PAPER CHASE: Thomas to write in Berton House

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/01/2012 (5308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If walls can talk, Winnipeg author Joan Thomas is in for a treat. The Writers’ Trust of Canada has selected her for a three-month residency at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon, the childhood home of Pierre Berton. Thomas was one of four chosen from 68 applicants for the 2011-2012 residency year.

Thomas is thrilled. She was in the area, camping, in 1996 when the house was just being set up as a writers’ retreat. “I remember walking by the house and saying, ‘OK, I’m going to write a novel so I can apply for this retreat and we can come back and stay here.’ “

The award-winning author of Reading by Lightning and Curiosity says she will spend her time in the North working on her next novel, Help Island.

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Winnipeg’s David Alexander Robertson doesn’t shy away from tough stories. His graphic novel The Life of Helen Betty Osborne detailed the brutal 1971 abduction and murder of the young Cree woman in The Pas.

This week Robertson will launch another graphic novel: It’s the true story of Betsy Ross, her difficulties before and during her time at a residential school in Cross Lake.

Robertson says he’d touched on the subject of residential schools in his comic book series, 7 Generations, but wanted to go deeper. “I wanted to tell the story in a way that would reach, and educate, as many people as possible so that there would hopefully be a greater understanding of what the First Nations people went through and what the lasting effects have been.”

Robertson, with artist Scott B. Henderson, will launch Sugar Falls on Thursday, 7:30 p.m., at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

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Toronto author Liz Worth has been travelling across Canada promoting Amphetamine Heart, a punk rock inspired book of poetry. At an event called Words Allowed in Winnipeg tonight she will read alongside several Winnipeg poets: Chandra Mayor, Drek Daa, Deborah Schnitzer and Courtney Slobogian.

Worth hand-picked her fellow readers with care. “Going to hear authors can offer a lot more diversity than going to hear bands. At readings, you can get a lot of different dynamics in one room.”

Amphetamine Heart is Worth’s second book; the first was a non-fiction title called Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond. Tonight’s reading is at the Mondragon Café at 8.

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This week the frontman of the Winnipeg band the Weakerthans, John K. Samson, will celebrate the release of Lyrics & Poems, 1997-2012, a collection of the band’s song lyrics, and songs from Samson’s newly released solo album.

“It seemed like it would be a good companion for my first full-length solo record, Provincial, which is coming out at the same time,” Samson explains.

Samson will mark the release on Friday with solo performances at the Winnipeg Folk Festival music store, 203-211 Bannatyne Ave. at 12:30 p.m., and the Music Trader, 97 Osborne St. at 7 p.m. He will sign copies of the book on Saturday at 2 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

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