Friday, 3 February 2012

7:30 PM

Michelangelo’s Restaurant, Atkinson College

York University

See the entire conference program: Towards a National Italian-Canadian Archive

7:30 PM – FRIDAY 27 JANUARY 2012
THUNDER BAY ART GALLERY
1080 KEEWATIN STREET – CONFEDERATION COLLEGE CAMPUS

From Sense of Place: Adam Medley, Secrets of Ventriloquism – Now Revealed, 2006

7 PM ~ THURSDAY 26 JANUARY 2012
MAGPIE TAVERN
831 DUNDAS WEST ~ TORONTO

Speakeasy is the University of Guelph MFA in Creative Writing’s monthly reading series. Readings take place on the last Thursday of the month at the Magpie Tavern, 831 Dundas Street West, Toronto. Nino Ricci reads on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 7 PM.

Long derided as an enemy of the book, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now poised to publish one.

Bucking a tradition established by fellow neoconservative Mike Harris, who named the picture book Mr. Silly as his favourite work of literature, the Prime Minister’s book will purportedly contain actual text.

News of the impending publication has led to a softening of opinion toward Harper in the country’s writing community.

Bucking a neoconservative tradition, the Prime Minister’s book will purportedly contain actual text.

“Finally the Prime Minister’s copyright policy is starting to make sense,” said a spokesperson for the Writers’ Union, referring to legislation currently before Parliament that critics complain will claw back writers’ rights and threaten the livelihoods of both writers and publishers. “We all thought he had a thing against literature, but it turns out he was just trying to clear some space for himself by killing off the competition. You have to admit it’s a pretty clever strategy.”

Two-time Governor General’s Award winner Nino Ricci, recently appointed to the Order of Canada, has had a similar change of heart.

“When I was up in Ottawa for the GG awards in 2008, people were saying he prorogued Parliament just so he wouldn’t have to congratulate the winners. So I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t show up for the Order of Canada shindig last fall.”

News of Harper’s book, however, got Ricci thinking. He had noted that among his fellow Order of Canada inductees were a number of prominent business leaders, including the CEO of a tar sands corporation.

“I mean, the arts types were in a minority, so logically, Harper should have been there. Then when I heard about his book I got to wondering if maybe it was just crowds he didn’t like, or award ceremonies.”

Industry insiders say an aversion to crowds and award ceremonies should stand Harper in good stead for the book circuit, where awards typically go only to friends of the jurors and where crowds traditionally fall well below those of even a typical Senate sitting or Liberal fundraiser.

Sources inside the PMO say that promotional efforts for Harper’s book will include an initiative they are calling “One Country, One Book,” in which every man, woman and child in the country will be encouraged to buy and read what is officially being referred to as “The Harper Book.” The project is envisioned as a multi-year one.

“After all, it took the Prime Minister eight years to write the thing,” said a spokeperson. “We’re anticipating it might take that long for people to actually read it.”

Harper himself has stated unequivocally that he doesn’t expect to make any money from the book, which will put him squarely in the ranks of many of the country’s finest writers. For the time being he is able to get by on the salary he receives as prime minister, though he may eventually be reduced to subsidizing his writing with Canada Council grants and his government pension. Pensions for former parliamentarians run from $30,000 to $100,000 annually, while Canada Council grants provide successful applicants with as much as $24,000 to get them through the several years it may take to complete a book.

“Incarceration opens up a whole new avenue of funding for artists.”

News of the Prime Minister’s book comes just as he has been reaping dividends from the arts community on another front, his omnibus crime bill. A recent study has shown that artists are one of the groups most likely to see increased jail time under the bill, thanks to the volatile combination of their general tendency toward anti-authoritarian behaviour and their increased economic vulnerability under other Harper initiatives.

“Incarceration opens up a whole new avenue of funding for artists,” opined one arts pundit. “Free board, free lodging, and all the time in the world to create.”

Catch the documentary based on Nino Ricci’s biography of Pierre Elliott Trudeau in PMA Productions’ Extraordinary Canadians series.

• City TV – Sunday, January 15 2012: 8 PM.

• Biography – Saturday January 21, 2011: 7:30 PM.

• Omni - Coming in Spring 2012 in Mandarin, Hindi and Italian.

Directed by the award-winning documentarian Helene Klodawsky and produced by PMA Productions, based on the book in Penguin Canada’s Extraordinary Canadians series. For more information, visit Extraordinary Canadians.

Tracy Moore of Cityline and Melanie Ng of CityNews host The Book Lover’s Ball, a night of literary fun and fashion in support of Toronto’s Public Library. Thursday, February 9, 2012 at the Fairmont Royal York. Voted one of Toronto’s best fundraisers.

Cultures within Cultures

Talking Fresh 10 – “Projecting the Novel: Books and Film”
March 2-3 at the Mackenzie Art Gallery

Talking Fresh is a two-day writers’ workshop that targets Regina and a wider Saskatchewan community including aspiring writers and anyone interested in writers and books.

This year Talking Fresh celebrates its 10th anniversary with the theme of “Projecting the Novel: Books and Film.” Alison Pick, Gail Bowen, Karen Walton and Nino Ricci, will present a public reading, panel discussion, and individual workshop sessions on writing fiction and screenplays through various stages of pre-production to film to television.

The presenters will focus on building relationships between the writers, film, and the wider community.

Friday, March 2
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Panel: Books & Film
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Red Carpet Reception (Prizes for best Red Carpet attire)
7:30 p.m. Readings

Saturday, March 3
9:00 – 10:15 a.m. Alison Pick: “Uncertain Gifts: One Writer’s Take on Being Optioned for Film”
10:30 – 11:45 a.m. Gail Bowen: “The Cheques Always Cleared: A Novelist’s Adventures in the Amazing World of TV production”
Lunch on your own
1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Nino Ricci: “How I Sold My Soul to Sophia Loren: The Sequel”
3:00 – 4:15 p.m. Karen Walton: “Adaptables: the difference between Translation to Screens versus Adaptation”

• Gail Bowen is a local mystery writer and nearly a household name in Regina. Her popular Joanne Killborn mystery books have been made into a series of television movies.
• Alison Pick has had huge literary success with her last two novels, both of which are in preproduction.
• Nino Ricci’s novel The Lives of Saints was adapted into a miniseries.
• Karen Walton Irreverent, genre-bending dramatist Karen Walton is a Canadian film and television writer.

Amnesty International invites you, your family, friends, and colleagues to be part of Write for Rights. Enjoy an afternoon and evening of mingling, letter writing, and inspirational words from guest speakers. Nino Ricci speaks about his own involvement with Amnesty International at 4 PM.

For more information visit www.amnesty.ca/writeathon or contact Nancy Cameron at 416.363.9933 ext. 328 or ncameron@amnesty.ca.

John Miller of the Toronto Writers’ Co-operative talks to Nino Ricci as part of his ongoing series of literary interviews. Following the interview, two authors from the Toronto Writers’ Co-operative will read from their work.

2 PM on Saturday, December 10th, 2011 in the Toronto Reference Library’s Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium East. 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, just north of Bloor Street. Telephone 416-395-5577.