Author Presentations will be taking place at the Lindsay and Bobcaygeon branches of the Kawartha Lakes Public Library as part of the Kawartha Lakes BOOK FESTIVAL happening on Saturday October 26, 2024 from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
Check the images below for the presentation times at each location:
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.
Mary Milloy Harrington (1903-1982) was a poet from Downeyville. Her works were collected in the volume, The Heart of Emily: a history of Downeyville in poetry 1825-1960, with the first edition published in 1986 and the second in June 2000 by Shamrock Publishers.
Technically, this book has a second author, Marie Titus. As stated on the copyright page, “This book was published posthumously by the author’s daughter, Marie Titus, in memory of her parents Mary Milloy Harrington and Leo Harrington.” Mary Milloy Harrington was born in Downeyville in 1903. She was a fourth generation descendent of Patrick Milloy, an Irish immigrant who settled in Downeyville.
Also, technically, this isn’t strictly a poetry book. Although there are about 35 lengthy poems contained in the 200 pages, the book also presents a lot of history of the Downeyville area. The author’s note is dated 1 December 1960, and the book may have been intended to be part of the area’s history publications for the country’s centennial. It’s a shame it wasn’t published at that time.
Mary Milloy Harrington says, “The Heart of Emily is a history of that part of Emily Township which makes up the Downeyville district, a history of St. Luke’s parish, and a story of the first pioneers who came from Ireland and settled in this new land.” Among her sources, she thanks, “Honorable Leslie M. Frost, Prime Minister of Ontario, for his assistance in giving the names of the original Grantees in the Downeyville district, and also Dr. Watson Kirkconnell, President of Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for his kindness in allowing me to use all information concerning Downeyville pioneers contained in his book Victoria County Centennial History.” She also thanks her neighbours for allowing use of their books, Crown deeds, and photos.
The local history comes alive through poems such as “The Great Fire” that tells the story of the summer of 1874 when “the earth was parched by the burning sun,/ The meadows seared and dry.” The lines describe a haze in the western sky, a fog that became billowing smoke; dark clouds riding on a strong wind; flames that crackled as they ate everything in their path; and the final tally of destruction.
There are also poems about “Grandma and her Quilting Bee” and other notable events. There are poems about individuals, such as “Judy” and “The Runaway.”
Although the book recounts much history of Downeyville, technically, part of the book is also fiction. As the author states, “Regarding Part III, the life of the O’Grady Family, all names used are fictitious.” This part of the book tells the story of an Irish family arriving in Canada and setting up life in Downeyville through a series of poems about characters Jack, Alice, and Father Tim.
Works:
The Heart of Emily (1986)
John Harvey Wyre was born and raised in Philadelphia, he passed away in Newfoundland, but for a while, he lived in Norland.
Wyre was a founding member of the production ensemble NEXUS, formed in 1971. He was a former timpanist of both the Toronto Symphony and Boston Symphony Orchestras. He organized and directed World Drum Festivals. The World Drum Festival of 1986 brought together 250 drummers for Vancouver’s Expo ’86, including tribal drummers from Africa and Indonesian gamelan orchestras. The event was documented in a film of the same name available from the National Film Board (NFB 113C-0187-117). The National Film Board also has a 1991 half-hour documentary on John Wyre called “Drawing On Sound”. Barry Dove and the Percussive Arts Society’s World Music Committee produced a DVD tribute to John entitled “I’ll Be With You In Apple Blossoms” and is available from the NEXUS website. In 1999, he was inducted to the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame with the other members of NEXUS, and that same year, Wyre received a music touring grant in the amount of $50,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts.
“Every summer from the time I was six my family had retreated to a cabin in south central Ontario on the Trent River, where we fished, explored the wilderness, and simply found a solitude. I was seduced completely by the tranquility of living close to nature, so in the early 1970s I began looking for rural property and purchased some land in 1972, where I resided with my wife, Jean, until we moved to Newfoundland in 2002.” (Wyre. Touched by Sound: a dummer’s journey, page 49.)
The property was in the Norland area. He named the land Bellwood, and kept a recording studio, “Butternut Studios.” Under the Umbrella, an album by Jo Kondo, was recorded at Butternut Studios. The album notes “Under the Umbrella was recorded August 18, 1980, in the Norland, Ontario, Canada, geodesic-dome home of John Wyre. Each movement was recorded in one take, without edits. The recording was made using one microphone, Nexus having constructed a pentagonal rack, from each section of which hung each player’s five “almglocken”.”
Peggy Feltmate remembers “their unusual geodesic home; the mossy rock walls that John built meditatively, stone by stone; the meandering “dry ditch”, a dry streambed they had created and filled with smooth river stones that would create a rippling music in the spring runoff. In the trees hung lovely sounds: bells, of all sizes and shapes. And in the midst of the quiet, there was always laughter. During one evening visit, shortly after they had added a handsome house addition, there was much puzzlement – and laughter – as we discovered the new bathroom’s toilet was full of steaming hot water. It had been plumbed to the wrong water line! “It’s a challenge we must rise to,” nodded John in his best contemplative manner.”
About the unusual shape of the home, Wyre explains, “Influenced by the insights and technology of R. Buckminster Fuller and the sublime thoughts of Native North Americans– which I’d read about in T.C. McLuhan’s Touch the Earth, I decided that I wanted to live in a round, open space. So in 1972 I began a nest by building a four-phase geodesic dome, a hemisphere forty-feet in diameter. A third of the ground floor was for the kitchen, bathroom and a small study. Over these next three areas spread a sleeping loft. The rest of the space was for music.” (Wyre. Touched by Sound: a dummer’s journey, page 52.)
He hung “hundreds of bells from the curved arc of the hemisphere. They were suspended from long strings, and when set in motion the natural pendulum action would continue for quite some time. … Eventually the bells evolved into a nightly lullaby lasting from twenty to thirty minutes at bedtime as we drifted off into dreamland. It was wonderful to have an instrument that played itself into oblivion.” (Wyre. Touched by Sound: a dummer’s journey, page 53.)
The land itself provided Wyre with sources of sound. “Every spring four varieties of frogs join the orchestre de la pond, bringing to the band a passion, intensity, and decibel level that can only come from a force as old as the universe … I’ve played duets with woodpeckers on the cedar posts around the garden. The woodlands of my home have stretched me from the intimacy of the music of insects to the vastness of infinity for a ceiling.”
In 2002, Wyre retired from NEXUS and moved with his wife to Newfoundland. He recorded his memoirs and published them in Touched by Sound: a dummer’s journey. The book includes prose recordings of his recollections as well as his own poetry. He contracted cancer of the jaw and passed away in 2006.
Listen to some of John Wyre’s music on Spotify.
Books:
Touched by Sound: a drummer’s journey (2002) – available at SteveWeissmusic.com
Resources:
Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/john-wyre-obituary?id=41713590
In Memoriam: https://www.nexuspercussion.com/2006/12/in-memoriam-john-wyre-may-17-1941-october-31-2006/
Stewart Hoffman remembers John Wyre: https://www.nexuspercussion.com/2010/08/blog-bits-stewart-hoffman-remembers-john-wyre/
Francis Vernon Le Craw was born on December 21, 1921 in Buffalo, New York, while his mother was visiting there. His parents were Edwin Francis Le Craw (born 23 November 1876 Argyle, Ontario - 13 November 1943 Lindsay, Ontario) and Mary. In October 1953 he married Eleanor Currie in Norland, who was appointed librarian for the Norland branch in 1967. In November 1977, he married Phyllis Greig in Coboconk.
In 1944, Vernon LeCraw finished his last university exam and immediately enlisted for World War II as an engineer. His father passed away while Vernon was at training camp. He went overseas and returned to the Norland area in 1946, where he put his energy into serving his community. Among his accomplishments: the Coboconk cenotaph and the creation of Norland volunteer fire department. He worked as clerk for the united townships of Laxton, Digby and Longford, as a firefighter, and ran the community water works. He served on the Norland cemetery board, the horticulture society, and seniors groups.
For the country’s centennial, LeCraw recorded the history of the northern townships in the book, The Land Between. The research archive he amassed was donated to the Kawartha Lakes Public Library.
The Vernon LeCraw Historic Forest Reserve was named in his honour in 2010.
LeCraw passed away 21 September 2012 in Lindsay, Ontario at the age of 90. He was posthumously awarded the Governor General’s Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal in 2013.
Books:
The Land Between (1967)
Sources:
https://gardenontario.org/wp-content/uploads/2012AnnualReport.pdf
Many thanks to everyone for stopping in and reading! Wishing you all the best for 2024!
Most popular post: Kawartha Lakes Writers Festival 2023
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Top 10 author pages:
Jasmine Fogwell grew up in Norland, Ontario. The Frizz was inspired by her friend Jeannie who has very curly hair. Jasmine is also the author of the middle-grade fiction series, The Fidori Trilogy. She now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Author website: http://www.jasminefogwell.com/
Books:
An Unlikely Friendship (2016)
The Purple Flower (2016)
The Journey to the Top of the Trees (2016)
The Frizz (2018)
The Quest for the Golden Bracelet (2019)
The Glowing Ice (2022)
The Calling (2023)
Truest Reflections (2023)
Shirley Anne McCormick, resident of Kawartha Lakes, has written over 200 poems and published three novels. Ontario Poetry Society says, “McCormick’s first full collection of poetry, Days in Green and Blue is composed mostly of her published works from the past decade. Shirley’s poems are inspired by relationships with nature, self and each other, from the personal to the political, and have appeared in various Canadian journals, anthologies and magazines. About her poetry, Robert Priest commented in 2000, “A strong and welcome new voice.””
The Estate of Mrs. Pearl Whiteman tells the moving tale of an old man’s life and love in rural Ontario farm country throughout the 1900’s to the present.
Seasons at Redstone Creek is set in cottage country, and is the second book in a loosely-related fictional series. This contemporary novel follows the writer’s tradition of people stories with thought-provoking, sometimes controversial, and sometimes humourous, elements.
Opening the pages of Springfield Place you will find:
Behind manicured lawns and bourgeoning gardens, the apartment building is much like any other in the community. The contrast of its aging structure and decorative foyer reflect the charm of Springfield Place – its elegant lobby prominent; its deteriorating corners hidden from view.
Home to an intriguing array of residents who pass in elevators and along pathways, its tenants – secrets intact – exchange vague greetings before continuing on their journeys. Some find the casual acknowledgement enough. For others, chance encounters and their pleasantries offer salvation.
Stop for a moment at Springfield Place. Share a glimpse within its walls.
Books:
The Estate of Mrs. Pearl Whiteman (2000)
Days in Green and Blue (2002)
Seasons at Redstone Creek (2017) ebook available at Smashwords
Springfield Place (2017) ebook available at Smashwords
If you participated by selling books or giving a presentation, we’d love your feedback: https://forms.gle/dnbiCEu9dgDy3NgR9
If you attended the book fairs or presentations, we’d love your feedback: https://forms.gle/cXVKd1gQvSHwnEVh8
This year 11 writers were added to the Directory of Writers, bringing the total listed writers to 80:
Click on the above names to read more about these writers and their works.
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This year also saw the first Kawartha Lakes Writers Festival. The event was a collaboration with Kawartha Lakes Arts Council and the Kawartha Lakes Public Library. Three writers presented free workshops for anyone to attend, and 8 writers offered their books for sale and presented their work in the Kawartha Art Gallery.
Many thanks to these organizations and writers for creating this event!
Hope to see you again next year!
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Writers Festival poster, click to read more:
kawarthalakeswriters.com 