Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Radio Fiddlehead: Best Poetry Books of the Previous Decade


Welcome to our Radio Fiddlehead podcasts, now available on our blog. Our most recent is a round table on the best poetry books of the 2000’s featuring James Langer, Sharon McCartney, and Anita Lahey.


In the comments please enter your own lists!  Say why you like the books you are listing. Over the next two weeks we will post lists from Ross Leckie, Anita Lahey, and James Langer and with a list from Sharon McCartney to come later.

Ross Leckie
Editor, The Fiddlehead

Listen to the interview in your web browser 
(Right Click or Control Click on the above link to download mp3 File)

Friday, June 17, 2011

Editor spotted at Frye Festival

Mark Jarman, The Fiddlehead's Fiction Editor, playing the harmonica at this year's Frye Festival in Moncton.
(Photo credit: Emmanuel Albert)

The 2011 Maritime Writers’ Workshops

Interested in writing? Going to be in Fredericton during the first week of July? Then you might want to consider attending the 2011 Maritime Writers’ Workshops. One of Canada’s oldest and most established events for aspiring writers, the Maritime Writers’ Workshops, is open to all and runs from July 4 – 8 on the campus of the University of New Brunswick. You can sign up for a whole week’s worth of workshops or just sign up for individual day or evening sessions.

Workshops range non-fiction, creative or popular fiction, mystery writing, writing for kids and teens, getting started, nature writing, blogging, e-publishing, memoir writing, and more. The instructors include children’s author ShereeFitch, The Fiddlehead’s own fiction editor Mark Jarman, CBC broadcaster and non-fiction author Bob Mersereau, and librarian and blogger Sue Fisher.

For more information go to the 2011 Maritime Writers' Workshop website.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Congratulations and Exciting News about Fiddlehead Contributors


Congratulations to Alexander MacLeod! 

His collection of short stories, Light Lifting (Biblioasis)won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award at the Atlantic Book Awards. The story, “Wonder About Parents,” which appeared in The Fiddlehead 245 (Autumn 2010), is from that collection.

  Congratulations to Sheila McClarty! 

Her short fiction collection High Speed Crow (Oberon) won Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book at Manitoba Book Awards. Two stories, “The Government Ditch” and “Stolen,” from that collection appeared in The Fiddlehead in issues no. 242 (Winter 2010) and 246 (Winter 2011).

Holly Luhning, who wrote The Fiddlehead blog posting “Documentary Fiction and The Death of Donna Whalen” recently had her new novel Quiver reviewed on MSNBC Today Books’ website.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Literary Salons at the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Scholars, researchers, students, artists, and performers from all over Canada and the world are coming to Fredericton for the 2011 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. This enormous conference will be held over the next ten days on the campuses of the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. But Congress is not just a place where scholars present their latest findings (including research papers on The Fiddlehead!) to each other. Many events are open to the public including the Big Thinking lecture series, a special Bard in the Barracks production of Macbeth, and of course for lovers of literature a series of Literary Salon readings.

All the Literary Salons are free and open to everyone. They will take place in the lounge of Alumni Memorial Building from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. There will be refreshments and a cash bar.
  • The  first Literary Salon will tonight (Friday 27 May) and will feature readings by Amanda Jenigan, James Langer, Natalie Meisner, Kathleen Brown, Chris Catchalian, Anita Lahey, Sharon McCartney, and Stephanie McKenzie.
  • The second is on Saturday (28 May) and will have readings by Sue Sinclair, Anne Simpson, Warren Heiti, Heather Jessup, Kathy Mac, Ross Leckie, Tammy Armstrong, and David Hickey.
  • The third is on Monday (30 May) and the readers will be Jess Ferguson, Tanis MacDonald, Norm Ravvin, Dave Brundage, Wanda Campbell, M. Travis Lane, Brian Henderson, and Kasia Juno.
  • The fourth is Tuesday (31 May) and the readers will be Greg Shupak, Lorne Roberts, Nathan Dueck, Zhong Chen, Joe Blades, and Arpine Konyalian Grenier.

If you are in the Fredericton area do come by and see what the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences has to offer!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

National Magazine Award Nomination


Congratulations to Sue Goyette, who has been nominated for the 2011 National Magazine Award in poetry for her three poems, “Disrupted,” “Recession,” and “Fog: Forgotten Names Begin Their Journey Home.” All three poems were published in The Fiddlehead 244 (Summer 2010). The 2011 National Magazine awards will be presented on June 10 at the annual banquet in Toronto.

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Fiddlehead 247 is Out!

Here in New Brunswick, there are signs of spring everywhere, the snow is rapidly becoming a distant memory, the fiddlehead ferns are popping up along the riverbanks, and The Fiddlehead contest issueno. 247 – is out!


In addition to wonderful poems and stories from the contest, you will also find stories from Michael Laverty and Diana Swennes Smith and poems from Cory Brown, Geoffrey Cook, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Kim Trainor, Melissa Walker, and Darryl Whetter among others. There are also reviews of books authored by Robert Bringhurst, Chris Hutchinson, Vanessa Moeller, Michael Eden Reynolds, and Terence Young. The cover artwork is from Glenn Priestley’s "The Hill," which was commissioned in 2010 for the University of New Brunswick's C.C. Jones Student Services Centre by the Art for New Spaces Committee.

Pick a copy today and join the celebration!