Beth Powing.

New books will be launched. Literary prizes will be awarded. Writing workshops will be presented and poetry readings will be given at the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick’s WordsSpring in Sussex, May 13-15, with Alexander MacLeod, Allan Lynch, Chad Pelley and Beth Powning among the featured authors at this annual gathering.

The three-day event is open to the public and gets underway Friday, May 13, at the Sussex Artists Co-op Tea Room, at 6 p.m., where a wine and cheese reception will be hosted by SLICE (Sussex Literary Initiatives and Cultural Events), followed by book launches, readings and musical entertainment, highlighting local youth talent as well as the talents of local writers, including Beth Powning, Vanessa Moeller and Kelly Cooper.

The Federation’s annual general meeting will lead off activities on May 14 at the Masonic Hall at 9 a.m. The AGM will precede a workshop on the business of writing, led by former Kings County Record publisher and author of four books, Allan Lynch, entitled “Monetize Me!”

Tammy Morris and the Sussex Corner schoolchildren will present a Readers’ Theatre during a noontime lunch buffet. The afternoon program opens with a workshop on fiction and publishing by Chad Pelley, a multi-award-winning writer from St. John’s, NL, starting at 1 p.m. His debut novel, Away from Everywhere, was a Coles’ bestseller and was shortlisted for several prestigious emerging writer awards.

Alexander MacLeod will follow Pelley to the stage to read excerpts from his book Light Lifting, a 2010 Giller Prize finalist. His first book was also named 2010 Book of the Year by editors of The Globe and Mail, Quill and Quire, The Chronicle Herald and Amazon.ca. MacLeod, who is the son of one of Canada’s literary greats, Alistair MacLeod, will open the floor for a Q&A with the audience after his reading. Pelley will return to the stage at 3:45 p.m. for a discussion with MacLeod, moderated by Powning.

WordsSpring moves to the Lions’ Den that evening for a spring-themed Literary Awards Soirée. This event will be highlighted by the presentation of prizes to the winners of the Federation’s annual literary competition, a reading by Pelley and entertainment by local performers including the Sussex Choral Society.

The 2011 edition of WordsSpring closes on Sunday, May 15, with an open mic brunch at the Lions Den.

A registration fee of $90 will reserve space at the Lynch and Pelley workshops and also covers lunch and soirée fees. Other events are free. For more information on the event, visit the Federation’s website at www.wfnb.ca where you will find a downloadable, printable registration form and payment instructions.

Doug Underhill

WordsFall Schedule
October 16, Miramichi
Morning and afternoon events are at Beaverbrook House, 518 King George Highway, Miramichi

10 – 12 : Self publishing workshop with Julie Watson

Plus table and short presentation by Lightning Demand Press

Please register for this workshop and lunch ($30).

Noon, Lunch (included in registration): sandwiches provided by Goodie Shop catering

1:00 – Honouring the Founders of WFNB. Join us as we gather many of the founders of the WFNB, including T. Ann Brennan, Nancy Bauer, Allan Cooper, Mary Jane Losier, Doug Underhill, Suzanne Alexander and many others!

3:00 – 5:00 – member readings, book launches by:

Deborah Carr, Sancturary: The Story of Naturalist Mary Majka
Allan Donaldson, The Case Against Owen Williams
Cameron Gunn, Ben and Me
Sheree Fitch, Pluto’s Ghost
Wayne Curtis, Long Ago Far Away

Evening Event: Coffee House and Open Mic

Entrance fee is by donation.

6:30 – 9:00+ coffee house at Goodie Shop Restaurant, 2nd Floor (20 Fountainhead Lane, Lower Newcastle)

Celebration evening, invited guests and Open Mic. Readings by:

Ray Fraser
Wayne Curtis
Doug Underhill
Carla Gunn
Cameron Gunn
Allan Cooper
Sheree Fitch
and many others!

Music by Roy Gould and special guests.
Cash bar. Finger foods.

Click here for our downloadable/printable registration form.

If you’re having trouble viewing the registration form, write us: wfnb@nb.aibn.com

Tony Tremblay's Biography on David Adams Richards

WordsSpring is coming right up, so please hurry and mail in those registration forms in to the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB).

Ilkay Silk is giving the Saturday morning ‘performance’ workshop. She has been Theatre St. Thomas’ leading lady for decades. She is well-known in the community for her work as an actor, director, producer, playwright, educator, volunteer, and organizer. She was the driving force behind the opening of the Black Box Theatre at St. Thomas University, has taught at STU for almost 30 years, was a founding member of the TNB Young Company, chaired the NB Arts Board between 1994 and 1999, founded the Notable Acts Theatre Festival, and has produced and directed countless plays in the community. She also currently chairs the TNB Board of Directors.

Ilkay’s workshop is May 15, 10:30 am, Brian Mulroney Hall, STU.

We’re also happy to be able to introduce Tony Tremblay’s biography of David Adams Richards. Published by University of Toronto Press, *David Adams Richards of the Miramichi* is surely one of the most anticipated biographies of a New Brunswick native. We’ll have the pleasure of hearing biographer and journalist Philip Lee introduce Tony and talk a little about Richards’ place in Canadian literature.

The book launch is at 3:30 pm, Holy Cross House, STU.

The Saturday evening Awards Banquet (starts at 6 pm) will feature a brief reading by Jessica Grant as well as readings from a number of the WFNB’s award winners. We will also be honouring out-going WFNB president Marilyn Lerch.
Andrew Titus will be the evening’s Emcee.

And then Sunday morning (10 am) an open mic reading at the Ice House.

Rooms are still available at McLeod House on the UNB/St Thomas Campus. Write stay@unb.ca and mention us.

See http://www.umce.ca/wfnb/wordsspring.htm for the full schedule & to download a registration form.

So don’t miss out! Send your registration forms in ASAP!

Sally Armstrong

Award-winning author and human rights activist Sally Armstrong will be among the featured guest speakers at WordsSpring, May 13-16 in Fredericton. A presentation of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, WordsSpring will bring writers from across the province together for a weekend of workshops, book launches and readings on the campus of St. Thomas University. The gathering will culminate with a banquet to honour the winners of WFNB’s literary competition awards.

Armstrong will give her address, entitled “Getting the Story”, on Friday, May 14 at Mulroney Hall, beginning at 8 p.m. A recent recipient of the Calgary Peace Prize, Armstrong has travelled to war-torn countries like Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Afghanistan for years. Each trip has resulted in the stories of women and children whose lives have been forever changed by civil conflict. Some of these stories can be found in her latest book Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women.

Armstrong, who is also a documentary filmmaker, recently returned from a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo where she reported on the horrific abuses suffered by women and children there.

Armstrong has received numerous awards for her human rights work, including an honourary degree from Mount Allison University and, most recently, was invited to join the United Nations International Women’s Commission.

Armstrong is perhaps best known in New Brunswick as author of The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor, a richly told biography of her great-great grandmother who settled in the Miramichi region in the 1800s.  She also maintains strong connections to the province through her yearly summer treks to visit family near Bathurst.

“We are most fortunate to have such a celebrated and accomplished writer at WordsSpring” said WFNB’s executive director, Lee Thompson.

Other WordsSpring highlights include a reading by Jessica Grant, author of Come, Thou Tortoise and panel discussion with Carla Gunn, author Amphibian, on the first novel, followed by the launch of Tony Tremblay’s new book David Adams Richards of the Miramichi, on Saturday, May 15. WFNB’s annual general meeting will be held that morning.

For more information and to register for WordsSpring visit the WFNB website at: www.wfnb.ca

By Mayra Calvani

Virtual book tours, also known as blog tours, are an effective way of book promotion. A virtual book tour puts your name and book in front of hundreds—sometimes thousands—of readers. If you hire a publicist to coordinate it for you, the price can go from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. However, if you do it yourself, it’s practically free. Best of all, you don’t need a car or an airplane to travel through the blogosphere. You can do it in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home. All you need is a computer, internet connection, and a basic knowledge of blogs. However, be prepared to spend a lot of time at the computer for the duration of the tour. A virtual book tour is time consuming because the bloggers who host you will ask you to write guest posts, articles, and answer interview questions for them.

Many new authors often ask if virtual book tours guarantee book sales. The answer is NO. A virtual book tour doesn’t guarantee sales but it does guarantee a certain amount of visibility and exposure for you and your work.

The following steps will help you coordinate your own virtual tour:

• Start planning at least 3 months in advance. This will give you enough time to research blogs, contact bloggers, send review copies (if requested), and write guest posts or answer interview questions. You want readers to be entertained when they read about you and your book, so you’ll have to give them something new in every interview. Writing the same answers in the different interviews doesn’t work and you’ll only be turning readers away.

• Decide how long you’ll want the tour to be and how many stops you’ll make. Virtual book tours can be as short as one week (mini book tour) or as long as several months. It depends on your schedule and on how much time you’re willing to allocate for it. Two-week and one-month tours seem to be the most popular. Usually, there are 3 stops for each week and many authors prefer the stops to be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The choice is really up to you. It all depends on how much time, work and commitment you’re willing to give.

• Decide when your tour will take place. If you have a holiday book, like a Christmas children’s book or a horror novel, you’ll want to schedule your tour during December or October, respectively, in order to maximize your book’s marketing potential.

• Spend some time online researching blogs and make a list of those that match the content or theme of your book. If your book is a mystery novel about a violinist, for instance, you’ll want to make a list of mystery and violin blogs. That’s were the potential readers and buyers of your book are. That’s where your audience is. If you choose general blogs, then make sure they get a decent amount of traffic a month. You can check how many hits a blog or site gets on Alexa.com.

• Write a template for contacting hosts, this way you won’t have to write individual ones for each one. The message should include a brief intro, full information about your book (blurb, link to cover art, purchase page, reviews, etc.), and a polite request to be hosted on their blogs. Mention that you’re available for an interview or a guest post. As an alternative, you can request a book review, but you must be willing to send them a review copy. If you’re lucky, the blogger will accept an ebook copy, saving you the expense of a print copy and postage. Be aware, however, that not all bloggers are willing to read electronic copies unless they have ebook-reading devices. Keep in mind that reviews are one of the most effective ways of book promotion, and when you compare it to ads, they’re reasonably cheap. Let the bloggers know you’ll be aggressively promoting the tour, thus bringing traffic to their blogs.

• Prepare a schedule. Get a weekly or monthly calendar with enough space for notes. This will help you visualize the entire tour. As the bloggers’ responses start flowing in and you agree on specific tour stop dates, record the following information on the calendar: blog name and URL, host’s name, whether it’s for a guest post, article, interview or review. In case of reviews, send the book to the blogger as soon as possible (at least two months in advance), giving him or her enough time to read and review the book.

• Don’t leave writing guests posts and answering interview questions for the last minute. Take your time. Remember readers want to be entertained and informed. Give them valuable information, add a touch of humor and keep your voice fresh and interesting. Also, don’t wait until the last day to send the material to the host. Send it at least a week in advance.

• A few days before the tour starts, double check your calendar to make sure all is in order, then post the complete schedule, with the correct hosts’ links, on your website and/or blog. Also, send a reminder to all your hosts. To make this easy, put your hosts’ contact info in a separate email folder and email them together when needed. Make sure you update your tour schedule on a daily basis in case of last minute changes.

• Once the tour starts, promote it! Announce it to all your friends, colleagues and relatives and in all forums, groups and lists you belong to. You can also send a press release for extra exposure.

• For the duration of the tour, be sure to visit your tour stops to write comments or answer questions via the ‘Leave a Comment’ feature on the blogs. Interacting with readers will make your virtual book tour more interesting and entertaining.

Final tips:

Consider offering a prize at the end of the tour to one lucky winner. This will encourage visitors to comment on your tour stops and follow you all through the tour. The prize could be a gift certificate, a goody basket, or even a free critique. It’s not recommended to offer a copy of the book you’re promoting as gift. If people think they might win it, they won’t buy it.

Once the tour is over, don’t forget to thank your hosts and offer to return their favor in the future. This makes for good internet networking and protocol.

Award-winning author Mayra Calvani writes fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. She’s had over 300 reviews, articles, short stories and interviews published in print and online. Visit her website at www.mayracalvani.com.

Jesse Patrick Ferguson

Freehand Books will be celebrating the Fredericton launch of Jesse Patrick Ferguson’s debut collection of poetry, Harmonics, on Thursday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Westminster Books (445 King Street). Jesse will read from and answer questions about his collection, and snacks and light refreshments will be served. This is a free event and open to the public.

Harmonics is an exciting addition to contemporary Canadian poetry, in which Ferguson brings music and poetry into conversation with each other. Modelled on the fundamental tones and overtones of the harmonic series, poems in Ferguson’s arrangement riff on one another, and words, phrases, and images resonate sympathetically, with all the energy and buzz of a firmly plucked mandolin string. In the words of Griffin Poetry Prize winner Anne Simpson, “[h]ere’s a poet who shows us how to put an ear to the world and listen.”

Ferguson was born and raised in Cornwall, Ontario. He holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Ottawa, and he currently resides in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he is a poetry editor for The Fiddlehead. He is the author of five poetry chapbooks: Near Cooper Marsh (Friday Circle, 2006), Old Rhythms (Pooka Press, 2006), Commute Poems (Thistle Bloom Books, 2006), catch a bird (above/ground, 2006) and phoney phonemics (No Press, 2007).

Harmonics

His work has appeared in prominent Canadian and international periodicals like Grain, Arc, The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, Magma Poetry (UK), Harper’sPoetry Magazine and , and he was a finalist for the 2009 CAA/BookTelevision Emerging Author Award. He is interested in folk music, and he plays several instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, violin, pennywhistle, bodhran, djembe and harmonica.

Freehand Books is based in Calgary, Alberta. Freehand was named the 2009 “Alberta Publisher of the Year” by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and was a finalist for the Canadian Bookseller’s Association 2009 Libris Award for Small Press Publisher of the Year. We publish a select list of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.

For more information or to arrange author interviews, please contact Sarah Ivany at sivany@broadviewpress.com or by telephone at 403.452.4662 / 587.777.5553. More information can also be found at www.freehand-books.com.