Love letters

Hi Brian,
Good news: My novel, Tainted, won the 17th annual Arts Hamilton Literary Award for Fiction. A panel of judges from across the country assessed the contending novels and announced the winner. I was surprised, thrilled, and delighted. The honour comes with a small cash award!

I gave an acceptance speech that highlighted the fact that writing a manuscript may be a solitary act, but turning it into a marketable book takes a dedicated professional team backed up by writing teachers and champions of the arts, such as your good self.

Tainted is coming out in paperback from ECW Press on April 1, 2011 and the next in the series, Tampered, is coming out in hard back May 1, 2011.

I understand that you and I are both appearing at the Elliot Lake writer's festival in October 2011. Should be fun. See you February 5 in Ingersoll (where Ross will be the guest speaker for my “Writing Your Life” workshop. Details here.)

All the best, and thanks so much for getting me started on this terrific journey as a professional writer,
Ross Pennie

Hi Brian,

I hope you are doing well. Just to let you know, I've had a couple of recent successes. First, I was shortlisted in the 2010 Matrix LitPop Awards for fiction.

Also, I've just been notified that my short story "The Russian Soldier" will be published in the Spring 2011 edition of Descant. I workshopped this story in what is now called your "Extreme Creative Writing" course. I really enjoyed the course and found all of the
feedback, especially yours, invaluable!

Thanks, and see you soon at an upcoming workshop.
All the best,
Christopher Canniff
http://www.christophercanniff.com/
For information about Matrix LitPop see here.
For information about submitting to Descant see here.
And for information about Extreme Creative Writing classes starting Jan 19, see here for the Wednesday evening class and here for the Wednesday afternoon class.

Hi Brian,
I'm contacting you to share what I have been working on in Burlington for just over two years - The Burlington Slam Project. While "Slam" may sound aggressive; it is actually a competition for writers and performers; you see it started as a way to make poetry readings more interesting and in the last 20 years has spread like an epidemic throughout North America.

I am trying to connect with the artistic community of Burlington, as I don't know many people here (I moved here to be with the woman I love) and thought that you (or other local writers you know) might enjoy this candid confessional and crafted expose, called "slam." Our next month's event has the 2010 "Women of the World Poetry Slam" Champion as our featured guest and I would love to see/hear some new voices come out and share the stage.

If you have any interest or know someone who might; please kindly spread the word.  And if you have any questions, please let me know and/or feel free to check out our facebook group page or the blog for more info.

Regards,
Tomy Bewick
Open Minds Respect Events - Founder/ Organizer
Burlington Slam Project - Host/ Artistic Director
www.burlingtonslam.wordpress.com

For information about Brian Henry's writign workshops and creative writing courses, see here.