Westport Arts Council announces lineup for fourth annual Writers Reading

The Westport Arts Council’s fourth annual Writers Reading at the Westport United Church, 1:00 to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, October 22, 2011 features authors James Bartleman, Tish Cohen, Mark Frutkin and Laurie Lewis.

James Bartleman’s distinguished career has brought him from a boyhood in the Muskoka town of Port Carling, Ontario, with his roots in the Chippewa First Nation, through over three decades in diplomatic service, and an appointment as Ontario’s 27th Lieutenant-Governor in 2002. Jim has written five books, the most recent of which is his highly regarded first novel As Long as the Rivers Flow, released last February, and nominated for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Two of his earlier books are the prize-winning memoirs Raisin Wine and Out of Muskoka. The autobiographical Rollercoaster, published in 2007, recounts his experiences as Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s chief diplomatic advisor from 1994 to 1998, during which he rubbed elbows with anybody who was anybody, everywhere. In his 2005 book On Six Continents, he recounted his thirty-five year diplomatic career in which he was the only Canadian diplomat to serve on all six continents. Jim and his wife now live in Perth, Ontario.

Tish Cohen is the author of seven novels—three adult, two young adult and two pre-teen. Her first adult novel, Town House, was a 2008 finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean region). It is currently in development as a feature film with director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise) as producer, and has been translated into Italian and German. Inside Out Girl followed in 2008 and was another commercial success, a Globe and Mail Bestseller, and is also being turned into a movie. Tish’s third adult novel, The Truth About Delilah Blue, published last year, is still selling well across North America. The Globe and Mail headlined it’s review of the book with “Move over, Jodi Picoult.” Her young adult novels, Little Black Lies (2009) and Switch (2011) have huge teen followings, as do her pre-teen books in the Zoë Lama series, The Invisible Rules of the Zoë Lama and The One and Only Zoë Lama. In a bow to social communications, Tish is currently releasing her short story Littleman one tweet at a time on TVO’s twitterpage. Tish lives and writes in Richmond Hill.

Mark Frutkin has written seven books of fiction, two of non-fiction, and three of poetry. Mark’s latest book, the non-fiction Walking Backwards, released in August, recounts a decade of travels from Turkey to India to Colorado, through Venice, Paris, Rome and Points between. His novel Fabrizio’s Return won the 2006 Trillium Book Award, the Sunburst Award, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book. Atmospheres Apollinaire (1998) was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium and the Ottawa Book Award. Mark’s earlier non-fiction book, Erratic North, published in 2008, is a memoir of his years in the remote bush of Western Quebec and his personal take on the rejection of war and the search for peace. Writing in the Globe and Mail, the novelist Neil Bissoondath praised Mark’s novel Slow Lightning for its “superb inventiveness,” adding that “at the heart of Slow Lightning is a clever and spellbinding story.” His other novels, also widely praised, include Invading Tibet (1991), of which the New York Times said: “An intriguing idea for a novel … admirable,” In the Time of the Angry Queen (1993), The Lion of Venice (1997), and The Growing Dawn (1984). A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mark became a Canadian citizen in 1976 and has lived in Ottawa since 1980.

Laurie Lewis published her first book at 80, which probably came as no surprise to her family and friends. She has lived a life surrounded by a family of writers. Her own mother coincidentally published her first book at 80. In Little Comrades, the Kingston-based publisher and writer tells of her unorthodox childhood growing up in a Communist family in Calgary in the 1930s and of the blunt challenges of life with her by then single mother, first in Toronto and then in New York City. After a 30-year career as a designer and production editor with the University of Toronto Press, Laurie, by then relocated to Kingston, began to write by recalling snippets of her life. She has received much enthusiastic praise for her memoir. But then again, as she told an interviewer with the Globe and mail, “Life is full of surprises.” Her short stories have appeared in Queen’s Quarterly and The Toronto Quarterly. She has also written and published poetry, primarily in the Queen’s Feminist Review over the past five years. Laurie continues to live and write in Kingston.

Tickets are $15, including refreshments, available from Murphy's Barber Shop, 5 Church St. (273-2145), at The Cove, 2 Bedford St. (273-3636 or 1-888-COVE-INN), or at the door, if available.

Additional author information available at their respective websites:
Tish Cohen: www.tishcohen.com
Mark Frutkin: www.markfrutkin.com
Laurie Lewis: www.laurielewis.ca

CONTACT:

If you would like more information about this event please contact Norman Peterson, Westport Arts Council, at npeterson@rideau.net.