www.CanadaCubaLiteraryAlliance.org





The Second Annual
                                                    CCLA Art and Lit Fest                  
2008
Saturday, August 23rd

Held in Canada and Cuba
          

Return to
CCLA






     Click on links below:

                —  Festival Reading in Cuba - "The Hour of The Ambassador"





Art and book displays - 2007


Bonita Summers - 2007


Susan Lynn Reynolds and James Dewar - 2007


Ellen Curry - 2007






Bring the Family!!!

Artist booths, literary and book booths, children and adult workshops,
refreshments, live in the park readings and music
with a special readings in the evening.



Stay tuned for more information.  We have booth/table space available for artists and authors.

 We will have readings during the day in Memorial Park from 1:30 to 4pm.  See below for times and names of readers. 

Visitors should bring a lawn chair or blanket for the in the park readings.

We will have an evening reading called Dog Days of August with 4 Canadian Authors
 - see reader list below. 

This one day CCLA Art and Lit Fest is linked to the Stellare Literary Festival and the Purdy Country Literary Festival. The CCLA will have a CCLA readers at both sister festivals. If you are a CCLA member or you would like to become a member we would be happy to have you read with us. 

We will be publishing a CCLA Art and Lit Fest anthology with work considered by workshop contributors and readers. 

You can navigate through this webpage quickly with the list of links on the left top of this page.



Listening to readings in the park - 2007


Click here to go
the top of the page






Canada Location:

Brighton, Ontario
( 1/2 way between Kingston and Toronto on Lake Ontario. 401 hwy exit 509 )
Memorial Park - Downtown Brighton - you can't miss it.


Date:

Saturday, August 23th, 2008


Time:

During the day in Memorial Park:
11am to 4:30pm

In the evening at China King:
Meet the authors - dinner  / social gathering - 6:00pm
Readings - 7:00 - 9:00pm



Cuba Location:

Holguín, Cuba.
UNEAC office 


Date:

Saturday, August 23th, 2008


Time:

Time to be announced.


La Hora de El Embajador
The Hour of The Ambassador


This festival reading in Cuba will be convened by:

Manuel Velazques, Vice President of the CCLA
Wency Rosales, Ambassador of the CCLA
Manuel García, UNEAC representative of the CCLA


10 authors reading
(listed in alphabetical order)

Carlos Jesús García
Manuel García
Lourdes González
Jorge Hidalgo
Kenya Leyva
Belkis Méndez
Delfíín Prats
Wency Rosales
Manuel Velazques
Luis Yusseff

All are Welcome!!!   Tell a friend!!!  Bring your family!!!



Listening to readings in the park - 2007


 




Support our CCLA Affiliate Members

The Temple Bookstore - http://www.thetemplebookstore.com

Stellar Showcase Journal -  http://www.stellarshowcasejournal.com/





Janet Richards - 2007


"Prehensile in the Park"

A literary reading in Memorial Park

MCed by
R.D. Roy


R.D. Roy
2007

List of readers:
(click on author names to see bio)



Biographical Sketch of MC: R.D. Roy is originaly from Montreal. His Anglo/Francophone heritage and working class background are often reflected in his writing.

He's published two collections of short stories, The Colours Found in Bruises, (Panegyric Press) and a short novel, A Pre-emptive Kindness, (Hidden Brook Press). His work has appeared in several anthologies and Montreal’s Matrix magazine. Roy's first book of poetry, Three Cities, will be released by Hidden Brook Press in early 2008.

Roy was a feature reader at the International Book Fair in Havana (2007, 2008), the Al Purdy People's Poetry festival, 2007, and with Toronto's DUB poetry collective (2006, 2007).- He is the "Official House Poet" to the Organic Undergound Reasaurant in Belleville!


Readers' Bios:

Mark Clement is retired but not tired of writing poetry which he has done since 1958. Member Ontario Poetry Society and Cobourg Poetry workshop. Published usual places with upcoming first book this fall.

Roger Dorey is a published author, blues singer living in Kingston.

Laurie Hill is an award-winning playwright now in the process of learning to write novels. Early resonses from pros call the recent work: "So fresh and poignant", "a realm of magic'.

Jen Londry; It would not be enough to say that Jen Londry sits at a desk by a window and writes, when her work is such a keen and un-nerving perspective on our lives.

Susan Lynn Reynolds is an award winning novelist and short story writer, but only recently started calling herself a poet. Her first poetry chapbook skinned was launched in February this year.
 
Janet Richards is a poet & journalist from Belleville, Ontario. Author of Glass Skin (Hidden Brook Press, 2008), Janet is also a member of the Canada Cuba Literary Alliance.
 
Bonita Summers, author of Woman with the Flying Mind has contributed to several anthologies and is the editor of The Wisdom of Old Souls, an anthology for Hidden Brook Press


*  *  *

José Martí
(José Julián Martí Pérez)

Poems by José Martí, Cuba's national poet, will be read by Cuban, Alberto Domenech as part of "Prehensile in the Park"

Alberto Domenech:
Alberto was an associate professor of language in Cuba and now volunteers as a translator for immigrants in Kingston, Ontario.  He moved from Cuba to Canada this year and has recently been involved in building connections with his homeland.

He and fellow Kingstonians are collecting used computers and radio-control hobby equipment to send to Cuba. They have arranged to bring 4 Cuban radio-control enthusiasts to visit Kingston this summer.














"Imaginary Cuba"
Writing on the Spot Challenge

An adult poetry writing-on-the-spot exercise
led by
Susan Lynn Reynolds

Exercises from 1 to 1:30 and again from 2:30 to3:00

Imaginary Cuba: Susan Lynn Reynolds will be facilitating a series of writing-on-thespot exercises using various prompts and triggers intended to send poets' on an inner journey to a Caribbean landscape from which they will return laden with gifts from the Muse.



Participants are welcome to submit their workshop finished pieces
for a published anthology that will be published by CCLA.
Info about this anthology will be given at the workshop.

Biographical Sketch: Susan Lynn Reynolds is a writer and an accredited writing instructor in the Amherst Writers and Artists method. Her novel Strandia won the CLA’s national YA Novel of the Year award, and she won the Timothy Findley Creative Writing Prize three years in a row for her short stories and poetry. She leads one day writing workshops all over southern Ontario, but she has been teaching writing weekly to female inmates at Central East Correctional Centre for four years.  She received the 2007 June Callwood Award for Outstanding Volunteerism for that program.   Find Sue at - http://goforwords.com/goforwords/




"Dog Days of August"
A social and literary reading in the evening

MCed by
James Dewar
(In his famous Hot-Sauced Words style)

Our host this year
James Dewar


Location:

China King Restaurant
8 Alice Street, Brighton, Ontario
613-475-8833
See info about the restaurant - click here
(Across from town hall / library,
east of Sobey's  with plenty of parking)   


Time:

Meet the authors - dinner  / social gathering - 6:00pm
Readings - 7:00 - 9:00pm


2008
Reader List with Bios


List of readers:
(click on author names to see bio)

– Allan Briesmaster
– Dorothea Helms
– John. B. Lee
– Ruth Walker



Biographical Sketch of MC: James Dewar is the organizer and host of the popular Toronto series, Hot-Sauced Words. Now in its third year, this innovative, fun show is unique in its emphasis on audience participation and on-the-spot poetry challenges.

            His first book of poetry, The Garden in the Machine was published by Hidden Brook Press (March 2007). A freelance writer for the last five years, he has contributed dozens of stories and articles to various magazines and publications. His 2005 chapbook, Guys in Garages sold out all three printings. James’ poetry has also been selected for several anthologies and literary journals.

            He is currently the Public Relations Director for the Writer’s Circle of Durham Region and offers workshops on writing poetry, erotica, and poetry feature-reading and performance strategies.

            James was also one of the 27 writers chosen to represent Canada during the international Random Acts of Poetry celebration in October 2007.

For more information please check his websites www.hotsaucedwords.ca , www.piquantproductions.ca



Readers' Bios:


Allan Briesmaster:
Allan Briesmaster is a freelance editor and literary consultant, and the author of nine books of poetry, including Interstellar (Quattro Books, 2007). Since 1998, working with several literary presses, he has been instrumental in the production of more than 50 books of poetry and non-fiction. His poetry has appeared in many journals, including, most recently, Carousel, Vallum, and The Literary Review of Canada, and he has given readings in venues from Halifax to Victoria. Allan lives in Thornhill, ON with his wife Holly, a visual artist with whom he has collaborated several times.


 Dorothea Helms:
Dorothea Helms, a.k.a. The Writing Fairy, is a freelance writer, poet and popular writing instructor. Her poetry has appeared in the Canadian Authors’’ Association Millennium anthology, Legacy, in 1999; LICHEN Arts & Letters Preview in 2002; and Wildfire Anthology in 2006. In 2003, she placed third in The Writers’’ Circle of Durham Region Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest.

The author of the highly successful book The Writing Fairy™™ Guide to Calling Yourself a Writer, Dorothea runs sort-of-annual writing contests –– the most recent of which involves humorous poetry (www.thewritingfairy.com).

In 2005, Dorothea was presented with the first-ever Barbara Novak Award For Excellence in Humour and/or Personal Essay Writing from the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. Also in 2005, she tied for first place in the non-fiction category of the Haliburton Highlands Writers’’ and Editors’’ Network and The Agnes Jamieson Gallery 3rd Annual Writing Contest.

Dorothea also owns Write Stuff Writing Services (www.wsws.ca), through which she provides freelance writing and editing services to periodicals and businesses.

John. B. Lee:
John B. Lee, Poet Laureate of Brantford has travelled to Cuba on four separate occasions. Thus far three of those occasions have been under the banner of the CCLA. He and his wife will be returning to Cuba in the winter of 2009. This fall his book of Cuban poems, Island at the Wind-Breathed Edge of the Sea, will be released by Hidden Brook Press. His work has appeared internationally in over 500 publications. A recipient of over 60 prestigious awards, the most recent of his nearly fifty published books include But Where Were the Horses of Evening, and The Place That We Keep After Leaving. He lives in Port Dover where he works as a full time author.

Ruth Walker is a poet, writer, playwright, and editor.

Selected credits include: Contemporary Verse 2, River King Poetry Supplement (US), Rain Dog (UK) Canadian Children’s Literature, online at UBC’s Terry and Creative Science Journal, Words on Paper, and Regina Weese; several poetry and fiction anthologies; and, one-act plays produced through Whitby Courthouse Theatre and StoneCircle Theatre, Ajax. New poetry is forthcoming in the Scottish journal Chapman and in Prairie Fire in Manitoba.
      Ruth won the 1996 Canadian Living Short Story prize; the 1998 & 2005 Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest; and the 2001 Ghost Story Contest, Trent University Writers and Readers Fair. Among her other achievements, she won 3rd place in the 2008 Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award.
     In 2007, she was named an artist in residence at Durham Alternative Secondary School through an Ontario Arts Council pilot project.
     A founding editor for LICHEN Arts & Letters Preview, Ruth is on the Board of Directors of Driftwood Theatre Group. A writer/editor for the Ministry of Education, she teaches creative writing in workshops, retreats, and community programs, and maintains a freelance editing and writing service.
     Married and the mother of four, Ruth writes and lives in Whitby, Ontario.



Click here to go
the top of the page
For festival events and booking a booth contact:

Richard M. Grove
613-475-2368
writers@HiddenBrookPress.com
109 Bayshore Rd.
RR#4
Brighton, Ontario
Canada, K0K 1H0




"Dancing With Words"
  A children's poetry workshop
led by
Kimberley Elizabeth Grove
3 to 3:30pm

Kim Grove will be leading a poetry workshop for children called "Dancing With Words".  Children will be challenged to write a poem about Canada that may be selected for a future edition of the CCLA literary journal, "The Ambassador".

Biographical Sketch:  Kim is a freelance writer who is teaching writing to a women's group in Brighton and is currently organizing a short story writing program for children at her local library this summer. Check out her recent article about "Children and the arts" in the summer edition of Watershed Magazine.
 


Click here to go
the top of the page





Children's Art Discovery
Debbie St. Amant

All children are welcome to join us in Memorial Park
for an art filled experience.
1:30 to 2pm


Deb St. Amant is a primary school teacher
with special training in therapeutic art.
She is also active in developing curriculum
for native education.







Click here to go
the top of the page



Booth Fees

We use the word booth loosely. There will be a designated area for art and lit booths and a designated area for art and lit tables. There will not be any walls, tables, easels or chairs provided. You will receive a chalk mark on the ground and all of the brighton fresh air that you can take in.

Booths will be allocated a 10 foot by 10 foot area where they will set up their tables and tents.
Tables will be allocated a 5 foot by 5 foot area where they can set up their table of books.

Please note the difference between booth and table space fees below.
CCLA Member Discount

FREE!!!!! If you are a CCLA member your table or gooth space is FREE!!!!!

Don't forget that CCLA membership is only $40.00 and pays for a 4 issue subscription of The Ambassador.

Space is limited

First Come First Served



               – FREE!!! table or booth space for CCLA members
     – Table space fee – Space for a 6 foot table – $15.00
                  (there is not enough space to set up a 10x10 tent)

               – Booth space One person fee – $25.00 Two persons sharing booth – $35.00
                  room to set up a 10 X 10 tent with tables inside that space
                 
               – Artist Co-op booth fee 15 X 15 (three or more artists in the same booth) – $50.00
                  room to set up a 10 X 10 tent with tables and easles outside the tent

               – Art Gallery booth fee 20 X 20 (representing a commercial gallery) – $150.00
                  room to set up 10 X 10 tents with tables and easles outside the tent to a maximum of 20/20

               – Corporate Sponsor Booth - 10 X 10 booth, permission to pass out flyers, corporate logo
                  and hot link from this website with email on this site directly to you.  A public
                  announcment thanking you for being a corporate sponsor.  We will mention you in
                  our E-newsletter and in our printed periodical - The Ambassador. $250.00




            
Remember that tables and chairs are not provided.
Bring your own shade if possible but most of the table
and booth space is in an area that is shaded by trees.




Bring:

- Exhibitors are recommended to bring their own shade as not all areas will be under trees. Bring anchors for your tents, umbrellas, tables, rocks to hold down your books and papers, etc.

- Bring plastic in case of rain, easels for art and books.

- Bring your own tables and chairs.

- Bring a floor mat or small rug.  Grass is sometimes damp and cold.  If you bring a mat or rug it will protect the grass and your cloths. 

- There is no electricity so don’t bring your light display - do not bring a generator to run lights.


Contact:

Richard Grove - writers@hiddenbrookpress.com or 613-475-2368


Make cheque payable to:

Canada Cuba Literary Alliance


Mail your payment to:

CCLA Art and Lit Fest
109 Bayshore Road
Brighton, Ontario
K0K 1H0


Recept:

Send us a SASE with a note and your cheque and we will mail you a recept.
There will be no refunds.
Click here to go
the top of the page





Visit our
Official Sponsors

Thank you for your support!
          

TPI Logo

Contact Sandi McConnell for all of your travel needs
at
gotravel@bellnet.ca   or   613-475-9842



China King
8 Alice Street
Brighton, Ontario

613-475-8833

Make a reservation and go for dinner or lunch.


HBP Logo

Click on logo

Aslo see below for HBP retreat info.

Click here to go
the top of the page
"Dog Days of August"
A social and literary reading in the evening
hosted by:

China King Restaurant
8 Alice Street
Brighton, Ontario
613-475-8833

There is plenty of parking at the China King. 
We will have a private back room for dinner and the readings. 
There is close access to the buffet counter for self serve, all you can eat. 

Social gathering to meet the authors. 6pm
Readings - 7:00 - 9:00pm

We hope you will pass the word









Retreat

Stay at a retreat in Presqu'ile Provincial Park

http://www.hiddenbrookpress.com/hbpRetreat.html









"A gathering of thePeople's Poetry Tribes"

The Second Annual
Purdy Fest
2008
See below for an email report on the success of the Purdy Fest
It was a great success.


For events info contact:
Chris Faiers
613-472-6186
zenriver@sympatico.ca
P.O. Box 69
Marmora, ON
Canada, K0K 2M0

Friday, August 1st – Meet & Greet –  Visitors can get acquainted at a riverside meet and greet on Friday evening, Aug. 1, in the hamlet of Malone at ZenRiver Gardens. Poets are encouraged to bring their books to sell and trade, and Tai Grove of Hidden Brook Press (Brighton) is setting up a large tent to display his selection of Quinte area authors. There is the possibility of visual artists also displaying at ZenRiver Gardens.

Saturday, Aug. 2 – Noon to 1:30 – a symposium on Al Purdy and People's Poetry will be at the Madoc Public Library. Presenters include Allan Briesmaster, Jeff Seffinga and Terry Barker.

Saturday, Aug. 2 – 3 pm at the Marmora Inn. Poety reading –  the editors of "Crossing Lines: poets who came to Canada in the Vietnam War era", Allan Briesmaster and Michael Berzensky, will host a reading by poets in this anthology. James Deahl, Daniel Kolos, the editors and others will read at The Marmora Inn. "Crossing Lines" is reviewed in this issue of "Umbrella".

Saturday, Aug. 2 – 5:30 pm with music by Morley Ellis. Another dam poetry reading' will take place on a tiny island in the middle of the Marmora dam. Scheduled readers include Paul Brown (Belleville), Katharine Beeman (Montreal), Jim Larwill (the wilds of Quebec, where he's been living with a pack of wild wolves), Paulos Ioannou (Toronto), Kemeny Babineau and others. Everyone is invited to read one poem in the Open Set.

Sunday, Aug 3, 1pm, ZenRiver Gardens – The Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance will also feature a group reading, hosted by Tai Grove and featuring R.D. Roy, James Deahl, Stella and Graham Ducker, Deborah Panko and Shane Joseph.

Sunday, Aug 3, 4pm, ZenRiver Gardens – features a full schedule of group events in Malone. There will be a group reading by The Valley Poets, including Becky Alexander, Katherine Gordon, Stella Preda, Wendy Visser, Stan White and others. This reading is scheduled to begin at 4 pm at ZenRiver Gardens retreat.

Monday, Aug 4 – Poets will visit the gravesite of Governor General poet Al Purdy in the settler cemetery in Ameliasburgh on their way home from PurdyFest on Monday afternoon.


If you are a CCLA member and would like to read please let me know
Richard Grove - writers@hiddenbrookpress.com
Here is an email report from Chris Faires

>Subject: best PurdyFest ever : )
>
>
>Dear Jim,
>A quick note, as I'm totally fested out (versus infested) - to let you know
>that the final day of PurdyFest was also a super success. Great vibes, great
>readings, perfect weather, lots of old friends & new ones (Carol Malyon
>showed up again with Sonja Dunn). Terry, Jeff, Allan, Mick, Tai, Doogla,
>Katharine - Jim L. - 3 new Marmora inductees (John H., John, &
>Marie), David
>D., Daniel Kolos, man, the list is just about endless, loved
>meeting & esp
>hearing Stan White, losing track of so many talented &
>friendly people ...
>Paulos showed up here this morning at 9 am (whole other
>story) ... man, better stop now.
>
>I only read one poem yestereday, & that was as an honourary Valley poet, -
>it was the last 'official'
>reading of the aft & PurdyFest, & I dedicated "Picnic with Al" to you, the
>absent heart of PurdyFest. It felt like the right thing to do, & I had
>several very positive comments on the poem & my reading (e.g. Melanie had
>read the poem, which I've posted in the outhouse, along with a PF flyer, but
>she said hearing it gave it so much more significance than reading it
>printed on a page).
>
>Jim Larwill noted that there was
>a donation box (trad. at Buddhist retreats)
>& that there were expenses
>involved with ZRG. I didn't expect any donations,
>at the most maybe $5 or
>$10, but the little wooden box had 4 $20 bills & totalled $125!!!
>
>Lots of people yesterday also 'got' the spirit of ZRG - both Carol & Sonja
>commented that it is a piece of heaven on earth.
>
>Hard to estimate the total # of people yesterday at ZRG - quick guess of
>40+. Honey & Henry showed up, & Henry videotaped the CCLA
>reading. Honey
>gave a haunting spiritual singing performance - notes rising
>high into the
>air above ZRG valley - man, she has a beautiful voice, &
>her first song was in Aramaic.
>
>So many individual observations, will
>try & write more down later, & also
>should send out as much of a
>'thank you' & info piece as requested by
>various media.
>
>The ZRG
>campers formed a tight little 'commune". They invited me to dinner, & as
>I was dying for a final beer after 3 days of excitement, & didn't want
>to drive until I had had my first meal since an early brunch, I accepted.
>All weekend I'd been feeling smug about eating at home while the campers ate
>cold beans ... man, Melanie is a gourmet camping cook - she's hiked around
>the world. We had BBQ salmon on skewers, finely sliced potatoes baked with
>herbs & butter, fresh salad, gourmet olives, apple pie, & a freshly carved
>watermelon. Man, I should have been eating with them every nite.
>
>Jim Larwill, Katharine Beeman, & Melanie & Simon kept the
>ZRG grounds
>spotless, both around their campsites & everywhere else at
>ZRG. Even after
>yesterday's successful & well-attended events, ZRG
>remained spotless!
>
>So PurdyFest matured in its crucial sophomore year!
>The sophomore curse
>afflicts many musicians & authors, who pour their
>hearts & souls & years of
>creativity into their first effort, only
>to flounder when they are rushed to
>bring out their second production.
>PurdyFest certainly matured & showed the
>strength of the vision you,
>Terry & I shared when we first dreamt up
>PurdyFest. Uncle Al would be
>proud that you kept his vision alive as well.
>
>PurdyFest should enter its
>third year with a much-enlarged corps of
>PurdyFesters - poets who have
>attended one or 2 years & know the ropes & the
>positive & democratic & participatory framework.
>
>So much positive energy, so
>much good & sometimes brilliant poetry, so many
>'established' name poets
>willing to share their work for free with the
>neophyte People's Poets as
>well as their many peers.
>
>Poetry, politics, Zen vibes (thanks, Jim L. for
>your powerful PF mantra IT
>HAS TO BE FUN - & for your great laugh which
>is more freaking Zen than you know ...)
>
>gotta go walk Chase & poopify him,
>Chase had a great time - hundreds of pats & hugs &
>tidbits,
>even my lonely Sube had several brothers for company :
>)
>
>POETRY POWER! (truly reigned, not rained)
>peace, Chris
>
>p.s. so much serendipity - got a late nite
>call from Rob MacLeod - he's done
>a book review of Crossing Lines for a
>major industry publication, which
>he'll forward to me & I'll send on
>
>pps Tai's inspired clothesline of poem/prayer flags will keep the
>energy of PurdyFest blowin' in the wind for months to come thru the ZRG valley
>
>



If you would like to be a CCLA reader at the Stellar Literary Festival you can contact me at
Richard Grove - writers@hiddenbrookpress.com

The festival is in Oshawa, Ontario on September 27, 2008
 11 a.m. - 6 pm
at 155 Arena Street
See the website for map and other details
-- http://www.stellarliteraryfestival.com/



More to come!
Come back soon!