Events and activities of 2007 - 2008

Spring 2008

Coop Open Mike, Summer Party and Season Wind-up

On May 22, 2008, over twenty Coop members and family and friends of all ages gathered in Room 3 of the Frances Morrison Library for the final event of the Coop's 2007-2008 season. It was a party, yes, with the program built around an open-mike format-- but with a difference: participants were asked to read or perform selections only by, for, or about children or childhood.

Eight performers treated the audience to a great variety, from prose by Edda Ryan and Don Reimer, to poetry by Erica Jen (first time reader) and Chander Behl, to songs and dances by Alison and Mike Flensburg (ably assisted by young William Bousquet), to a selection of writings by children in Canada's isolated northern communities, as selected and read by Erica Tesar.

Jo Oliver organized the event, brought the chocolate-chip cookies and Rice Krispie cake, and acted as the MC for the evening.

Our thanks go to the performers, the audience, the Library for hosting us, and especially to public relations programmer Dana Jacobs for all her help.

Some more pictures from the evening are over here ===>

Snack break

Some performers and audience members during snack break

Full-day Workshop: From the Stage to the Page – Borrowing Techniques from the Theatre to Intensify your Fiction

Instructor: Art Norris

All your favourite stage plays and TV shows have it - that certain flair - that crackle and hum in the very atmosphere when Detective Frippen finally confronts Dr. Cordman, the wealthy liposuctionist. But try as you might, your characters always feel like strangers on a bus, chatting about the weather.

What do the dramatists know about characters and structure that you don't? Are there tricks from the theatre world that you can use to give YOUR characters more depth, more weight, more sizzle?

Yes, there are. Nine enthusiasts joined us for From the Stage to the Page, a one-day workshop, hosted by Calgary author and theatre guru, Art Norris. Using live actors, video replays and a grab bag of other devices, Art pulled back the curtain on a variety of techniques that had our characters popping off the page in no time.

Art Norris (http://www.tla1.com/Talent/Art_Norris/ART_NORRIS.htm) is a short-story writer and novelist living in Alberta. He has spent over twenty years working in theatre and music.

Date: Saturday, April 26, 2008.
Time: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Location: Digital Research Centre, 145 Arts Building, U of S campus
Cost: $65 Coop members/$75 non-members


Some workshop members	Some more workshop members

Our seventh Open Mike...

...took place April 24, 2008 at the Frances Morrison Library. Sixteen readers and listeners enjoyed the hospitality of the Public Library and our hosts Dana Jacobs and Writer-in-residence Terry Jordan.

Readers included Linda Wood, Erica Tesar, Gary Chappell, Kevin Wesaquate, Chander Behl, Don Reimer, Darla Tenold, Amy Jo Ehman and Jo Oliver. MC Jo Oliver offered this mini-review: "Darla's and Amy Jo's work is very polished, and Don is on to a VERY interesting new poetry theme. Linda and Chander both read poetry that was interesting and challenging. Gary always has something new-- I enjoy his stuff. Erica has the beginning of a great story set in England, and the new poet in our midst, Kevin, made us see, through his eyes, his culture-- no mean feat."

Winter 2008

Our sixth Open Mike...

...took place March 30, 2008 in Jo Oliver's salon, 926 - 8th Avenue North. Readers in this exclusively poetry-themed afternoon included organizer and MC Jo Oliver, Lorene Nickel (new), Gary Chappell, Mic Lafreniere (new), and Chander Behl. Audience included Jennifer Divall and Edda Ryan, and the social and discussion that followed included late joiner Jim Weseen. Excellent fellowship, and marvellous cinnamon buns. Thanks again, Jo.

Poetry open mike

Open mike participants and spectators

Coop AGM-- and a Social Evening with a Literary Sleuth!

On March 27, following a brief AGM, over forty Coop members and friends were delighted to be joined by U of S scholar (and current SWG president) Robert Calder, in his newest role: The Book Detective. Imagine trying to track down all the books ever written by every graduate of the University of Saskatchewan. No doubt, you’d meet a few characters along the way… like Douglas Hill, apparently voted the most popular children's writer in Britain in a poll by The Guardian (this was in a pre-J. K. Rowling era, admittedly). From a convicted murderer to a winner of the Nobel prize, we followed the trail with Bob, professor of English and book detective extraordinaire, as he recounted the genesis, discoveries and future of this unique collection of books. (Anyone who'd like to alert Bob and his colleagues to possible additions to the collection can email him at bobcalder@sasktel.net, but bear in mind he's looking only for books of 48 pages or longer.)

Coop members had a variety of their published works on display. Some of us took part in a dress-up contest (dressed as our favourite U of S stereotype). We enjoyed nibbles by Calories. Food, fun, fellowship-- and it was all free! Special thanks go to Karen Millard, who made the punch, tended the bar, and acted as registrar for the evening.

The Annual Financial Statement and other documents related to the Annual General meeting may be found here. At the AGM we said farewell to one board member, Lloyd Ratzlaff, welcomed another, Peter Jonker, and expressed appreciation to all the members, supporters, and volunteers who keep the Coop going strong.

Our fifth Open Mike...

...took place February 21, 2008 at St. Thomas More College, U of S campus. Readers in this mostly poetry-themed evening included organizer and MC Jo Oliver, Alison Flensburg, Gary Chappell, and Peter Jonker (new!) Small crowd, but fine fellowship as usual.

The Writers’ Smorgasbord

The Coop offered a series of evenings with published writers in a variety of genres. Our first session was with short-story writer Rod MacIntyre, who says, “The workshop is primarily focused on the structure of short fiction, but is applicable to any kind of story-making. Although writing implements are necessary for the workshop, it is not a writing exercise. It is a discussion on ‘The Essential Parts of Story’, and delineates this as a process for evaluating/editing a writer's own work."

Rod won the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Award for Children's Literature for Feeding at Nine (Thistledown Press, 2007).

This session: Wednesday February 6, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Location: Marr Residence, 326 - 11th Street E
Cost: $5 at the door

Rod, Hector, and smorg members

Rod MacIntyre and Smorg members

Following on Rod MacIntyre's discussion of story structure, the series continued with author Alice Kuipers, on the essentials of character. Alice says, "How do writers find their characters on the page? Who are those characters and why won't they behave? Using the literary technique of letters and notes as a way to get into our characters' heads, the talk will delve deep beneath the skin of those who inhabit our fictional worlds."

Alice won the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Award for First Novel, for Life on the Refrigerator Door (Harper Collins, 2007).

This session: Wednesday February 27, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Location: Marr Residence, 326 - 11th Street E
Cost: $5 at the door

Hector and smorg members

Smorg #2 members

Our third Writers' Smorg session was called Playwriting: The Time Is Now, with playwright, author and performer Jennifer Wynne Webber, who says, "In a play, every moment is now. A play’s action occurs in the present tense… in the presence of an audience. This talk will focus on how those two facts of the theatre inform the writing of a play and offer a unique vantage point from which to view -– and play with -– a story’s action and conflict. Suitable for aspiring or developing playwrights, writers of other genres -– and anyone else interested!"

This session: Tuesday March 4, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Location: Marr Residence, 326 - 11th Street E
Cost: $5 at the door

Smorg 3 members

Smorg #3 members

The Obsession Sessions: An introductory poetry class for word lovers

Instructor: Jennifer Still

“Writing is about obsessions.” --George Elliott Clarke, Saskatoon, 2004

Do you have a notebook of jottings you don’t know what to do with? Lines, poems, ideas you’ve never written down? This class is designed for those who are haunted by a desire to write, but don’t know where to start.

Over a series of 6 two-hour sessions, participants discovered how to write what they love and the truths they know by identifying and listening to the language of their obsessions.

We were invited to make a date with poetry, and we did!

Jennifer Still’s poetry has appeared in numerous Canadian journals such as spring, Other Voices, New West Review, Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire and Event, and has been broadcast on CBC radio. She is co-founder of the chapbook publisher JackPine Press, and lives in Saskatoon with her husband and daughter. Saltations, her first book of poetry, was published in 2005 by Thistledown Press.

The class ran for six consecutive Mondays
Start date: Monday, February 11, 2008
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: Jessie Miller Room, St. James Church, back door, next to The Refinery
Cost: $130 for Coop members/$140 for non-members

Our fourth Open Mike...

...took place January 24, 2008 in the salon of board member and Open Mike organizer Jo Oliver. Fourteen readers and listeners enjoyed Jo's hospitality and the creative efforts of the presenters, including a play and a duologue.

Readers included Jeff Smith with daughter Brinnameade; Garry Chappell; Donald B. Campbell with friends Judy, Hubert and Chris; Amy Jo Ehman; and Drew Kirk (new!). Thanks to Jo Oliver for organizing and hosting the evening.

Fall 2007

Our third Open Mike...

...took place November 23, 2007 at Museo Coffee, The Mendel Art Gallery. Nice location, but a bit hard to hear. Close to 20 people attended, and clearly enjoyed the evening despite the impression that the barista would rather have been elsewhere.

Readers included Art Battiste, Gary Chappell (new reader-- yay!), Wes Funk, Linda Wood, Julianna Dunn, Jo Oliver, Jeff Smith, and Deborah Morse. Edda Ryan organized and MC'd the evening.

One-day workshop: The Writers' Toolkit-- Exploring the Land beyond Word and Spellcheck

Instructor: Jeff Smith

The connected desktop is a portal to a world of tools and techniques that can be used to support and enhance the writing process. Most writers are already familiar with word processing, spell checking and Google, but many have never explored beyond that. A full house of 12 joined our creative media expert, Jeff Smith, in a full-day, hands-on exploration of tools to assist with story planning, archiving, submission tracking, world creation, character development and more.

The tools and techniques covered are usable on any computer that has an internet connection (Windows, Mac or other) and by any user who has operated a word processor and a browser without hurting themselves.

Participants were free to bring a bag lunch or eat in a restaurant (such as Tim's) near Kelsey. Private computers could not be used for this course, so we left our laptops at home.

By night, Jeff Smith is a local area writer who masquerades by day as an academic and industry researcher into multimedia creativity tools.

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m.
Location: SIAST Kelsey Campus
Cost: $65 for Coop members/$75 for non-members

Our second Open Mike...

...took place October 25, 2007 at St. Thomas More College, U of S campus.

Readers included Art Battiste, Jim Fuerstenberg, Jo Oliver, Jeff Smith, Wendy Weseen, and Linda Wood. Jo Oliver MC'd the event. Again, sadly, no photos, but a good time was had by all.

Bear/bare bones and infinite seeing: A Cree Perspective

Instructor: Louise Halfe

The concept of the medicine/awareness wheel was used as a means of enriching poetry writing. The tools presented were hands-on, which required the group to be interactive. The interaction enhanced story-sharing and digging deep into the artisan wheel. Group members generated their own "creative environment" with objects they brought. We were asked three things:

to bring pen and paper, journal or pad for writing, envelope, stamp
to have the willingness to take risks and to participate wholly
to trust the process

Louise Halfe was Poet Laureate in Saskatchewan's Centennial Year 2005 and 2006. She has travelled extensively nationally and abroad, and has conducted workshops, delivered presentations, and been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences. She has a degree in Social Work with certification in Addictions, and is a trained facilitator with a Level 1 Mediation certificate.

Louise was the Coop's first course instructor, in 2002. She has published two books of poetry with Coteau Books, with a third to be released this fall.

This was a 12-hour course in four intensive three-hour classes
Dates: Monday, September 10; Tuesday, September 11; Monday, October 29; Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Time: 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Location: The Refinery
Cost: $130 for Coop members/$140 for non-members


Darla Tenold introduces Louise Halfe	Louise Halfe and class

Open Mikes - a constant and successful theme

Our summer party and travel-themed Open Mike was such a success, we kicked off the 2007-08 season on September 13 with another Open Mike in the same location-- the Jessie Miller Room at St. James/Refinery. We had a small crowd (we were up against Jane Goodall, after all), but excellent readings, discussions and fellowship.

Readings were diverse-- a children's story by Linda Wood, poetry by Chander Behl and Jo Oliver, memoir by Don Reimer, humour by Jim Weseen, a dramatic excerpt from a novel by Jane Edgett, and a fictional dialogue-by-letter by Edda Ryan.

Edda Ryan also co-organized (with Jo Oliver) the event, and ably performed MC duties. Not a bad evening's work!