Amy Terrill

On August 26, 2025 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)

WORKSHOP: Write the Senses with Colleen Subasic

On September 27, 2024 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.

Exhibition: subVERSE: the life and poetry of Edward A. Lacey

On July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 By Sara WalkerIn Events, Non-Fiction, Poet, Writer Local to Kawartha LakesLeave a comment

Edward A. Lacey (1937-1995) wrote and published what is known as the first openly gay poetry collection in English-speaking Canada. The book, The Forms of Loss, was sponsored by Dennis Lee and Margaret Atwood.

Edward A. Lacey was born and raised in Lindsay, Ontario, the only child to parents with prominent community connections: his grandfather was Dr. Fabian Blanchard; his father’s business partner was I.E. Weldon. Many of his cousins became priests or nuns, and it was expected Edward would also join the clergy if he didn’t become a doctor or a lawyer.

Even as a child, Edward knew he was different. In his teens, he knew he wasn’t like his hockey-playing friends. He possessed a keen mind for linguistics that won him scholarships to the University of Toronto and the University of Texas.

As primed for success as he was, Edward wore a path of self-destruction around the globe. He operated on the principle that “homosexuality was intrinsically subversive, individualistic, anti-family, anti-regimentation.” Multiple times, he was nearly expelled from university. He frequently spent time in jail. He got himself banned from entering the United States. For most of his life he slummed through third-world countries, working as a professor or tutor, or living a life of leisure, while penning the occasional poem or translating one from another language.

In 1995 Edward’s self-destruction fulfilled its ultimate conclusion, while his body of work attained barely a whisper in the landscape of Canadian literature despite its brilliance. When Fraser Sutherland published his biography of Edward Lacey, the Malahat Review said “many academic readers will no doubt be interested in what amounts to a very well-researched and entertaining biography of a heretofore neglected Canadian poet.”

subVERSE: the life and work of Edward A. Lacey is an exhibition that spotlights the body of work that Lacey left behind and his complicated connection to his much-hated hometown.

On exhibit at Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives, located at 150 Victoria Avenue North. 705-324-3404, info@klmuseumarchives.ca. Admission is $5/adult, $3/child(6-18). Admission is free for children under 6 and for members of the Kawartha Lakes Museum & Archives. Visit https://www.klmuseumarchives.ca/ for more information.

Event: Call Me Maud

On July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 By Sara WalkerIn EventsLeave a comment

2024 marks the 150^th anniversary of the birth and legacy of author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Canadians coast to coast will gather in various ways to celebrate and honour the beloved Canadian author.

Kawartha Lakes Economic Development, with support from the Kirkfield and District Historical Society and Museum, invites you to join them on Sunday, August 18 at 1:30pm for – ‘Call Me Maud – a Kirkfield Connection to Lucy Maud Montgomery’ virtual talk and in-person tea event.

The fun and interactive event will feature refreshments served from Maud’s personal recipe book and welcome virtual keynote speaker, Dr. Emily Woster as she discusses the Lucy ‘Maud’ Montgomery connection to Kawartha Lakes and Maud’s years in Ontario.

Dr. Emily Woster, a former Visiting Scholar at the University of Prince Edward Island’s L.M. Montgomery Institute,now serves as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She received her Ph.D. in English Studies from Illinois State University. Emily’s research mainly focuses on the books and life of L.M. Montgomery, and she has contributed to books like L.M. Montgomery’s Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years, 1911-1942. Her interests also include women’s autobiographical writing, children’s literature, and English Studies. Emily is the Managing Editor of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.

The Virtual Tea event will take place at the Kirkfield and District Historical Society Museum located at 992 Portage Road, Kirkfield. Tickets must be purchased in advance for this event and will be available for purchase until August 11 for the cost of $25 per person. To purchase tickets please contact Denise at events@theoldekirk.ca or call 705-438-5454

Exhibition: Call Me Maud

Discover the connection between Canadian literary icon, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Kawartha Lakes this summer. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth and lasting legacy of Lucy Maud Montgomery, Kawartha Lakes Economic Development – Curatorial Services proudly presents the ‘Call Me Maud’ exhibit. The exhibit is housed on the second floor of City…

The Bobcaygeon Boys vs. L.M. Montgomery

In the 1920s in Bobcaygeon, there arose a constellation of writers, including some of Canada’s most decorated poets and influential newspaper editors. At the heart of this constellation was a group of men who cottaged together and were at the forefront of defining Canadian culture. And they seemed to have a hate on for Lucy…

Exhibition: Call Me Maud

On July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 By Sara WalkerIn EventsLeave a comment

The exhibit is housed on the second floor of City Hall located at 26 Francis Street in Lindsay starting July 23 and running through until November 29, 2024. Hours of operation are 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Admission to the exhibit is free of charge.

You are invited to trace Montgomery’s remarkable journey from her early years in Atlantic Canada to her surprising connection to Kawartha Lakes. Discover the spirit of Montgomery’s life and literary contributions in this unique showcase, set to captivate audiences of all ages.

Famous for her writings and the impact they’ve had, particularly through her beloved character Anne of Green Gables and other published works, Montgomery’s influence goes beyond time, age, culture, and gender. The exhibition explores how Montgomery infused Anne with her love for nature and Prince Edward Island, her adventurous spirit, vivid imagination, and her remarkable ability to find beauty amidst life’s challenges. Like Anne, Maud found happiness in the things that were dear to her: her cats, her writing, in nature, the dear people in her life that became her kindred spirits and in the places that she would visit.

The ‘Call Me Maud’ exhibit takes inspiration from Dr. Christy Woster’s article in the Shining Scroll newsletter of the L.M. Montgomery Literary Society from 2005, titled ‘L.M. Montgomery and the Railway King of Canada’. In her article, Woster expressed the excitement of experiencing places and rooms that Lucy Maud Montgomery once knew well. One such place was Kirkfield, Ontario, a lesser-known but visited destination by Maud.

Event: Call Me Maud

2024 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth and legacy of author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Canadians coast to coast will gather in various ways to celebrate and honour the beloved Canadian author. Kawartha Lakes Economic Development, with support from the Kirkfield and District Historical Society and Museum, invites you to join them on Sunday, August 18…

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