Posts Tagged ‘readings’
making November warm #1
Before Covid-19 took over our lives, I have warm memories of book launches: people gathering and chatting, taking a chair in the bookstore, listening for the starting lines of a reading. A chance to get a copy signed by the author. Sometimes treats, cake and fruit punch and more talk.
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My fellow writer, Neil Sampson, and I have decided to try for this feeling again. We will be reading from out newest books at Westminster Books on this Saturday, November 12, at 2:00. Neil will read from his book ‘Lanterns on the Nashwaak’ and I will read from ‘Stained Glass,’ the fourth book in the Kaye Eliot Mystery Series. This book launch will be accompanied by cookies and drinks.
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‘Stained Glass’ tells the story of how the Eliot family hunts down a series of stained glass windows. Together, the windows tell the story of four friends in the 1950s and their picnic on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The picnic ends tragically, and the windows will tell who committed a terrible crime.
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Hope to see you at the book launch!
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All my best,
Jane Tims
celebration of a covered bridge 2
Last Saturday, about thirty people gathered in the Rusagonis Covered Bridge Park to celebrate our beautiful covered bridge (the Patrick Owens Bridge) with readings and stories.
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We heard from several speakers and readers including:
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Jeff Carr … Jeff is MLA for New Maryland-Sunbury and candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party in the upcoming provincial election. He recalled the loss this year of the Bell Covered Bridge and some of the frustrating circumstances around that loss.
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Linda Cogswell … Linda is a local historian and reminded us of the history of the Patrick Owens Bridge and the celebration a few years ago of its first hundred years! The original cost of the Patrick Owens Bridge in 1908 was $5,439 !
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Rose Burke … Rose’s reading recalled the loss of the Upper Mills Bridge to fire in 1956 and what it was like to live in a border town in the 1950s. Kids would travel freely across the border, back and forth from Baring, Maine to Upper Mills, New Brunswick, to buy ice-cream or play at one-another’s houses!
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Jenica Atwin … Jenica, a long-time resident of Rusagonis and candidate for the NB Green Party in the upcoming provincial election, read a poem about the way covered bridges affect our daily lives.
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Roger Moore … Roger gave a poignant reading of his poems about our recent flooding in the area and recalled eerie battles with rising water and ruined belongings.
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Neil Sampson … Neil read a poem about the Bell Bridge by Fredericton’s Cultural Laureate, Ian LeTourneau. He also read his own humorous poem about attending a covered bridge gathering after a dental appointment (with ‘covered bridges’).
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and me (Jane Tims) … I read from my poetry book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’. The book includes several poems about the Patrick Owens Bridge and the wild life encountered there – deer and groundhogs, blue jays and rabbits.
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Ray Boucher, President of the New Brunswick Covered Bridge Conservation Association, was on hand to chat about the goal of protecting our remaining covered bridges and ask people to sign the petition to ask government to take steps to preserve the bridges.
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The park was perfect for the occasion and many folks said we should continue to use the park for community events.
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A big thanks to Jeff Carr and his team of Kim Smith, Pat and Mac Burns, Bernie Phillips and others who prepared some delicious food for everyone.
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The day was hot and breezy and all those hats were needed in the afternoon sun!!!
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All my best!
Jane
five ways to prepare for reading from your work
I love to read aloud and my work as a writer gives me lots of reading opportunities.
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Reading at Westminster Books, Fredericton
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Readings take lots of preparation:
- Practice. Stand, read and time your readings. Keeping to the allotted time respects the audience and keeps the reader calm, particularly near the end of the reading. No last minute timing revisions. No being ‘hooked’ off the stage!
- Prepare any remarks not in the reading itself. I usually give a little background to my reading and make a few remarks between poems. These words will be delivered more smoothly if they are composed, written down and practiced.
- Include a give-away. I sometimes raffle one of my paintings or another associated item during my book launches and readings. Everyone likes bookmarks. Business cards should always be available.
- Use props. Once I gave a talk to a group of high school students about career development. I took an old pair of hiking boots with me to talk about my time in the field. The boots make the presentation funny and gave the audience an image to focus on. I often bring my cardboard stand-up aliens when I read from my Meniscus books.
- Involve your audience. Always leave time for questions. Consider adding some interactive components to your reading: ask the audience mid-reading questions, pass a book around, include a quick show of hands.
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my stand-up aliens at a New Maryland market
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I have two readings and a book fair in the next weeks:
WordsSpring, WFNB
7 PM, May 11, 2018 (Friday) at Quality Inn & Suites Amsterdam, Quispamsis for WordSpring (Writers Federation of New Brunswick) – I will be reading from my two newest books: Meniscus: One Point Five – Forty Missing Days, and Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill. Copies of all my books, including ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ will be for sale.
Book Launch, Westminster Books
7 PM, May 25, 2018 (Friday) at Westminster Books in Fredericton. I will be launching my book Meniscus: The Village at Themble Hill. Cary Caffrey (a.k.a. Terry Armstrong) will also be reading from his Girls from Alcyone Science Fiction Series. Everyone is welcome!
2018 Metro Moncton Book Festival
I will be selling my books at the 2018 Metro Moncton Book Festival, June 9, 2018 (Saturday), 10 AM to 3 PM at the Moncton Lions Community Centre (473 St. George Street
Moncton, NB).
Reading at The Attic Owl, Moncton
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Plan your readings and your audience will appreciate the time you have taken.
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If you are in the area, please come to one of my readings. I would love to see you there!
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all my best,
Jane
Authors Coffee House – a reading and book signing by Ian LeTourneau!
I hope you can join us for the Authors Coffee House on January 26 (Friday) at noon in Nasonworth (see poster) to hear readings from Ian LeTourneau, well-known poet and Cultural Laureate for the City of Fredericton. Ian will read from his books Terminal Moraine and Core Sample. You can also enjoy a hot lunch of soup , rolls, and dessert.
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More than a year ago our church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Nasonworth New Brunswick, began the Authors Coffee House as a way of reaching out to the community. Once every two months we have gathered to meet new people in the community and celebrate the work of a local author. So far we have heard from Roger Moore, Shari Andrews, Nick Guitard, John Leroux and Jane Tims (me). The Authors Coffee House includes a reading from the featured author, a chance to buy a signed book and a free will and/or author donation to a local charity. Charities benefiting from this event have included Grace House for Women, Fredericton Food Bank, Fredericton Community Foundation, Fredericton Hospice and the Uganda Outreach project of Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
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Nicholas Guitard speaks to an attentive audience about New Brunswick’s waterfalls (Authors Coffee House, May, 2017)
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Ian Letourneau is our guest author for January, 2018.
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Ian LeTourneau, reading his poetry
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Ian is Poetry Editor of The Fiddlehead ( a renowned literary magazine), the Cultural Laureate for the City of Fredericton, Chair of Word Feast – Fredericton’s Literary Festival, and an avid supporter of the writing community in Fredericton. He is also a wonderful poet with three books of poetry: Core Sample (Frog Hollow Press, 2017), Terminal Moraine (Thistledown Press, 2008) and Defining Range (Gaspereau Press, 2006). I know Ian as a great teacher, having taken a course from him at the Maritime Writers Workshop. I also love his poetry – it sparkles with images from the natural world. His beautiful poem Murmuration: Starlings on the St. John River is on display beside the walking path along the St. John River in Fredericton.
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image from mutualresponsibility.org
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If you live in the Fredericton area, I hope you will come to the next Authors Coffee House, January 26, 2018 at noon at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Nasonworth. Hear Ian read, buy a signed copy of one of his books, contribute to Ian’s chosen charity the Friends of the Fredericton Public Library and enjoy a hot lunch (soup, rolls, coffee or tea and dessert). I hope I will see you there!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2018
new book and new line-up of readings!
With the publication of my new book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ comes a new series of readings. I wish you were near so you could attend.
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I love to read in public. Reading about covered bridges will be lots of fun because people love the subject matter. In New Brunswick we still have 59 covered bridges and most people can tell you a story about their local bridge or about one they cross as they travel the New Brunswick roads.
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Readings lined up so far:
Authors Coffee House, Nasonworth, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, November 23, 2017 … 7 PM
Book Launch, Westminster Books, Fredericton, December 2, 2017 … 2 PM
Library Reading, Sussex Public Library, January, 2017 …. keep watch for details
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My reading at the Authors Coffee House will be a bit different. I have prepared a slide show of some of the bridges in my book. $10 from the sale of each book will go to a church outreach project in Uganda. And we will have cookies from the Goody Shop in Fredericton!
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Hope to see you there!
Jane
Fredericton’s Literary Festival — Word Feast
This Thursday evening is the launch of Fredericton’s Word Feast, a literary festival to be held in Fredericton during the Week of September 18 – 24, 2017. Word Feast is expected to be an annual festival, featuring a lecture, workshops, seminars, readings, and other events.
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To launch this event, there will be an announcement party this Thursday June 1, 2017 at 7 PM in the Chickadee Hall of the Fredericton Public Library. Each of the main categories of literary events will be announced and there will be readings by some well-known Fredericton writers. Our readers will include Sue Sinclair, Kathy Goggin, Mark Jarman, and Paul McAllister. I will be reading from my poetry about wild edible plants. Everyone is welcome and the launch party is free!
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This will be an enjoyable evening and a chance to hear about the great line-up planned for Word Feast.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
Authors Coffee House – a reading by poet Shari Andrews
Hi Everyone. Our church (Holy Trinity, Nasonworth) is holding the third in our series of Authors Coffee Houses next Thursday evening (March 23, 2017) at 7:00 PM.
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Our author this month is Shari Andrews, award-winning poet and a resident of New Maryland. Shari will be reading from her books “Crucible” and “First Thin Light”.
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“Crucible” is a tribute to St. Catherine of Siena who lived in the Middle Ages, and a dramatic imagining of the people and events in her life.
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“First Thin Light” is about the ties that bind our past to our present.
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Shari’s writing is steeped in history and many of her poems are responses to works of art. Her poems ponder women’s experience —
From her poem ‘Where She Laid Her Body Down’ (After “The Walk to Work” by Jean-François Millet, 1851) in “First Thin Light”:
“She wears the withy basket,
she will fill again and again with potatoes,
upside down
like an over-sized hat,
a roof she wants to keep over her head …”
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There will be a free-will offering to benefit the Fredericton Food Bank.
Dessert, tea and coffee and good company!
Hope to see you there if you are in the Fredericton area!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
apples, apples, apples – preparing for public readings
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I associate fall with picking apples and enjoying all those apple-related treats – apple cider, apple squares, apple jelly and, of course, the apples themselves.
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As part of my celebrating of fall and apple picking, I will be giving four public readings of my book over the next couple of weeks. Since my book ‘within easy reach’ is about eating local foods, my readings will focus on my memories of the apple harvest and trips to local orchards.
The readings are:
- I make a selection of the poems I will read. For the first two readings, I’ll select poems about apple picking – this is the time when New Brunswickers visit local orchards to get the best fall apples! I mark my book with post-it tabs so I can find each passage easily.
- I make a few notes about how I want to preface each poem. I put the notes on other post-it tabs right on the page. Some poets don’t like to preface their reading – I like to say something about each poem since I like to prepare the listener.
- I practice my readings aloud, including my preface comments. Practicing helps me time the presentation and work out phrasing and emphasis.
- I do some promotion for each of the readings – posting on my blog, on Facebook and Twitter. For the Authors Coffee Hour I also have a poster to put in a couple of local places.
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I love to read in public. Sometimes I worry a bit about audience response and the possibility I may stumble on delivery. But, if I am well prepared, I can relax, take three deep breaths and enjoy reading my words aloud.
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nichepoetryandprose 