You're invited to a book launch for Air- Crazy by Liz Muir

Hi, Brian.

I have a book launch coming up for Air-Crazy and a French version Libres Comme L’Air – stories for children of how Canadian women broke through the sky blue ceiling, first as passengers on  airplanes, then as stewardesses, finally as pilots and eventually as astronauts.

Jackman Public School Library

78 Jackman Ave, Toronto, Ontario 

(Broadview/Danforth area, Map here)

Thursday November 24

4 – 6 p.m.

Two of my adult books, Canadian Women in the Sky and Riverdale: East of the Don (both from Dundurn Press), will also be for sale at the launch.

Liz Muir

(Elizabeth Gillan Muir)

www.lizmuir.ca

Note: If you can’t make it to the book launch, Air Crazy is available through Amazon here. Canadian Women in the Sky is available here and Riverdale: East of the Don, here.

For information on submitting to Dundurn Press, see here.

P.S. Captain Judy Cameron, who many of you who have attended my writing classes know as a classmate, is one of the pilots featured in Canadian Women in the Sky. ~Brian

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

“The Foster Memorial” by Charlene D. Jones

You want an architectural delight, somewhere to hear great music made better by extraordinary acoustics and exquisite beauty of an, oh, say exotic nature. You find this and more every Friday night in the unsung Foster Memorial.

Mr. Foster, heir to a huge estate, former Mayor of Toronto, left Canada to explore the globe. When he reached the Taj Mahal he found what his heart needed: an architecture to bring back to his native Ontario.

Just north of the modestly populated and densely artistic town of Uxbridge, south of Leaksdale, this unique building sprouts suddenly on the East side of the highway.

That’s not all. Every Friday night from April until October a tiny group of volunteers united in their love for the Foster offer an hour of excellent music. Often springing from local talent such as the stunning jazz guitarist Chris Saunders who features his equally talented son Joel Saunders, the Foster also magnetizes what is rare in music.

For instance the Shimoda Family Consort appears. Their classic renditions of Baroque music entertains as much through the original instruments, harpsichord, medieval oboe, and this seven foot high reed instrument as through their studied delivery.

Notice the inside of the Foster building. Yes those are tiles to your right, intricate tiles in rose patterned details. Let your eye linger shortly on the beveled top of the pillars, marble pillars that is and recognize the flourish of stone and pattern throughout the building’s interior.

You may recognize a bit of the Foster from a recent episode of Murdoch Mysteries. Volunteers have captured the Grail cups used in that episode and placed them proudly on display in front of the altar.

Alas, the Friday evening concerts are over for the season, but the next event at the Foster will be a reading of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol and a seasonal sing-a-long on Sunday, November 20, 2016. Doors open at 1:30, program starts at 2:00. 

For more information including maps, a list of upcoming events and directions go here. 

 Quick Brown Fox welcomes your  reviews of all sorts of things – books, movies or plays, restaurants, buildings, your favourite barista or whatever else catches your eye. QBF also welcomes book-related pieces such as an essay about one of your favourite books. Read how to write a book review (or any  kind of review) here.

Charlene Jones escaped from three days as hostage to two armed criminals when she was just 16. Within a year she met her meditation teacher, the contentious Namgyal Rinpoche. Through his teachings on Visualization Ms. Jones created a life of health, vitality and joy in spite of her early trauma. This is her testimony to how we all have the power to heal. Her book Medicine Buddha / Medicine Mind is available from Amazon here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

“First Visit to Qausuittuq National Park,” by Marlis Butcher

Fellow campers in Qausuittug Park  (Photo Marlis Butcher)

In 2015 Qausuittuq (pronounced cow-soo-ee-took, meaning “a place where the sun doesn’t rise”) became Canada’s newest national park.   At 11,000 square kilometers, the park makes up almost two thirds of Bathurst Island in the Canadian high Arctic.  The park is one of the most challenging to get to, with the nearest access point being the community of Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, just to the east of Bathurst.  In July 2016, three of us took on that challenge.

Paul and Sue Gierszewski who are trying to visit all the major parks in Canada, and I, a “Park Bagger” trying to visit all the National Parks of Canada, made it our priority to become the first ever to visit Qausuittuq.  Together with Dave Weir of Ice Blink Expeditions, we persevered against the odds of getting to the park:  our attempts to fly via Iqaluit and Resolute Bay kept being foiled by dense fogs and high winds.  Although these standard Arctic travel delays seriously compromised our window of opportunity, our patience paid off:    On the eighth day of our journey we finally boarded the Twin Otter that would fly us into the north end of the Park.  

Immediately upon landing in Qausuittuq, we discovered the reason for the park:  the preservation of endangered Peary caribou.  They were everywhere.  We saw several small groups of two to eight animals:  cows with calves, and bulls.  Their velvety antlers glowed in the bright sunshine; their flanks flashed white as they scampered across the plains.  They were foraging on the few bits of greenery growing amongst a seemingly never-ending field of rocks. 

A couple of male caribou stopped and stared at us, and evidently deciding that we weren’t a threat, continued on their way right across our route.  They were grazing as they journeyed just a few meters before us.  On our part, we too stopped and stared, back at the caribou.  We silently watched in awe, respecting their space. 

Peary Caribou (Photo Marlis Butcher)

Such beautiful animals.  Only approximately 91 centimeters tall at their shoulders, Peary caribou are small compared to their southern cousins, the woodland and tundra caribou.  Their petite statures belie their extreme hardiness, being able to comfortably cope in the harsh Arctic environment.   

Temperatures in the few weeks of summer go up to only around 5⁰ Celsius on Bathurst Island, and there is so little precipitation that the island is considered to be part of a polar desert.  The land that we saw consisted mostly of small rocks and dried mud flats with only sparse patches of lichens and mosses.  We did not even encounter the usual Arctic plants such as moss campion, broad-leaved willow herb, and arctic willows.  There is not much for vegetarians like the caribou to live on.

We heaved on our heavy backpacks and hiked out of the gravelly plain on which we had landed.  We slogged through the shallow, snow-melt soggy muck on the edges of the valley, and onto higher, drier ground.  We set up camp near a clear-running stream, in a pretty field of yellow Arctic poppies.  To be precise, the poppies grew through the cracks of a dried mud plain, each plant blooming a few feet away from its neighbour.  However, in a place so devoid of life, a plateau dotted with bobbing colour was a major attraction. 

 

The low rounded mountains of the Stokey Range rose up around our camp.  From a distance they looked like gentle, easy to climb hills.  As we climbed up one 350 meter rise, we discovered that the hills were strewn with huge flat boulders interspersed with jumbles of sharp-edged rocks that threatened us with cuts and sprains.  There were patches of shale shards which slid out from under our feet, and sand blowouts in which we found chunks of clear quartz.  A few patches of snow still clung stubbornly to the shady side of rocky alcoves – we wondered whether these remnants of last winter would melt before the end of this summer. 

From the top of the mountain we looked out over park.  The other valleys between the Stokey Mountains looked just as broad and barren as the one we were camped in.  In the distance, the Arctic Ocean was filled with broken ice, reminding us to be vigilant of possible wandering, hungry polar bears.  Human beings are not at the top of the food chain in the Arctic.    With no infrastructure, emergency shelters, or trails on the island, we were extremely aware of how vulnerable we were.  Qausuittuq is very, very remote. 

Despite the apparent desolation, our little group of explorers discovered that in Qausuittuq National Park of Canada, the sun doesn’t rise in the summer because it never sets; and the sun shines brightly on the now protected home of the Peary caribou.

Marlis Butcher is a member of The Explorers Club and serves on the board of directors for the Bruce Trail Conservancy. She is currently on a mission to visit all of Canada's 47 national parks. As a writer, Marlis has published conservation related articles in the “Bruce Trail Magazine” and travel articles in her neighbourhood’s “Village Voice” newsletter.   This piece was originally published in Canadian Geographic here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Free get-togethers in November, plus 3 great workshops: Writing & Revising, How to Write Great Characters, and Writing for Kids

Meet Ups for Writers

Wednesdays, November 2, 9, 16 and 23, 2016

3:30 – 5: 30 p.m.

Holland Room, Burlington Central Library, 2331 New Street, Burlington, Ontario (Map here)

I’m hosting four writing support sessions at the Burlington Central Library. When you get a warren of writers all writing together, the room buzzes with energy and it’s a great motivational boost. So we’ve booked the Holland Room at the library where we can all write tighter for a couple hours each week. Or join your fellow writers at the Café in the library’s foyer, where we’ll be chatting about writing and the projects we’ve got on the go (leaving the Holland Room quiet for those getting words on paper).

This event coincides with National Novel Writing Month, but you don’t have to be taking part in NaNoWriMo to participate in our meet-ups. All you need is an urge to hang out with some fellow writers. 

This event is free, but phone the library and tell them which days you plan to attend so that we know how many to expect. Call: 905-639-3611 ext 1321

(Though if you decide to come at the last minute, that’s fine with me. Just show up with your laptop or pad and pen. If by chance the Holland Room overflows, there will always be room at the café.) ~Brian

Writing and Revising

Saturday, November 5, 2016

1:00 – 4:30 p.m.

North Simcoe Sports & Rec Centre, Multi-Purpose Room, 527 Len Self Boulevard, Midland, Ontario (Map here)

If you want to refine your story-telling skills and cut the time you will need to spend editing, this workshop is for you. You'll learn how to step back from a manuscript in order to find – and fix – flaws in your plot, structure, characterization and style. You'll learn how to rethink, rework and rewrite so that your manuscript will live up to your vision.

Special Option: You’re invited to bring the first 500 – 1,000 words of one of your pieces of writing. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, three copies could be helpful.

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53  at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

How to Write Great Characters   

Saturday, November 12, 2016
10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Grace United Church, 350 Grove Street East, Barrie, Ontario (Map here.)

Whatever you're writing ~ fiction or nonfiction ~ readers will care about your story only if they care about your people. In this workshop, you'll learn techniques for creating fictional characters and depicting real people. You’ll learn how to breathe life into the page so that your characters start telling you how the story should go.

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53  at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Anne Shone, senior editor
Scholastic Books

Writing for Children & for Young Adults ~ the world’s hottest market

With Anne Shone, senior editor, Scholastic Books

Saturday, November 19, 2016

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Unity Church, 3075 Ridegeway Drive, Unit 8, Mississauga, Ontario (Map here)

If you want to write the next best-selling children’s books or just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids and young adults will love and find out what you need to know to sell your book.
Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 2 or 3 copies of the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel (or 1,000 words if that will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot!
Guest speaker Anne Shone is a Senior Editor at Scholastic Canada. Anne has worked in book publishing for close to twenty years, concentrating on children’s books for the last fifteen. In that time, she has worked with many of Canada’s top children’s book authors and illustrators. 

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53  at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers and is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. 

See Brian’s complete schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Writing & Revising workshop, Saturday, March 4, in London

Writing and Revising

Saturday, March 4, 2017

10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

London Central Library, Tonda Room, 251 Dundas St, London (Map here.)

If you want to refine your story-telling skills and cut the time you will need to spend editing, this workshop is for you. You'll learn how to step back from a manuscript in order to find – and fix – flaws in your plot, structure, characterization and style. You'll learn how to rethink, rework and rewrite so that your manuscript will live up to your vision.

Special Option: You’re invited to bring the first 500 – 1,000 words of one of your pieces of writing. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, three copies could be helpful.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published. 

You can read reviews of Brian's courses and workshops here. 

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance by mail or Interac

or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

New literary agent at Levine Greenberg Rostan agency seeks literary and upmarket commercial fiction

Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency
307 Seventh Avenue
Suite 2407
New York, NY 10001

http://lgrliterary.com/

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio and get each post delivered to your Inbox. Also, if you’re not yet on my newsletter, send me an email, including your locale, to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~ Brian

Sarah Bedingfield has joined Levine Greenberg Rostan as an associate agent, working with Stephanie Rostan. Like all new agents, she needs authors, and is actively building a clientele of literary and upmarket commercial fiction authors.

Prior to joining LGR in 2016, Sarah was an assistant editor at Crown and Hogarth. There, she worked with a range of bestselling and award-winning novels, including the Man Booker International Prize winning debut, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. 

Sarah loves most types of literary and upmarket commercial fiction, especially novels that show powerful imagination, compulsive plotting and unique voices. Epic family dramas, literary novels with notes of magical realism, darkly gothic stories that may lead to nightmares and twisty psychological suspense are among her favorite things to read. 

A southerner at heart, she can’t help but love books set in the south, but she’s a die-hard for any world immersive enough to make her miss her stop on the train, cry in public, or desperately unable to sleep.

Sarah hails from North Carolina, where she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a double major in Psychology and English. She spent her first three years in New York teaching high school English in the Bronx and earning an MS in Education from Hunter College. While she misses the warm weather and oversized oak trees of her first home, she wouldn’t trade the inspiring, beautiful energy of “The City” and of publishing for just about anything (short of the beach). When she isn’t reading, Sarah loves to hike and go camping, travel to countries she’s never seen before, cook new recipes, and practice/learn photography and interior design. 

Her favorite authors include Sarah Waters, Shirley Jackson, Matthew Thomas, Maria Semple, Emily St. John Mandel, Erin Morgenstern, and Victor Hugo. Check out a few of the books that have made a mark on her life here.

Query Sarah at: submit@lgrliterary.com  

Include a maximum of 50 pages with your query or use the agency’s online submission form here.

Literary agent Stacey Donaghy

Brian Henry will lead How to Get Published workshops on Saturday,  October 29, in Caledon, at the Bolton Public Library, with Martha Web of the McDermid Agency (see here), and on Saturday, Jan 28, 2017, in Toronto with Stacey Donaghy of the Donaghy agency (see here). 

     Note: If you're looking at this posting after January 2017, check out current How to Get Published workshops here (and scroll down).

On Saturday, November 19, Brian will lead a Writing for Children and for Young Adults workshop in Mississauga with Anne Shone, senior editor, Scholastic Books as his guest speaker (see here). 

Note: If you're looking at this posting after Nov 19, 2016, check out current Writing for Children & for Young Adult workshops and weekly Writing Kid Lit courses here (and scroll down).

To register or for details, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But the best way of getting your manuscript ready for publication, may be with a weekly writing course. Come the new year, a full slate of classes will be offered (Details of all six here):

Exploring Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons, Jan 26 – March 30, Burlington

Writing Personal Stories, Tuesday mornings, Feb 9 – March 30, Oakville. Details here.

Intermediate Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, Jan 18 - March 22, Burlington. Details here.

Intermediate Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, Jan 19 – March 23, Georgetown. Details here.

Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, Jan 25 – March 28, Burlington. .

Extreme Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons,Jan 25 - March 15, Burlington

See details of all six courses here.

To reserve a spot, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Brian Henry also has a number of other great workshops coming up soon: Writing and Revising, Saturday, Nov 5, in Midland (see here), How to Write Great Characters, Saturday, Nov 12, in Barrie (see here), and Writing Your Life and Other Personal Stories, Saturday, Dec 3, in Oakville (see here).

To register of for more information for any of the above, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca 

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigation tip: For many more literary agents seeking authors, click on the Literary Agents button at the top of the page, just below the banner. To see only Canadian agents, click on the button in the right-hand column under More Content. To see only agents representing kid’s lit, click on the Children’s/YA agents button in the list of Labels below.