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The mission of the Okanagan Institute is to contribute to the quality of creative engagement in the Okanagan through publications, events and collaborations. » Home » Events » Publications » Collaborations » The Institute » Contact  Kelowna BC Canada Telephone 250.870.2690 Email: Click here  Click here to help us improve our programs. |
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WRITERS ON PUBLISHING » Thursday 20 January 2011, 5 pm » Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna » $2 at the door. Refreshments are available. » Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE Celebrated Writers to Reveal the Trials and Triumphs of Bookmaking Just as we've experienced a reset in our economy and our popular mindset, so too we're experiencing a reset that is affecting everything to do with books, publishing and online media. This reset is turning lots of traditional "ways of doing things" upside down. New rules are being written as much by writers and entrepreneurs as by editors, publishers, booksellers, and the new technologies. Writers are having a difficult time keeping up with all the changes, and yet they continue to produce books and get them out to readers. Some choose the traditional publishing route, while others choose to produce the books themselves - in other words, become publishers - and others use digital or print-on-demand means to get into print. No matter how the book is produced, readers continue to support writers and appreciate the value they bring to our communities. On Thursday, January 20th at 5 pm the ongoing Okanagan Institute Express series at the Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna presents The Word is Out: Writers on Publishing. Join us as successful writers Sterling Haynes, Laurie Carter and Jarrod Thalheimer explain their writing process, discuss their publishing adventures and read from their books.  Sterling Haynes received his medical degree from the University of Alberta. He served as a colonial officer in Nigeria and practised medicine in the Cariboo, Alberta and Alabama. Now retired, he lives in Westbank and travels extensively in Central America. His articles and poetry have been published in journals including The Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine and the Medical Post. In his recently published second book, Wake-Up Call, Haynes begins by telling us that at the age of seventy a left hemisphere stroke rearranged his brain. "My right creative side took over and I started to write poetry and humour. I was left with a partially paralyzed right foot, but a writer's creative right brain. I think I got the better of the deal, a new brain in trade for a foot. The funny episodes in my medical practice became hilarious. The sad, melancholy parts of my life's memories looked less bleak."  Haynes goes on to share the humorous and sometimes bizarre tales of his life as a doctor: a man shoots off his big toe in a drunken binge and then begs the doc to get him to Sunday Mass on time, an inmate swallows a spoon to avoid solitary confinement, an accident with a Murphy bed leaves a man hanging for more than ten hours. "I worked long hours, made house calls, went out with the ambulance and flew to remote accident areas, sometimes receiving payment in kind: hinds of beef, lamb and moose, bags of potatoes and turnips and on one occasion, a big game guide brought me a four point buck in payment for delivering his first son, leaving the dressed carcass in the centre of my waiting room." Laurie Carter's freelance work appears in magazines and newspapers in Canada and the United States. Her latest book, Grandma Wears Hiking Boots: A Personal Guide to the Okanagan Valley was released in November. She is the author of the travel mystery novel China Doll and publishes Bloganagan, her uncorked, uncut, unabashed guide to the Valley. Her stories and photographs reflect an interest in everything from architecture to winemakers, from hiking to folk singers, from ancient ruins to street vendors. A transplant from southern Ontario, Laurie is passionate about her adopted home. And while she loves foreign travel and frequently writes about her experiences in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Africa, she is best known as an expert on the Okanagan Valley and surrounding region. Laurie serves as senior editor of Okanagan Life magazine and writes and photographs the annual Magical Shuswap guide. "For the last decade I've been writing and shooting photos about the Okanagan for magazine, newspaper and online articles," says Carter. "I felt it was time to pull together my experiences in a single guide to the valley. My vision for Grandma Wears Hiking Boots is to give readers more than the bare bones information of a traditional guidebook. I want to convey a sense of what it's like to actually do the things that make the Okanagan such a popular destination." Carter jokes that with her unique take on valley trails, wildflower excursions, wine tasting, farm tours, family attractions, historic sites, cultural pursuits, mine tours, jumping off mountains and her favourite subject - food - the book should have been called: Grandma Wears Hiking Boots and Sneakers, Snowshoes and Skis, Flip-flops and Terminally Gorgeous Heels - but there wasn't room on the cover. Carter's zippy style and self-inflicted humour make this collection of anecdotes, observations and recommendations a lively page-turner for armchair travellers and serious Okanagan explorers.  Jarrod Thalheimer is a freelance writer and opinion columnist. His work has appeared in numerous print and web publications across North America. He is a graduate of the UCLA Creative Writing Program with a focus on short and long fiction. His short story, "The Zeppo Chair" was published as a chapbook and he was a chapter winner in a fiction contest sponsored by the Vancouver Province. His serial fiction "The Curious Case of Dr. Julian Cheswick" appeared in consecutive issues of Q Magazine. Currently, he writes his weekly syndicated column AdFool along with numerous other feature, long-form and script-based projects. He recently issued AdFool: Truth in Lies with 80 full-colour pages of classic rants and ridiculous ruminations about advertising and all it represents. He says about himself: "My qualifications? Who am I to critique commercial advertisement? I have no degree in marketing. I don't work for an ad agency. I'm not an advertising professional. I am barely qualified to judge an Oreo stacking contest. Who do I think I am? I am a target and I have been shot at by advertisers every single day of my entire life. Sales pitches are a part of living, and as a raging consumer taught to accumulate stuff and needing only a semi-good reason to do so means I'm more than qualified. When Heinz introduced colored ketchups I bought purple and green. When Coke added vanilla I got a case. Crest puts whitening in the toothpaste and I'm brushing my teeth. Create a new package and I jump up and down. I can't help it. I'm an AdFool."TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT CLICK HERE The Word is Out: Writers on Publishing takes place at the Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue, Kelowna. This marks the 186th event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in 2007. Express is presented in association with the Okanagan Regional Library and Okanagan College. Express is directed, convened and hosted by Robert MacDonald, Karen Close, Edward McLean and Neil McKay. It has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet laureate and professor John Lent, creative entrepreneur Nikos Theodosakis, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and many others from a wide range of creative fields.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
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