2012-05-30T20:08:52Z http://blog.jenniferrousebarbeau.com/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:blog.jenniferrousebarbeau.com,2010-07-27:6c6e0aa2-f1f2-475f-9e48-5f95b68369a1 Jennifer Rouse Barbeau writer 2010-07-27T15:59:00Z 2010-07-27T15:59:00Z Sudbury, Ontario hosted its first annual <a href="http://wordsinthewilderness.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Words In The Wilderness Literary Festival</strong></a> , July 23 to 29, 2010. What a blast! <br /> <br /> I was pleased to be invited to read from my debut novel, <a href="http://www.scrivenerpress.com/default.asp?id=580" target="_blank"><em><strong>Swampy Jo</strong></em> </a> on Friday night at Tom Davies Square, to a small, appreciative crowd. I met some great people, including Sudbury poet laureate <a href="http://www.poetrymap.ca/profile.php?PoetID=39" target="_blank">Roger Nash</a>; Festival Chair Miriam Harrison and a lovely woman named Aura, who was also pivotal in launching this first festival, along with <a href="http://www.monkeypharmacy.com" target="_blank">Kenneth Lillie-Paetz </a>, a writer and art director for <a href="http://www.nisa.on.ca" target="_blank">Open Minds Quarterly</a>  magazine; and a performance artist named Spider Allan, with whom I had a rivetting chat about how capable children are in adapting to the confusing and sometimes twisted messages they're given about the world, themes I've explored in my novel. <br /> <br /> On Saturday, <a href="http://www.mariebilodeau.com/Welcome.html" target="_blank">Marie Bilodeau</a>  -- a tireless fantasy writer who'd just sent the final book in a trilogy to the printer -- joined me on a fiction panel to discuss the business and lifestyle of being a writer. Among others, in the audience were established horror writer <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/davidnickle/" target="_blank">David Nickle</a>, author <a href="http://www.margolittle.com/about.html" target="_blank">Margo Little</a> , author (and my husband!) <a href="http://www.barrygrills.com" target="_blank">Barry Grills</a> , and publisher Laurence Steven of <a href="http://www.scrivenerpress.com/" target="_blank">Scrivener Press</a> .<br /> <br /> At a beer-&amp;-pizza reception at the elegantly rustic Fromagerie Elgin, I met <a href="http://www.here-halfway-there.ca" target="_blank">Paul Ungar </a>and <a href="http://www.here-halfway-there.ca" target="_blank">Justin Malette-Larcher</a> , editors of <a href="http://www.here-halfway-there.ca" target="_blank">Halfway Between Here and There</a> , a media &amp; culture coverage site which offers reviews of the latest games, movies, music, books, and so on. <br /> <br /> I also had the pleasure of meeting horror author <a href="http://www.gordqrollo.com" target="_blank">Gord Rollo</a> , and bought his book <a href="http://www.gordqrollo.com/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Jigsaw Man</em></strong> </a>because the premise of a desperate man being willing to sell his arm to a surgeon intent on rebuilding his disabled son was just too good to pass up. Gord assures me that "it's a love story, really." We'll see. . . <br /> <br /> I missed the Horror panel on Sunday, but you can find info on <a href="http://www.seancostello.net/sc/" target="_blank">Sean Costello's </a>new book, <a href="http://www.seancostello.net/sc/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Here After</em></strong></a> , available through Scrivener Press. <br /> <br /> The Festival was great fun!  <br /> Catch the rest of this year's events, and plan to join the fray next year. <br /> <a href="http://wordsinthewilderness.wordpress.com/">http://wordsinthewilderness.wordpress.com/</a><br /> <br /> Jennifer tag:blog.jenniferrousebarbeau.com,2009-07-01:88006434-f0a1-4088-a0bf-2b867315b88d Jennifer Rouse Barbeau writer 2009-07-01T20:37:24Z 2009-07-01T20:37:24Z Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.