunteers with local arts organizations.

Tues January 8 2013
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m. at the Hamilton Room of the Hamilton Public Library, Central Branch

JEFF MAHONEY on Exploring the Divide Between Popular Writing and "Literature." Is It Widening Or Narrowing and Why Does It Exist At All?
Jeff Mahoney has been a reporter/writer/columnist at The Hamilton Spectator for almost 25 years. He has done reporting and critiques on the visual arts. Jeff has also been a humour columnist and currently does a tri-weekly feature on city life, people and history in Hamilton.

Until recently he taught a course on Reporting and Writing for the Mass Media at Brock University in St. Catharines.