I recently discovered a writer in my neighbourhood and she writes for youth (I have a soft spot for youth literature!) You may want to check out this local book festival.
Jewish Book Festival starts tomorrow
And my neighbourhood author
will be there in person!
(Disclosure: I haven’t met Ms. Wees or read her book yet but it’s on my Kindle. Janet Halls)
Here’s an interesting project, spreading a path across Canada!
Project Bookmark Canada has announced that Rosemary Griebel’s poem, “Walking with Walt Whitman Through Calgary’s Eastside on a Winter Day,” is to be a “bookmark” on the CanLit Trail. It will be located at Loft 112, along 8 Avenue SE (East Village), the site of the poem.
You can never have enough of a good thing! Here’s a chance to join Clem Martini (before he is our own guest speaker) on a very timely book for the Club! Mary shared this upcoming community event. Click on the link below for the Calgary Herald review by Eric Volmers.
On Wednesday, October 17th, Literary Kaleidoscope will present The Comedian, by Clem Martini. The Comedian is a witty and fast-paced story of the nascent days of theatrical comedy in early Rome. As he recounts the (mis)adventures of the protagonist – one of Rome’s most notable playwrights – the author also creates a vivid picture of daily life in the Eternal City more than two thousand years ago.
Clem Martini is a prolific writer: an award-winning playwright, novelist, and professor of drama at the University of Calgary. He is a three-time winner of the Alberta Writers Guild Drama Prize, winner of the W.O. Mitchell Award, and was a nominee of the Governor General’s Literary Award in Drama.
Please join us at the Marda Loop Community Centre, 3130 16thStreet S.W.; Admission is $10 (coffee and cookies included). The lectures begin at 9:30 am. You are welcome to arrive early to enjoy a coffee and allow us to start on time. We look forward to seeing our old friends and hopefully some new ones too.
On September 27th a special plaque was unveiled, commemorating the Memorial Park Library becoming a national historic site. It details the vision and hard effort by Annie Davidson and the women of the Calgary Women’s Literary Club to build a library. Doloris and Margaret were delighted to be part of such a heartfelt ceremony, which was attended by CPL’s own Bill Ptacek, and representatives of City Parks and Parks Canada, among others.
Sept 27 2018 plaque unveiling at Memorial Park Library
CBC’s Rachel Ward was in touch with Mary Carwardine.
Click here for the charming article that ensued.
… and click here for more on the Memorial Park Library.
This month our city enjoyed Historic Calgary Week. The theme for this year was The Power of Partnerships and the Calgary Women’s Literary Club was pleased to be invited to participate. Held in the delightfully historic Memorial Park Library, Mary Carwardine, Sue Carscallen and Sandra Ens took part in an engaging talk which served to deliver a thoughtful and informative overview of the significant role that our club has played in Calgary’s history.
This presentation created an enhanced appreciation of the accomplishments of our founder, Annie Davidson. Annie we were told was a lady of quiet dignity and thoughtful opinions who overcame the many challenges and losses that were typical of her time. Buoyed by her love of books, she sparked intellectual and social discourse in a growing population of literate Calgary women. These women shared the scarce few books that they had brought with them on their journey to Calgary during their weekly meetings in Annie’s parlor.
Under Annie’s leadership, in a time when women had yet to win the right to vote, the Calgary Women’s Literary Club worked tirelessly to garner support and succeeded in obtaining the land and the funding to build the first public library between Winnipeg and Vancouver. The Memorial Park Library came into being in 1912.
Annie’s “book club with a difference” continues to meet on Tuesday afternoons in the library that she built. Today’s members hold dear the legacy left to us by Annie as we continue to discuss and analyze literature.
I have borrowed liberally from the talk in my efforts to capture and relate the flavor of this wonderful presentation.
Doloris Duval, CWLC President
