The Battle River Writing Centre (BRWC), based in Camrose, is holding its annual workshop in honour of Poetry Month on April 27, at the Camrose Heritage Railway Museum and Park.
The workshop, “Writing Poetry for Submission,” will include instruction on inspiration to publication, an exploration of a variety of poetic forms, writing to prompts and group critiques for both beginner and experienced writers.
The centre’s membership includes local writers as well as international members.
“Amongst our fine writers … is Cathie Bartlett, a fine and experienced writer whose trilogy stems out of Bashaw,” said BRWC founder and coordinator Dr. Jane Ross.
Destination Prairie - A Young Highlander’s Journey in her New Land, Bartlett’s first novel, is based in the Bashaw area.
“I joined the group several years ago and since then, Bayeux Arts of Calgary published my debut novel,” said Bartlett, who is a resident of Camrose.
“My novel describes two years in the life of Grace Sinclair, who at age 17 is dispatched from her home in Scotland to a village near Medicine Hat to care for her brother’s motherless children.
“The understanding was that she would return home in two years; however, a year after her arrival in Alberta she is pushed out through no fault of her own and sent to a village near Bashaw to work as a domestic for a couple she does not know.
“There follows a very dark time of Grace’s life but she manages the difficult work situation, pushing her loneliness to the back of her mind … More often than not, her afternoons off are spent in Bashaw, where on one occasion she takes in The Last of the Mohicans at the Majestic Theatre.”
Bartlett’s character Grace eventually moves to Edmonton, where she is employed by a kindly lawyer and his wife.
“Her new place is fashioned after Rutherford House, where I volunteered before moving to Camrose. Grace’s life is much happier, helped by a friendship she strikes up with a young Indigenous woman.”
Bartlett has also contributed to BRWC publications Poems from Life as it Happens and Arts that flow as stories from our landscape: Alberta.
From Ontario, Bartlett graduated from Western University with a degree in journalism. She was a news reporter for various media outlets for 12 years, and a freelance writer in Edmonton for many years following that.
The poetry workshop on April 27 is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lunch is included. The cost per participant is $75.
To register, contact the centre at writingpoetryforsubmission@gmail.com or phone 780-672-9315.
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