Mark Jarman Remembers Alistair MacLeod

Alistair MacLeod, flanked by Fiddlehead fiction editors Gerry Beirne (left)
and Mark Jarman (right)

This photo is taken at the Cork World Book Festival in 2011 where Alistair MacLeod and Gerard Beirne and I shared a stage to read at an ancient cathedral in the heart of Cork. Alistair MacLeod was very popular, a master of writing and performing, but the three of us were even more popular after the event because it was Good Friday: all the pubs in Cork were closed, but we could sneak festival-goers into our hotel bar, open to hotel guests only. Some writers were thirsty and the bar served until dawn.

Alistair MacLeod, who won the Dublin IMPAC Prize in 2001, was often in Fredericton; he attended UNB for his MA, and his first story was published by The Fiddlehead back when Alden Nowlan was alive. He read at UNB in Fredericton in the mid-2000s and I took him to my favourite bar, The Taproom, to buy him my favourite beer, Propeller Bitter. He tipped up the bottle in a mug, it foamed violently, and I suggested he not pour it so fast. He glowered at me with those eyebrows, as if to say he’d been pouring beer before I was in diapers. I think he forgave me eventually. We had good craic in Cork, as the Irish say, and in 2013 he wrote Ross Leckie, Fiddlehead editor, to say that he had finished reading the most recent issues of The Fiddlehead: “They are excellent! You are to be congratulated.” Alistair MacLeod seemed to be always reading and heaping praise on others; he was a warm generous man, a funny, smart man, and a great writer of fiction. He will be missed by those of us at The Fiddlehead. 

— Mark Anthony Jarman

Announcing the Winners of our 23rd Annual Literary Contest!!!

Stay tuned for upcoming interviews with Kayla Czaga and Myler Wilkinson!

Spring has Arrived — Well, at least The Fiddlehead Spring Issue has!

Our Spring issue is in the mail and on its way to subscribers and newsstands! Stay tuned next week for the announcement of our contest winners! Until then, we wish you a happy long weekend!

Poetry Co-editor Phillip Crymble Takes Poetry to City Hall

Photo courtesy of City of Fredericton

This past Monday at Fredericton's city council meeting, The Fiddlehead's poetry co-editor Phillip Crymble was introduced as Fredericton's first poet laureate, a position that coincides with national poetry month.

Mayor Woodside welcomed Crymble by saying, "We're really pleased about two things: number one, you're living with us, and selected to call Fredericton home, and second, that you're here tonight to enlighten us."

Part of his role will be to read a commissioned poem to be read at the next council meeting on April 28.

Earlier in the day, Crymble was interviewed by Christine McLean on CBC Fredericton's information morning. Listen to the podcast here.

New Postage Rates Take Effect

Please note, effective March 31, 2014 Canada Post has increased its postal rates. A single stamp has increased from 63¢ to $1.00. An oversize envelope up to 100g now requires $1.80 of postage to return.

Our American friends are also affected. Standard rates have gone up from $1.10 to $1.20.

Submissions with a SASE sent to The Fiddlehead before March 31 will still be returned, but due to these substantial increases in postal rates, submissions sent to us after April 1, 2014 without sufficient postage for return will be responded to by email.

UNB Reading Series Presents: Rawi Hage

Rawi Hage, Canada Reads finalist this year, defended by Samantha Bee, will be reading from his work at University of New Brunswick on Wednesday, April 2, at 8:00 p.m. in the East Gallery of Memorial Hall. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

Originally born in Beirut, Hage emigrated first to America in 1984 and then to Canada in 1991. After earning degrees in Photography at Dawson College and Fine Arts at Concordia, Hage worked as a visual artist. In a 2008 author profile of Hage published by Quill & Quire, Hage credits this experience as a visual artist with making him a better writer.

Hage’s first novel, DeNiro’s Game (2006), won the 2008 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction, and the McAuslan First Book Prize.  DeNiro’s Game was also shortlisted for both the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award in 2006. His second novel, Cockroach (2008), was similarly successful, and he was once more awarded the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction, as well as being shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award, and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His most recent novel, Carnival (2012), was also awarded the Hugh MacLellan Prize for Fiction. In August 2013, Hage was awarded a four-month tenure as writer-in-residence at the Vancouver Public Library.  He lives and works in Montreal.

Competiton to Select Poet Laureate for the City of Fredericton

The City of Fredericton issued the following in a press release on March 4, 2014:

"In celebration of National Poetry Month, the City of Fredericton, in partnership with the Writers' Federation of NB, is looking for a Poet Laureate for the month of April."

This competition is a great opportunity to gain exposure and contribute to the arts in Fredericton. 

The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2014 at 4:30 pm AST.

For more information on the competition, visit the City of Fredericton website.