A queer weekend of sexual tension and body-loving people
Noreen Fagan, Xtra!
This is going to be a sexy weekend in Ottawa. What with queer readings at Transgress, titillating vaudeville acts by the Sexual Overtones, a masquerade fantasy with the Ottawa Wolves and lesbian comedienne Elvira Kurt headlining a comedy event, queers are going to have a hard time keeping their cool on.
On Friday, Oct 22, the Mayfair Theatre on Bank St will open its doors to the queer side of the International Writers Festival with Transgress. The evening, hosted by Xtra’s Marcus McCann, will feature Canadian authors Amber Dawn, Peter Dubé, Lisa Foad and S Bear Bergman sharing their works. It is guaranteed to be hot.
Weekend preview from Xtra!: A queer weekend of sexual tension and body-loving people
How Ken Dryden’s Canadian dream came true in Calgary
John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail
Ken Dryden wants to make a point, and Naheed Nenshi just proved it.
The former hockey player and current Liberal MP has a new book, Becoming Canada, in which Mr. Dryden argues, with some passion, in defence of what could be called a new nationalism, a new way of seeing this country that leaves behind the tired animosities of the past and embraces the young, modern, incredibly diverse country that Canada has become.
“If we have the wrong story, we get the wrong future,” Mr. Dryden maintained Wednesday at an appearance hosted by the Ottawa International Writers Festival. The old story of Canada is too much rooted in the English-French divide, in a parochial anti-Americanism, in a whining uncertainty about what this country is and what it should be.
All that is being blown away by what Mr. Dryden calls Canada’s new “multiculture.” While in Europe, leaders lament the failure of immigrants to integrate, Canada’s immigrants are reshaping this land in their own image, and they like what they see.
Full article: How Ken Dryden’s Canadian dream came true in Calgary
A night with J.S. Bach at the Writers Fest
Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Zelenka, assistant principal cellist with the Toronto Symphony, has known Bach’s spellbinding music since she was a 10-year-old student in Toronto. She recorded the suites recently for the Marquis Classics label, and the disc was released in June to some glowing reviews.
At her Ottawa performance, presented by the Ottawa International Writers Festival, Zelenka will join Eric Siblin, a former pop music writer with the Montreal Gazette, who will read from his acclaimed book The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece.
Read the full story: A night with J.S. Bach at the Writers Fest
Raj Patel: MESSENGER OF RADICAL ECONOMICS TO SPEAK AT SOUTHMINSTER CHURCH
Ottawa, May 26, 2010 – Award winning writer, activist and academic Raj Patel, author of the recently published bestseller, The Value of Nothing, will be speaking in Ottawa at Southminster United Church on Monday May 31 at 7 PM as part of the Ottawa International Writers Festival’s Global Perspectives Series.
One of the world’s most respected young visionaries and one of the most controversial and outspoken, Mr. Patel does not mince words or approach the current economic crisis with the delicacy of a diplomat. “We have mortgaged our future and called it freedom,” he says.
The Value of Nothing systematically points out some of the major flaws in our current economic model and goes on to speak of alternatives to the market as it is presently configured. “Our economy has been hijacked by free market fundamentalists and what we are left with is debt and diabetes.” He salutes the growing grass roots movements that are capturing the imaginations of ordinary citizens around the world outraged that some agriculture workers, for example, make less in a year than some Wall Street stock brokers make in an hour.
Refusing to hate: Doctor’s moving account of family tragedy in Gaza
By Irwin Block, The Ottawa Citizen
Joanne Harris will appear on May 18 at 7 p.m. at the Mayfair Theatre, courtesy of the Ottawa International Writers Festival, to discuss blueeyedboy. A screening of Chocolat will follow. Tickets $15 for adults, $10 for students or seniors.
Read more: Refusing to hate
Israeli author a ‘lousy reader,’ but a great storyteller
Written by Lynne Cohen, Jewish Tribune
OTTAWA – “I am an amazing writer,” said Israeli novelist Amir Gutfreund, before reading from his newest book during Ottawa’s recent international writers’ festival week. “But I am a lousy reader.”
He went on to prove the second part of his statement as he stumbled though 10 minutes of reading selected sections of The World a Moment Later: A Shadow History of Israel, (The Toby Press, 2008, 499 pages), his latest of four novels, and one of two that have been translated from Hebrew.
Read more: Israeli author a ‘lousy reader,’ but a great storyteller
From Canada to Tibet A clash of values amid an international confrontation
By Philip Marchand, Canwest news Service
Steven Heighton and Yann Martel will appear together Monday at 7 p.m. for a presentation titled The Writing Life, hosted by Adrian Harewood, at the Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St. Tickets are $15, students and seniors $10, free to Ottawa International Writers Festival Members.
Read more: From Canada to Tibet
Under Heaven – Guy Gavriel Kay Reads at Ottawa Writersfest – Apr. 25
Join the Ottawa Writers Festival to welcome renowned author Guy Gavriel Kay, reading from his newest novel.
Inspired by the glory of Tang Dynasty China in the eighth century, Guy Gavriel Kay melds history and the fantastic into something both powerful and emotionally compelling. Under Heaven is a novel on the grandest narrative scale, encompassing the intimate details of individual lives in an unforgettable time and place.
The reading will be followed by a book signing; books will be available for sale at the venue. Tickets are $15 ($10 for students and seniors) and free for Festival Members.
Under Heaven – Guy Gavriel Kay reads at Ottawa Writersfest
Sunday, April 25, 2010 - 2:00 PM
Mayfair Theatre
1074 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
613-730-6552
For more information visit www.writersfestival.org/events.html.
Communicating with Homo sapiens
Robert Sibley, The Ottawa Citizen
Kevin Van Paassen, Canwest News Service
Jane Goodall well remembers when she discovered another world. Nearly 50 years ago, she was just beginning the study of African chimpanzees that would make her famous and redefine the way we view animals.
Goodall speaks Monday in Ottawa at a sold-out pre-festival event for the Ottawa Writers Festival as part of its global perspectives series. Goodall gained world-wide fame with a 1971 book, In the Shadow of Man, that detailed her years of studying chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, and showed that chimpanzees use twigs and stones as tools, engage in rituals, and have feelings of love and grief — just like humans.
Full Article on the Ottawa Citizen website: Communicating with Homo sapiens
Free the Children’s Kielburger at Ottawa’s Writer’s Festival
Pam McLennan, Epoch Times
During the last 14 years Kielburger finished his education and founded Me to We, an enterprise that includes outreach trips and selling books and organic clothing. Fifty percent of monies raised by Me to We go to Free the Children and the other half to running the business.For his efforts Craig has received the Order of Canada, the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (also known as the Children’s Nobel Prize), and numerous other awards from around the world including the Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award.
He is author of “Free The Children,” “Take Action!: A Guide to Active Citizenship,” “Take More Action,” and, the New York Times bestseller “Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World.”
Kielburger will be at the Ottawa Writers Festival on Oct. 24 to talk about “The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Children Who Care and Contribute,” his latest book that he co-authored with his brother Marc and Shelley Page, an award winning journalist and mother of two.
Full story on the Epoch Times website: Free the Children’s Kielburger at Ottawa’s Writer’s Festival
