UNB Reading Series presents Madeleine Thien + Fiddlehead News

The University of New Brunswick would like to invite you to a special reading by Madeleine Thien. The reading will take place on Tuesday, February 5 at 8pm in the Alumni Memorial Lounge, University of New Brunswick.

Madeleine Thien will read from her new novel, Dogs at the Perimeter. Thien is the author of two previous works of fiction, Simple Recipes (2001), a collection of short stories, and Certainty (2006), a novel. She has received the City of Vancouver Book Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Ovid Festival Prize, and her fiction and essays have been featured in Granta, The Walrus, and Brick. Thien lives in Montreal.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Johanna Skibsrud, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, says this about Dogs at the Perimeter: "If you read one Canadian book this year, let it be this one."

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Contributor to The Fiddlehead no. 254 Tamas Dobozy was recently interviewed by Shelagh Rogers on her CBC program The Next Chapter. You can listen to the podcast here.

Winter Issue Newly Arrived from the Printer

No. 254 - Winter 2013

The Fiddlehead's winter issue has recently arrived at our office, and we're preparing to mail it out to our subscribers.

You don't want to miss this one!

Featuring an eye-catching painting by Grand Bay, NB artist Cliff Turner, and the usual fine selection of stories and poems from established and emerging writers, issue no. 254 is sure to help get you through the winter months entertained and enriched. 

Elizabeth Brewster, 1922-2012

Elizabeth Brewster (photo by Richard Marjan)

The news of the death of Elizabeth Brewster has saddened us at The Fiddlehead, and me in particular as editor.  During World War II Alfred Bailey organized a group known as the Bliss Carman Society to meet at his home to critique each other’s poetry, and Betty Brewster, as she was known, was a part of this group.  It was the idea of Don Gammon to form The Fiddlehead to publish the members of the group, and so Elizabeth Brewster joined in to found The Fiddlehead, which first appeared in 1945.  As far as I know, she was the last living member of the Bliss Carman Society.

A new poetic was given birth at these meetings of the Bliss Carman Society, one that would lead to a complete break with Canadian modernism.  Brewster was a leading figure in the formation of a poetry that is plainspoken, precise in its observations of everyday life, and rooted very much in place, as can be seen in her early New Brunswick poem, “Where I Come From.”

Brewster’s poems appeared in the very first Fiddlehead, and in memoriam we will be publishing some of her early work from those first issues in this coming spring number of The Fiddlehead.

Ross Leckie, Editor

Happy Holidays from The Fiddlehead!

The Fiddlehead office is now closed until the new year, so we'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy holidays and all the best for 2013!

New Resource About Fred Cogswell, Former Fiddlehead Editor

Tony Tremblay of St. Thomas University has put together a thorough digital resource of The Fiddlehead's former editor Fred Cogswell, who is an important New Brunswick literary figure. Visit the site, which includes biographical information, selected works and correspondence, and so much more. Be sure to check out specifically the detailed history of Cogswell's involvement with The Fiddlehead.

A Few Literary Competition Deadlines Approach on the Horizon

We're busy here at The Fiddlehead office sorting through our 22nd annual literary contest (which just closed on December 1), logging in entries and sending out new subscription copies. If you missed our deadline, have no fear, there are a few other upcoming literary competitions that we'd like to spread the word about.

 

"The Writers’ Trust is now accepting submissions for the $5,000 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. The award alternates each year between short fiction and poetry, this year it will be given to a writer under the age of 35 for an outstanding unpublished work of poetry. Finalists will receive $1,000 and have their work published in print and digital formats. The winner will be announced at a special event in Toronto in late spring. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2013."

For more information, visit The Writers' Trust website.

There's also:

 

The Writers' Union of Canada hosts its 20th annual Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers with a prize of $2,500. The winner and finalists will have their stories submitted to three Canadian magazine publishers for consideration. Entry Fee is $29 per entry; cheque or money order should be made payable to The Writers' Union of Canada. The deadline is March 1, 2013.

 

For more information, visit The Writers' Union of Canada website.

CWILA Names Sue Sinclair First Critic-in-Residence

Over the weekend, the Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA) announced that Sue Sinclair will be its inaugural critic-in-residence. According to the press release, the search committee chose Sinclair "because of her commitment to review the work of new writers, works in English and French, and works of a variety of genres, in multiple reviewing platforms."

"The committee of editors and writers is confident that Sue Sinclair will provide a strong voice for CWILA and for women critics and writers in Canada."

Sue Sinclair is the author of four books of poetry and currently lives in Montreal. Of course, she is no stranger to readers of The Fiddlehead. She has been a long-time contributor as a book reviewer and has served as a judge of our annual contest. She is also a past UNB student, and last year she served as UNB's writer-in-residence. At that time The Fiddlehead's editorial assistant Kayla Geitzler had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation for our Radio Fiddlehead podcast series.

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

Congrats Sue!