Canadian Parliament, Ottawa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION BRANCH (OTTAWA)

BIWEEKLY NOTICES FOR TWO WEEKS: JAN. 18 TO JAN. 31, 2016

Need more information on CAA-NCR? Visit us at http://canadianauthors.org/nationalcapitalregion/

TO ALL READERS: Please send all submissions & event notices to Carol Stephen at cstephen0@gmail.com

MEETINGS & EVENTS

CAA-NCR MONTHLY MEETING, FEBRUARY

TOPIC: Scribing Sex –  Romancing the Page

PRESENTER: Jasmine Aziz
DATE: Tuesday, February 9, 2016
TIME: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
LOCATION:  McNabb Recreation Centre, 180 Percy St. east of Bronson Ave.

Jasmine Aziz will be outlining the differences between erotica and romance – from definitions to delivery. She will give examples of how to craft stories according to the audience you are targeting, giving examples on the difference between mainstream sensual writing versus more explicit content. There will be discussion about the art of writing erotic content to elicit arousal and when this is beneficial to a story and when it is not.

This talk is based on the majority of questions Jasmine receives from authors asking how to write in various styles, eg. erotica vs. mainstream romance, and how they can tell the difference.

NOTE: This presentation contains explicit content and language due to the nature of the topic.

BIO: Jasmine Aziz is a retired vibrator seller.  She worked as a consultant for four years doing in-home party presentations selling adult novelty toys. In that time she met many amazing and diverse women who inspired her to write a novel that would help both men and women navigate the subtle complexities of the modern woman’s life. Her first novel, the comedic Sex & Samosas, straddles the genres of women’s fiction, self-help and erotica while taking a humorous look at cultural and social issues. It has recently been optioned for a movie. Jasmine is currently putting the finishing touches to her next novel, a memoir, based on the wild and unconventional four years she sold adult toys entitled Bring Your Own Batteries.

29TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CAPITAL WRITING CONTEST

 Short Story • Poetry $300 • $200 • $100 NEW! Open to all residents of Ontario and Quebec. NEW!

• Short Story, max. 2500 words. Poetry (not Haiku), max. 60 lines including title & blank lines.
• Must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant.
• In English, typed, double-spaced (but not for poems), on 8 1/2 × 11″ paper, one side only, page-numbered consecutively on bottom right of pages. No extra-large type, please! Indicate category and title on top left corner of every page.
• Contest is blind judged which means the Contest Coordinator will assign a number to your entry that will correspond to what she sends off to the judge. (Don’t put your name on it anywhere!)
• Don’t forget to include your entry fee.*
• Please understand that we can’t acknowledge receipt or return your entries.
• CAA–NCR reserves the right to withhold any prize should entries fail to meet expected standards.

• We will need a separate page with your information on it: category, story/poem title, name, address, phone number, e-mail address. Cheques payable to Canadian Authors Association–NCR.

I’m in! How do I do this? Entry fees* are $15 per story; $15 for up to three (3) poems. Poems will be judged individually.  

MAIL ENTRIES TO: CAA National Capital Writing Contest, 163 Bell St., N., Box 57081, Ottawa ON K1R 7E1. Attention: Sherrill Wark

Awards Night: We hope that all finalists and their friends and families will attend the always-exciting Awards Night, Monday, May 9, 2016, 7 PM, AUDITORIUM, MAIN BRANCH, OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY. Finalists may be invited to read their entries. Winning entries will be published in CAA–NCR’s e-mag Byline. (Copyright will remain with you.)

Deadline Midnight FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016. (Get it postmarked if you’re close). QUESTIONS? Contact Sherrill Wark, Coordinator, NCWC at ncwc@crowecreations.ca  

*“One Free Entry” for CAA–NCR members no longer available.

CAA NATIONAL NEWS:

 CANADIAN AUTHORS 2016 LITERARY AWARDS

Entries are now being accepted for the Canadian Authors Association’s 2016 Literary Awards. Criteria and submission details are available in the  CAA 2016 Literary Awards Guidelines

Complete the CAA 2016 Awards entry form online, print it and send it to us along with your submission and entry fee. The deadline for submissions is EXTENDED to Jan. 30, 2016.

Now in its 41st year, the CAA Literary Awards program honours writing that achieves excellence without sacrificing popular appeal. Past winners have included Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, Leonard Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Patrick DeWitt, Nino Ricci, Michael S. Cross, Don McKay, Charlotte Gray, Joseph Boyden and countless other literary stars – some relatively unknown at the time they received the award. For more information about past winners, shortlisted authors, and awards events, visit our website at http://canadianauthors.org/national/awards/

OTHER WORKSHOPS

 THE BANFF CENTRE SPRING/SUMMER PROGRAMS:

Our 2016 poetry faculty within The Banff Centre’s Writing Studio  program. 2016 sees three amazing poets – Karen Solie , Lisa Robertson and Michael Dickman – work intimately with twelve participants on poetry manuscripts. Karen, associate director, poetry, is author of the Griffin Poetry Prize-winning Pigeon. Michael Dickman is the author of The End of the West, Flies and Copper Canyon. He teaches at Princeton and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, and Lisa Robertson is the author of Magenta Soul Whip and the long poem Cinema of the Present. She is a poet, essayist and translator and her practice also straddles the visual arts.

Spring/Summer 2016 programs Deadlines https://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/all/literary-arts

• Jan. 20, 2016       Digital Narratives
• Jan. 20, 2016       Writing Studio
• Jan. 27, 2016       Frontline: Environmental Reportage
• Feb. 10, 2016       Banff International Literary Translation Centre
• Mar.16, 2016 Literary Journalism
• Apply Now         Self-Directed Writing Residency

2017 – 18 CANADIAN WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE 

University of Calgary Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Calgary Distinguished Writers Program (CDWP) encourages submissions from promising Canadian writers for the position of Canadian Writer-in-Residence, a ten-month residency at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Arts from September 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. This is a unique opportunity for early to mid-career Canadian writers to devote their time to writing and to advancing their writing careers. Applications for the position are encouraged from writers from diverse genres-including literary fiction or nonfiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and playwriting. Candidates will have one to four published and/or performed works to their credit; community engagement experience, such as teaching or mentoring writers; and are expected to propose a project or projects that they will undertake during their term as Canadian Writer-in-Residence. They will preferably, but not necessarily, hold a university degree.

Further information can be obtained by contacting Caitlynn Bailey-Cummings at 403.220.8177 orcdwp@ucalgary.ca Deadline: January 31, 2016  Details:  https://ucalgary.ca/cdwp/writer-residence/apply

SPALDING UNIVERSITY MFA IN WRITING PROGRAM 

Spalding University (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Spalding University is ranked one of the top 10 low-residency MFA in Writing programs, celebrating creativity and community, not competition. Residencies in Louisville, Kentucky or abroad bring together outstanding students and faculty for 10 exhilarating days of workshop and serious craft study. Back home, students read, write, and revise during one-on-one independent study sessions with a prize-winning, publishing mentor. Our program offers the following areas of concentration: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children & young adults, screenwriting, and playwriting.

Details: https://spalding.edu/academics/mfa-in-writing/

OTTAWA SUBMISSION CALLS AND OPPORTUNITIES

 BYWORDS.CA SUBMISSION CALL

                        
DEADLINE: The 15^th of every month for the following month’s issue

Bywords.ca considers previously unpublished poetry from emerging and established poets for our online monthly magazine. We consider work by current and former residents, students and workers of Ottawa. We also publish poems by contributors to our predecessor, the Bywords Monthly Magazine. FOR SUBMISSION INFORMATION VISIT www.bywords.ca and click on Guidelines. Amanda Earl, Managing Editor. Bywords.ca’s literary events calendar here: http://www.bywords.ca/calendar/index.php with up-to-date info on NCR readings, book signings, writers’ circles, literary festivals, spoken word showcases & slams. Event submissions can be sent to events@bywords.ca

RESOURCES FOR SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES

 For those who prefer the ebook version of the Canadian Writers’ Contest Calendar, the 2016 version can now be purchased via White Mountain Publications’ website. Here is the update from their newsletter: “CWCC Update: The ebook versions of the 2016 Canadian Writers’ Contest Calendar are now available from our website.”

• Additional links to contests and submission calls visit Canadian Authors National Capital Region website here: http://canadianauthors.org/nationalcapitalregion/contests/writing-contests-calls-for-submission/

• Tree Press Chapbook Contest: contest is for regular attendees at The Tree Reading Series, the Seed workshops, or read at the Tree open mic readings. Prize $250 and 10 copies of your chapbook! (Winner may order more copies if he/she wishes.) No fee to enter. See link for more info. DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN. 31, 2016.

• The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry: FINAL DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: January 31, 2016 for emerging North American poets! The winner receives a trade paperback contract with Insomniac Press, which will include the publication of their manuscript and a $500 advance. Guidelines and submission info here: http://www.matrixmagazine.org/#!robert-kroetsch-award/cgpc

·        Arc Magazine Contests: see links for details on each contest

·        Archibald Lampman Award deadline March 31, 2016

• Diana Brebner Prize               deadline March 15, 2016        
• Poem of the Year Contest     deadline Feb. 1, 2016 (early bird Dec. 31, 2015)

• Malahat Review Novella Prize Contest The award grants $1500 to the writer of the best novella between 10,000 to 20,000 words. This contest only runs once every other year. Genre: Fiction Deadline: February 1, 2016 Prize: $1500 Details:  http://www.malahatreview.ca/contests/novella_contest/info.html

• The Goethe Glass: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction About Climate Change. Are you concerned about Climate Change?  The Goethe Glass: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction About Climate Change. Last April, Margaret Atwood gave a very important speech in Barrie in which she said that the greatest crisis facing Canada and the world is climate change. As Margaret Atwood declared, “it is time for writers to respond with all the power of their creativity to the greatest threat of our age, climate change.” I am calling on all Canadian writers to put on their thinking caps, pick up their pens, and contribute to this anthology. The political climate has changed, but the physical climate is still in decline. Deadline: February 15, 2016 Details: https://exilepublishing.submittable.com/submit

• The Masters Review Anthology – Judge Amy Hempel $5000 awarded. $20.00 USD Ends on 3/31/2016. Submissions are open from January 15, 2016 to March 31, 2016. This year stories will be selected by author Amy Hempel who will select ten winners from a shortlist of forty. This category is open to ALL EMERGING WRITERS. Anyone who has not yet published a novel at the time of submission. We are looking for today’s top emerging writers. Send us your best! Details and to submit: http://mastersreview.com/anthology/

• Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Contest Deadline: Monday April 4 2016 Entry fee: $10 per poem Prizes: $1600: $300 first place, $200 second place, $100 third place, 8 honourable mentions of $75, 8 judge’s choice of $50 complimentary anthology, trophy, and award ceremony during the Spring Pulse Poetry Festival. Details: www.springpulsepoetryfestival.com Enquires: Send to David Brydges mybrydges@yahoo.ca

OUT AND ABOUT IN TOWN

MEETINGS, BOOK LAUNCHES AND POETRY READINGS ABOUT TOWN
  Wednesday, Jan. 20, 7:00 pm  The Wednesday, Jan . 20, 7:00 pm The Sawdust Reading Series Presents Deanna Young and Rusty Priske, Pour Boy – 495 Somerset St W Ottawa More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1485277571780841/ 

 Tuesday, January 26, 8:00 pm. Tree Reading Series, Black Squirrel Books, 1073 Bank St. Ottawa, Jessica Hiemstra + Rachel Rose 6:45 pm Workshop – Hard Editing with Susan McMaster 8:00 pm Readings – Open Mic and Featured Readers More info www.treereadingseries.ca

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