Ontario Arts Council Supports Northern Writers

Great news for four Thunder Bay (and region) best writers. A jury has chosen four local published writers, John Pringle of Atikokan, and Thunder Bay residents Marion Agnew, Heather McLeod and Joan Baril, to receive Writers' Works In Progress Grants. Writers in Fort Albany, Goulais River, Thessalon and Sudbury have also been chosen.

My project is a book of short stories to be called Snowshoe Baseball and Other Stories. Each story will have a northern theme. The title story, Snowshoe Baseball will deal with a FAS teen and others will explore Thunder Bay past and present,including a ghost story based on an incident involving the famous local NHL hockey player Lorne Chabot.

I know I speak for all supporters of literary activity when I say thank you to OAC. The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

Poetry Bloomed

Poetry bloomed at Brodie Street Library last night although not all poets stuck to the theme of "flowers." Roy Blomstrom cheated by pointing out the "bloom" in his last name - fair enough because the audience appreciated his poem and many others.



NOWW president Daniel Klein wittily introduced the bouquet of local poets who delighted and surprised.



Also to the aid of local poety comes the Ontario Council of the Arts, an Ontario provincial government organization, which has awarded a grant to five of Thunder Bay's leading poets who will collaborate on a new collection of northern poems. The poets are Sue Blott, Mary Frost, Sharon Irvine, Sherri Lankinen and Cathy Carroll. We look forward to the venture. The name of the new book: "Core Samples," a title both northern and deep.



To round out the evening Daniel Klein read a short and sharp selection from the novel "The Withdrawal Method" by Pasha Malla. Malla has agreed to be the judge of the memoirs category in NOWW's 2010 writing contest. Malla has contributed to the CBC, Esquire, The Walrus, McSweeney's and the Globe and Mail. "The Withdrawal Method" won the Trillium Award and was chosen by both the Globe and the National Post as book of the year.