THE EDITOR/WRITER RELATIONSHIP: FICTION & NON-FICTION with GEORGE AND TRUDI DOWN

TUES APRIL 12
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m. Hamilton room, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library 

G. W. Down is a poet, lyricist, editor and business consultant who lives in Hamilton, Ontario. He has edited more than twenty books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He has also been Editor-in-chief of the Tower Poetry Society since 2012, and is a partner in The Book Band, a company which does marketing, distribution and promotion for Canadian publishers.
 
After graduating with a BA in History (McMaster) and obtaining a teacher’s certificate from Hamilton Teacher’s College, Trudi worked at McMaster University library, first in the book selection/book ordering section, and then as Head of the Circulation Department at Mills Memorial Library. These experiences provided her with excellent writing, editing, research and proofreading skills. She founded The Corporate Word over 25 years ago to offer writing, editing and proofreading services. Currently, Trudi copyedits research articles for online American and Canadian medical journals.

GENDER with BERNADETTE RULE

TUES MARCH 8
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
Hamilton Room, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library
People often speak of how well a male writer has written his female characters, and vice versa.  But how limited are we by our gender?  Is gender itself real?  If it is, can we tell whether the book we are reading was written by a man or by a woman?  There will be a test....
Bernadette Rule has edited numerous books, most recently Brought to Light: More Stories of Forgotten Women (Seraphim Editions, 2015).  She won the poetry prize at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival back when they had one, and has won Hamilton's Short Works Prize for both poetry (2015) and literary non-fiction (2014). Rule's seventh collection of poetry, Earth Day in Leith Churchyard: Poems in Search of Tom Thomson, was published this fall by Seraphim Editions. She taught English at Mohawk College, and creative writing in the Writing Certificate Program at McMaster. She also hosts Art Waves, a weekly arts-interview program on Mohawk radio. Art Waves is podcast at archive.org/details/artwaves

QUEST TO WRITE: FAMILY, LOVE, WORK

TUES FEB 9, 7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
HAMILTON ROOM, CENTRAL BRANCH, HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
KIM ECHLIN's books include Elephant Winter, Dagmar's Daughter, Inanna, and The Disappeared which was nominated for a Giller and has been translated into 19 languages. Her most recent novel is Under the Visible Life.
She has been a documentary-maker, editor and teacher, and has lived and travelled in France, China, the Marshall Islands, Malawi, Central America, Pakistan and Cambodia. In 2016 she will travel to The Hague to research the International Criminal Court.
Currently, she is writer in residence at McMaster University and the Hamilton Public Library. She has taught for many years at the University of Toronto’s School for Continuing Studies.
Kim is a founding board member for El Hogar, a home and school for children in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and National co-chair for the Loran Scholarship.

Six Reasons Why NOT to Write (and what to make of them)

Tues JAN 12
Note: Meet at Wentworth Room, no earlier than 7.20p.m.
the LINC classroom is unavailable due to renovation.
 
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m., WENTWORTH ROOM, 1st floor, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library 

A young man once asked the great mythologist and story-teller, Joseph Campbell, whether or not he should become a writer. Campbell's response to the young man was this - "Can you endure ten years of disappointment with nobody responding to you?" The reasons why NOT to write are profuse, pervasive, and persuasive. Join novelist and poet, Janet Turpin Myers, for a free-ranging discussion about some of the best justifications (excuses?) for not writing - and (hopefully) develop arguments to silence these naggings of negativity.

JANET TURPIN MYERS has been writing all her life, despite being advised as a teenager to pursue office work rather than writing.  Her poetry has appeared in Hammered Out and Tower Poetry. Her debut novel, Nightswimming was published in 2013 by Seraphim Editions. Her short story, Crashing, won third place in Hamilton's gritLIT Short Fiction competition. The Last Year of Confusion was published in May 2015. She is a graduate of McMaster University, and a happy resident of the ravines and forests of north Burlington's beautiful escarpment lands.
 

LITCHAT CANCELLED on DECEMBER 8 to support the HAMILTON LITERARY AWARDS

Ellen S Jaffe is on for Nov 10 with  her experiences and thoughts on "Teaching Writing" Do come for the last LitChat of the year.
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Many of the nominated writers for the awards on December 8 had participated and shared various literary topics at LitChat. We would like to support them at this event organised by the Hamilton Arts Council.
We will resume in January 2016 with Janet Turpin Myers.

TEACHING WRITING with ELLEN S JAFFE

TUES NOV 10 

7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.

the LINC classroom, 4th floor, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library   

Can creative writing be taught?  Can it be learned? What is the difference between writing courses for "writers" and for people who don't primarily identify as writers (e.g. seniors, people with various health and living problems)?   How can this second group of people benefit from writing workshops? And can books on writing be helpful?  Ellen S. Jaffe will talk about her experiences teaching writing in schools and community settings, and hopes other people will share their experiences of both learning and teaching -- remembering that we also learn when we teach.

Ellen S. Jaffe, a poet and fiction writer, has also written a book on the craft of writing, Writing Your Way: Creating a Personal Journal.  She has taught writing to children, adolescents, and adults in schools and various community and health-oriented organizations, everywhere from Fort Greene, Brooklyn to Moose Factory, Ontario -- and including Toronto and Hamilton, and has received Artist in Education and writing grants from the Ontario Arts Council.  Her most recent poetry collection is Skinny-Dipping With the Muse, Guernica Editions, 2014.  Ellen grew up in New York City, came to Canada in 1979, and has lived in Hamilton since 2000.

FREEDOM WITH CONSTRAINTS
CHRISTINE MISCIONE
TUES OCT 13
7.30p.m.-9.00p.m.
the LINC classroom
4th floor
Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library
Christine Miscione's work has appeared in various publications, such as Exile: The Literary Quarterly, Lemon Hound, and The Puritan. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Hamilton Arts Award for Best Emerging Writer. In 2012, Miscione’s story, Skin Just, won first place in the Gloria Vanderbilt/Exile Editions CVC Short Fiction Contest. Her debut short story collection, Auxiliary Skins, was released in 2013, and debut novel, Carafola, in 2014. Recently, Auxiliary Skins won the 2014 ReLit Award for short fiction.