Author: Sara Walker

Sara Walker is the author of urban fantasy novels. Find out more at sarawalker.ca.

Alan Roy Capon

On By Sara WalkerIn Local History, Non-Fiction, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Known for being the longtime editor of the Lindsay Post, Alan R. Capon was also an author.

Photo: KLMA

Born in 1932 in England, Alan Roy Capon immigrated to Canada in 1937 as a married father of three. He was hired as a copywriter for the Robert J. Simpson company. In 1963, he established the Minden Times newspaper and was editor for the next two years, when he handed over the reins so he could helm the Lindsay Daily Post, where he remained editor until 1970. For the next twenty years, he was editor of the Kingston Whig-Standard and was also editor of the Picton Gazette. Capon was an active member of community organizations, a photographer, and an historian.

His books about Kawartha Lakes include His Faults Lie Gently: the incredible Sam Hughes (1969) and Historic Lindsay (1973).

The Kawartha Lakes Museum and Archives (KLMA) produced a digital exhibition about the Lindsay Post and included the biography of Alan R. Capon: https://www.klmuseumarchives.ca/lindsay-post

Books:

His Faults Lie Gently: the incredible Sam Hughes (1969)

Stories of Prince Edward County (1973)

Historic Lindsay (1973)

Prince Edward Treasury (1976)

Mascots of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (1977)

Desperate Venture: Central Ontario Railway (1979)

A Goodly Heritage (1980)

Everybody Called Him Harvey (1982)

Fifty Years A County Veterinarian (1983)

Deseronto: Then and Now (1989)

Further Reading:

https://www.countyweeklynews.ca/opinion/columnists/my-last-name-is-capon-and-i-dont-sell-chickens

Amy Terrill

On By Sara WalkerIn Fiction, Historical, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Amy Terrill, a King Charles III Coronation Medal recipient for her contributions to Canada and her community, has been involved in political discourse throughout her career. A Political Science graduate from Queen’s University, Amy has spent time as a journalist, government relations specialist, and not-for-profit leader. Writing has been a constant pursuit.

No Secrets Among Sisters was inspired by a family history written by her Great-Aunt Frankie and her experiences working in a WWI Toronto munitions factory. This is Amy’s first work of fiction.

An avid reader, writer and traveller, Amy lives with her husband on a farm in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario.

Once at the top of her field, investigative reporter Amelia Collins has been struggling with the loss of her father. When her story exposing political corruption at the highest level is shelved, her temper erupts, putting her career in jeopardy at a moment when a rival is poised to take her place. As she deals with the fallout, she’s given a chance to run for federal politics. With just one weekend to decide on the course of her future, Amelia looks to her mother for guidance only to discover, before his death, her father left her a mystery to solve. A century earlier, her great-aunt walked away from a similar political opportunity despite encouragement from one of Canada’s best-known suffragists.

As Amelia digs through family archives to find out why Great-Aunt Frankie abandoned her political dream, she uncovers a web of violence, sudden disappearances and a mysterious fire that destroyed the Canadian parliament buildings.

No Secrets Among Sisters is a work of historical fiction set in Toronto in both World War I and current day; it highlights women’s continuing struggle for equality, representation and fair treatment in political spheres.

Works:

No Secrets Among Sisters (2025)

H. L. Dahmer

On By Sara WalkerIn Non-Fiction, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Heather Dahmer’s sense of humour and love of words has led her through many professional, volunteer, and personal experiences, including work with a non-profit charitable organization helping families dealing with workplace tragedy. Her unique and humorous perspective allows her to write stories about struggle and initiative, and they have forged her way through the things life drops at her door and through her attic walls.

Her article “Letting the Light Back In” won an award from Threads of Life in 2015, and explored love, loss, and beginning again as a widow in a whole new world after the loss of her husband. She is many things to many people: a mother, divorcee, window, step-grandmother, caregiver, and writer. She wrote a blog for years detailing her husband’s illness and last years, and If This House Could Talk is the first book in a new series. She lives in Dunsford, Ontario.

www.sawmillhouse.ca

Works:

If This House Could Talk (2021)

Jim Upton

On By Sara WalkerIn Fiction, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Jim Upton attended public school (Alexandra and Central Senior) and high school (LCVI) in Lindsay from 1958 to 1967. He currently lives in Montreal.

His novel, Maker, was published by Baraka Books in 2021. Sid Ryan, former president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, described Maker as “a fast-paced look inside the anatomy of a bitter strike in Montreal’s aerospace industry.”

Book cover for the novel, Maker, by Jim Upton. Cover is illustration of woman wearing a blue jumpsuit with her arms crossed over her chest.

Nicole Fortin is on the cusp of realizing a long-held dream when her life takes a sudden turn. Instead of participating in the Olympic Games, she finds herself struggling to master the challenging physical demands of her job in an aerospace plant and win the confidence of her male colleagues.

As her involvement in union activity deepens, she is drawn into the centre of a bitter labour battle that pits her workmates against their employer.

In the midst of this escalating confrontation, incidents from Nicole’s past threaten to destroy her credibility with her coworkers and her relationship with her daughter. Workplace and family ties become tangled and stretched to the breaking point.

Books:

Maker (2021)

R. Arthur Russell

On By Sara WalkerIn Non-Fiction, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Arthur Russell is a retired paramedic of thirty-five years service and currently lives in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. An author of both fiction and non-fiction, his previous published works include an e-book entitled “Hold That Thought” regarding the Law of Attraction and, more recently, a non-fiction book entitled “This Taste of Flesh and Bones” about enlightenment and our spiritual nature. Now sixty-three, he wishes to share his knowledge regarding enlightenment to help alleviate human suffering. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, adventure, motorcycling, and meeting new people, all of which enrich his life in countless ways.

https://think2wice.me/author/think2wiceblog/

Works:

This Taste of Flesh and Bones: Enlightenment and Endless Possibilities (2020)

Hold That Thought: Manifesting the life of your dreams (2014)

WORKSHOP: Write the Senses with Colleen Subasic

On By Sara WalkerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Space is limited! Reserve your seat today: https://forms.gle/ZWXnRdmPuKQASxrU6

At the Bobcaygeon branch library at 10:30 AM, Colleen Subasic will deliver the following workshop for writers: “Write the senses.”

In this session, you’ll learn acting sense memory techniques that will help you to write more engaging prose. Whether it’s steamy romantic scenes, or intense action scenes, these techniques allow you to bring your reader into a scene like no other practice can.

Admission is free. Space is limited. Please register to reserve your seat at https://forms.gle/ZWXnRdmPuKQASxrU6

COLLEEN SUBASIC has worked with writers, publishers and theatres in the United States and Canada. She taps her professional acting training to create unique, insightful writing workshops that inspire and energize. Nine of her plays have been produced across Canada. As managing editor of the book Taking the Stage, she won a Canadian Booksellers’ Award for Most Saleable Publication of the year. For her creative writing, she has received Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council, Nova Scotia arts council grants, as well as a University Graduate Fellowship. Her work has appeared in SubTerrain Magazine, and other Canadian literary publications. She has worked as an editor / dramaturge for small literary presses and Neptune Theatre in Halifax. Through her group The Wordshop, she helps people write their memoirs, works as a story doctor (fiction, non-fiction, screenplay), and on her own writing projects. She’s developing a service to help writers with their manuscripts in progress. She has two master’s degrees: One in creative writing and another in adult education and facilitation.

The Kawartha Lakes BOOK FESTIVAL is made possible by partnership with the Kawartha Lakes Public Library.

Grace King

On By Sara WalkerIn Children's Literature, Memoir, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Grace King retired from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in 2014. She has a wide range of skills and experience working within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in volunteer management, program development and marketing. She volunteered for over 30 years for Tri-County Support Services, now Canopy Services.

In 2017, she completed a children’s book, proceeds from which she donated to the ALS Society, after her husband passed away from the disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.) In 2022 she completed an autobiographical book in which she shared her challenges and successes along with tales about her relatives.

Works:

Journey through the Forest (2017)

Amazing Grace (2022)

https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news/author-takes-magical-trip-through-the-forest/article_1f68eecb-c2bc-5639-b7e8-1c42ef9c2931.html

Film: Sacred Arrow

On By Sara WalkerIn EventsLeave a comment

Lindsay’s Century Cinemas 3 will be showing a free screening of award-winning Pema Tseden’s Sacred Arrow, a Tibetan love story about archery, expectations and the meaning of winning in a time of change. The film has been shown in theatres around the world.

Trailer : Sacred Arrow

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

5:45 p.m.  8:00 p.m.

Century Cinemas 3 – 141 Kent Street West, Lindsay

Summary:
“For more than a thousand years, two villages in the Amdo region of Tibet have competed in an annual archery competition, mostly for bragging rights, but also to keep the peace, which has lasted for hundreds of years. In the present day, however, the fight for the contest’s “Sacred Arrow” prize, representing strength and bravery, becomes something more personal when a love triangle forms around the participants. After archer Dradong loses the contest for the second year in a row to the champion Nyima, he feels the pressure to win back honor in his village. Tensions escalate when Dradong finds his younger sister, Deskyid, romantically involved with his arch nemesis, Nyima. The two rivals clash again, leading to violence, until a second archery contest is devised to settle the score, once and for all. But will it be enough to keep the peace?” – from Seattle International Film Festival

Filmmaker Bio:
Pema Tseden was born in the Amdo region of Tibet. Son of pastoralists, he studied at the Northwest Nationalities University in Lanzhou. He worked as a teacher and civil servant while writing and publishing to critical acclaim in Tibetan and Chinese. In 2002, he was the first Tibetan to attend the Beijing Film Academy and in 2005 his film, Silent Holy Stones , won the PRC’s top film award, the Golden Rooster, or Best Directorial Debut. he Search (2009) won the Special Jury Award at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival. Old Dog (2011) won Best Picture in the Tokyo International Film Festival, and Sacred Arrow (2014) won the Golden Goblet at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival. Tharlo (2015) was nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. Pema Tseden’s latest release is Balloon (2019) which premiered in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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For more information, visit machik.org