Ah, This is the Life: my feature on Secret Cove Marina
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Ah, This is the Life: my feature on Secret Cove Marina

It was a treat to interview Andreas and Kendra Tize, owners of Secret Cove Marina in Halfmoon Bay, BC. I got to luxuriate, albeit briefly, in their 5,000-square-foot float home and discover the cozy seafood restaurant The Upper Deck. (I knew Andreas as the Roberts Creek rep for the Sunshine Coast Regional District.) Their marina…

My memoir makes silent appearance on Baldrey’s Global TV book shelf
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My memoir makes silent appearance on Baldrey’s Global TV book shelf

I’m lucky that my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket recently appeared on air on the book shelf of Keith Baldrey, Global TV’s bureau chief in Victoria, BC. Keith tells me that this means a viewership of approximately 400,000. What great free promotion! Each year, Keith gets hundreds of books sent to him from publishers…

Memoir book launch April 15 in Sechelt, BC
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Memoir book launch April 15 in Sechelt, BC

I look forward to introducing my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket to my local Sunshine Coast, BC community on Saturday, April 15. My informal book launch (not the official one in Toronto on May 28) will be held at 7 pm at the Sunshine Coast Cultural Centre in Sechelt. I’ll discuss the book, its…

Writing as a Transformational Tool: my podcast chat with host Nelia Hutt
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Writing as a Transformational Tool: my podcast chat with host Nelia Hutt

I enjoyed my recent chat with Nelia Hutt, host of the Apple podcast Giving Starts With You, based in Barrie, Ont. Under the topic Writing As a Transformational Tool, I discussed how I help others find their voice when writing about traumatic events. I shared my experiences writing the incest memoir No Letter in Your…

Mini-book reading April 7 at Artesia Coffeehouse
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Mini-book reading April 7 at Artesia Coffeehouse

Artesia Coffeehouse attendees will get a sneak preview of my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket on April 7 at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt, BC. I’ll be giving a seven-minute reading from my memoir about my visit to the erotic sandstone temples in Khajuraho, India in 1991. This will be from chapter…

Featured guest on podcast How to Survive Society
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Featured guest on podcast How to Survive Society

  Listen to the podcast here.   I enjoyed my chat with Abby Ayoola, host of the Toronto podcast How to Survive Society. We discussed my incest memoir No Letter in Your Pocket and my work coaching authors of trauma memoirs. We talked about how to stay resilient, and find the courage to share your…

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Heritage Week event goes ahead despite snowstorm

A snowstorm didn’t stop our Feb. 25 Heritage Week literary event, held at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives in Gibsons. I enjoyed giving a presentation about Muriel Wylie Blanchet, author of the classic West Coast boating tale The Curve of Time. Many thanks to Michael Gurney of The Coast Reporter for his coverage of the…

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Delivered BC Heritage Week talk Feb. 25 on author Muriel Wylie Blanchet

As part of BC Heritage Week, I enjoyed sharing readings from The Curve of Time on Feb. 25 and telling a Gibsons, BC audience about some of the eccentricities of author Muriel Wylie Blanchet. For instance, she had emphysema and defied her doctor, who wanted her to move out of her cold, drafty house near…

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Official book launch May 28 in Toronto

      I’m delighted that I’ll be joining seven other authors from publisher Guernica Editions on Sunday, May 28 to launch my new memoir in Toronto. Join us at Supermarket Bar in the city’s Kensington area at 3:30 pm. You’ll hear me read short excerpts from No Letter in Your Pocket: How a daughter…

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Om By the Beach

I really enjoyed being interviewed on Om By the Beach, a European podcast hosted by Josef Schinwald. Our one-hour discussion about Being on a Spiritual Path covered many areas, from Buddhist concepts of compassion, forgiveness, and no-self to writing about trauma, coaching others about writing about their trauma, and my memoir No Letter in Your…

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A shishalh Nation Knowledge-keeper shares poetry and stories

  Before xwu’p’a’lich Barbara Higgins was born in 1933, members of the shíshálh Nation were waiting for her to take on the role of Rememberer or Knowledge-keeper (her ancestral name means “she weaves”). Since then, she has voiced the importance of preserving Nature, her people’s land, language, and culture through her stories, poems, and activism….

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Online memories shared regarding my Ubyssey editing days

What influence did university journalism and the UBC student newspaper The Ubyssey have on my life and career? I explain, and reminisce, in a new online series of Q&As, part of the Hundred Year Trek project. (The Great Trek was a huge event in Vancouver, BC in 1922, whereby hundreds of students, supported by many…

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Creative nonfiction reading Oct. 21

I was one of eight writers who read as part of the Oct. 21 event “Good Stories Live Here” in Sechelt, BC. This free presentation of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, sponsored by the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society (SCWES), kicked off the Sunshine Coast Arts Crawl. I read my creative nonfiction piece “Navigating the…

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Webinar “Trauma and truth-telling in memoir” offered Nov. 16

I’m delighted to be offering the webinar “Trauma and truth-telling in memoir: the risks and rewards of revealing secrets” on Nov. 16 from 2:00 to 3:15 PST. I’m doing it through the U.S. foundation and magazine Creative Nonfiction. I’ll be drawing on first-hand experiences from writing my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket and will include…

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Pre-sales available for my 2023 memoir No Letter in Your Pocket

Pre-sales have already started for my incest memoir No Letter in Your Pocket, which will be published in May 2023 by Guernica Editions of Toronto. See sales links below. Price: $25 CDN OVERVIEW: Incest denial and sexual assaults disrupt a young woman’s solo spiritual quest and her two romantic adventures in India in 1990-91. Two…

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Find my poetry and creative nonfiction in Art & Words anthology

The new Art & Words anthology features fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by more than a dozen BC Sunshine Coast writers, along with accompanying artists. Writers and artists were paired at random to collaborate on an exhibited piece: either the writer wrote something inspired by the artist’s creation or vice-versa. The book contains my poem “The…

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New anthology contains my creative nonfiction essay “Navigating the cosmos”

I’m delighted to be part of the anthology honouring the Beachcombers 50th Anniversary. This collection, officially released on Oct. 1, 2022, marks a half-century after the iconic Canadian TV show, The Beachcombers, started. It contains poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from BC Sunshine Coast writers and a tribute to the show’s actor, the late Pat John,…

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kway?imin Andy Johnson profiled in fall 2022 Coast Life magazine

kway?imin Andy Johnson, the shishalh Nation’s cultural ambassador, drummed and sang one of his original songs, plus told a sasquatch story at my book launch in December 2019 at the Sechelt Library. I profiled him in the fall issue of Coast Life magazine. In the photo to the right, he holds a copy of my…

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Author reading at Gibsons Public Library Oct. 15

Along with puppets and fun props, I’ll be reading Six Stinky Feet and a Sasquatch at Gibsons Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 15. Bring the kids for this free 10:30 am event, and they can draw and colour their own Bigfoot character, with a show and tell and Q&A. I’ll have books available for sale…

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Short private FBCW webinar Sept. 11 on Writing About Family

I’ll be offering a short webinar on Sunday, Sept. 11 for the creative nonfiction group of the Federation of BC Writers (FBCW). From 10:30 to 11:00 am, I’ll be sharing tips about revealing family secrets and will provide first-hand anecdotes regarding the challenges of writing my incest memoir No Letter in Your Pocket. A short…

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Catch my literary readings Aug. 12, 13 at Arts & Words in Davis Bay, BC

I’m delighted to present new literary material, inspired by a painting by Gibsons artist Paula O’Brien, at the inaugural Arts & Words event in Davis Bay on Aug. 12 and 13. My Aug. 12 reading, in the 10:30 to noon time slot, is generously sponsored by Canada Council through the Writers’ Union of Canada. The…

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My creative writing classes return in Port Moody

I’m happy to be back as an in-person instructor at the City of Port Moody, BC, facilitating creative writing classes again. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, it’s great to see some of our regular students again and to meet new faces. It’s a joy to workshop high-quality content in multi-genres from poetry and…

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My online course Writing From Pain to Power begins Feb. 23

I am teaching an 8-week, online creative nonfiction class Writing From Pain to Power in the spring of 2022 through the University of King’s College in Halifax. My students are from across the country, writing about real-life traumas in their lives. Most are hoping to publish a memoir or essays. Using a trauma-informed approach, we…

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Pleased to return to in-person teaching at Powell River Digital Film School

It was a joy to be back in person teaching at Powell River Digital Film School in early February. Spent two days with the grade 12 students analyzing and discussing short documentaries and learning how to write and conceptualize them. Also did a day of hands-on SoulCollage(R) exercises and learning. Thoroughly enjoyed the students’ level…

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Discover what Kashmir under curfew felt like in 1990

Rocket launchers blast through a night sky as clashing rebel groups exchange fire in India’s contentious Kashmir region. My then-partner and I huddle on the bow of a cozy houseboat on Dal Lake. Find out what it was like to be there under curfew in my travel essay Two Realities. It appears in the debut…

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Buy my books at Night Market Dec. 1

I’ll be at the Roberts Creek Legion Dec. 1, selling my popular picture book Six Stinky Feet and a Sasquatch, anthologies, and my nonfiction Vancouver’s Glory Years, which is now out of print. Only limited copies left. Will also have kermode bear photo cards, postcards, and fun sasquatch Christmas tree ornaments. Come and support local…