“Welcome to the 3rd Age – the world of the active retired – of the over 60’s – of the first wave of Baby Boomers. The age of exploring, trail-breaking and pioneering. Of shared insights, learning new skills and making a difference in our communities. Of tackling Ageism head on and carving out a new role for older people.”

This is the world of Salt Spring author, father, grandfather, activist and baby boomer Terry Oliver.

On June 16, Terry releases his second book in his third age trilogy, “Blue Eyed Boy.” We caught up with him to discuss his very interesting author viewpoint and what brought him here, to Salt Spring Island.

What is the concept behind Third Age World?

“We are an ageing population in almost every western country in the world. What does this mean for us as individuals and communities? The 3rd age world is the idea that when people reach the over sixty age – the active retirement age, they enter a new stage of life – a period of exploration, of contemplation, of investigation of the possibilities of this 3rd age of their lives when they are freeing themselves from the responsibilities of job, family, householding. Ageing has a different agenda and this is the time to find out what it means to each of us, based on our life experience,” he explains.

What inspired you to write these books?

“As a third ager myself, I wanted to explore these ideas and possibilities and so I loosely based the plots and characters on people who were in similar positions and how they might cope with this change in their lives. I also wanted to travel outside of a western culture to get a different – eastern perspective on how to live one’s life.”

The Blue-Eyed Boy follows the two main characters, Barney and Alice and their family from the first novel in the 3rd Age Trilogy, called In Hot Pursuit. As empty-nesters, they decide to go their separate ways, Barney to Asia, to the Far East in search of answers and insights, and Alice to a new relationship, a life in academe and her passion for the Roman period and its reflection in the values of the Georgian era and its architecture.

The story moves back and forth between them and the working out of new patterns in relationships, post-60.

Readers have been raving about the books since the first one came out in 2007.

“Read the book, be inspired. It made me think of using these special years exploring in a more creative way,“ writes a reader from the UK in a review about In Hot Pursuit on the Third Age website.

“This novel is a very enjoyable  read with lots of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. Being a ‘third-ager’ myself, I understand the longing of the main character, Barney Roper, to find meaning at this late stage of his life.”

“I am a few years shy of becoming a 3rd ager. However, sharing the adventures of Alice and Barney through reading this book makes me take a more optimistic look toward aging. I look forward to many great personal adventures to come. You can’t help but admire the unrelenting nature of Barney Roper and his desire to experience all that life has to offer.
A good read!” Mary Pitchford from Brantford Ontario writes about The Blue Eyed Boy.

As for his own story – Terry was born in a small gold mining town in northern Ontario, and was educated in southern Ontario in and around Toronto. After university and teacher training, he moved to the UK to work in the theatre which he did off and on for over a decade. “I wanted to write and direct plays, not act in them. It took me a long time and two broken relationships to realize I was never going to earn enough to support a family so I returned to teaching and adult education.

It was only after I retired – entered my third age – that I took up novel writing. Prior to that I had always seen myself as a playwright. Since then I’ve divided my time between the UK and Canada – the west coast and now Salt Spring Island.”

Terry moved to Salt Spring a year ago.“I have been searching for a real community for a long time and this comes close to embodying much of what I wanted to be involved in for this period of my life.”

Terry Oliver will be featured on CFSI Radio on June 16th with Karen Hudson and will be discussing his new book release.

Follow Terry’s blog: The Third Age Chronicles. He welcomes comments and discussion on his posts. Visit his website to read book excerpts and for information about where to purchase his books in the UK and North America.

The last book in the the trilogy  ‘A Single Step’ – will be released this coming  fall/winter.

June 6-11, 2010 – Mystery Writers’ Retreat: Salt Spring Island, part of the Summer Publishing Workshop series offered by Simon Fraser University.

Gail Bowen

Imagine spending a week on Salt Spring Island with some of Canada’s top mystery writing minds: picking their brains, learning their techniques, and getting the how to’s of writing a successful mystery novel.

This intensive workshop will guide writers through their own manuscripts with daily lectures, discussions and one-on-one sessions with faculty advisers and editors such as Gail Bowen, well-known mystery series writer, Margaret Cannon, crime-fiction columnist at the Globe and Mail, and Carolyn Swayze, one of Canada’s top literary agents.

At the end of the week, selected participants will read from their manuscripts at a public open mike session at the Cedar Beach Resort. Moderated by well-known mystery author William Deverell, this event will also feature readings from other faculty and guests.

Spaces for the workshop are still available! Please contact Suzanne Norman at 778-782-5241 or pubworks (at) sfu.ca to register. For more information visit: http://www.ccsp.sfu.ca/pubworks/TheMysteryWritersRetreat

About

The Summer Publishing Workshops at SFU in Vancouver focus on six topic areas – book publishing, magazine publishing, editing, design, new media, and writing. The workshops are developed in association with Canada’s foremost publishing professionals.

http://www.ccsp.sfu.ca/pubworks

September 25th -  Nine Salt Spring authors in a Literary Reading about childhood – A benefit for the Centre for Child Honouring

Be enraptured, amused and touched by poets, novelists, nonfiction writers, literary prize-winners some with international reputations.

Each reader is limited to only 6 minutes. It should be a beautiful evening of examining and expressing both light and dark on the subject of childhood.
Our readers are:
Brian Brett
Raffi Cavoukian
Shirley Graham
Peter Levitt
Kathy Page
Linda Kavelin Popov
Murray Reiss
Nadine Shelly
And George Sipos
Our MC is poet and Zen teacher, Peter Levitt.

Writer and grandmother, Maureen Moore, will provide a brief introduction: “How my childhood made me an activist who helped to save sensitive land on SSI.”

Win a prize!  Childhood photos of our readers will be displayed.  Everyone will have a chance to guess which photos match which adult writer.
Write your own memories!  Along another wall, there will be a space for those people, who wish to do so, (not required!) to jot down their childhood memories. Some material, supplied earlier, will be from our SSI children.
As well, new information about Child Honouring and the Spirit of One campaign will be available (as well as authors’ books which may be signed by the writers themselves).  Raffi and others will answer questions about the Spirit of One campaign and the Centre for Child Honouring on Salt Spring Island.

The Literary Reading takes place on Friday, September 25th at 7:00pm at the Lions Club (103 Bonnet Ave.) Admission is by donation, refreshments are available.Doors open at 6:30pm.

Submitted by Deirdre Rowland

Salt Spring Books and Dancing Crow Press are pleased to announce the launch of
Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: A Photo Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Island. Text by Evelyn C. White photos by Joanne Bealy

Come celebrate this landmark community event on Sunday 27 September 2-4pm at Lions Hall.

About the book…
Disaffected with increasingly repressive laws that aimed to curtail their hard-won freedom, a courageous group of blacks in California left the state in the 1850s and settled in western Canada, notably on Salt Spring Island. Today, direct descendants of the early black pioneers still reside in the pastoral landscape also hailed as one of the top artist colonies in North America. In recent years, people of African descent from the U.S., the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the South Pacific Islands, and other regions of Canada have settled on Salt Spring inspiring a renaissance in the island’s black heritage. Resplendent with archival and contemporary photos, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone documents the intriguing racial history of Salt Spring and, as such, serves as a celebration of the multicultural roots of Canada.

Early praise…
“It is fantastic. Thank you so much for making a contribution to Black British Columbian history. Not only is it uplifting to all of us but also to the people of Salt Spring. (I saw one of the featured gentlemen reading the book in the park. He had such a grin on his face. He was quite proud.)”

“I just wanted to send a quick message to say how much I have learned from, and been moved by, your new book “Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone”… Thank you for a great contribution to BC literature.  There are many things to praise in the book, but I particularly appreciated the way your thoughtful account of history was tied to and informed a fascinating and inclusive celebration of Salt Spring’s present (and recent) black residents.”

About the Authors…
Salt Spring Island resident Evelyn C. White is the author of Alice Walker: A Life (2004). She is at work on an illustrated book about Aretha Franklin.
Joanne Bealy is a photographer/writer who lives on Salt Spring Island.

]]> http://www.saltspringcommunity.com/2009/every-goodbye-aint-gone-book-launch/feed/ 4 http://www.saltspringcommunity.com/2009/summer-reading-club-2009/ http://www.saltspringcommunity.com/2009/summer-reading-club-2009/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:12:30 +0000 Suzanne Little http://www.saltspringcommunity.com/?p=853

Organizers of the summer reading club invite children to “Follow that Reader  – for information, inspiration, adventures, games, mystery and prizes. Meet guest authors and illustrators.”  This summer’s guests include Briony Penn, author of The Kids Book of Canadian Geography; Michela Sorrentino, illustrator of a new book “Alfalfabet: A-Z; and Garth Hendren, library supporter, reader and CRD Director, all hosted by Clare Cullen, the Story Lady.

Why join the Summer Reading Club?

Salt Spring Library Summer Reading Club is a fun, free way to keep kids of all ages reading all summer long and help them develop the regular reading habit. Did you know that children who read at home do better in school?

How does it work?

Sign up at the library and get a free reading booklet to keep track of your summer reading. Read for at least 15 minutes a day, (or for our younger readers, read with someone for 15 minutes per day) and get a sticker at the library for every 5 days of reading! Kids can read their favourite books at home, on vacation, or anywhere they like. Stickers can also be earned by attending special Summer Reading Club events at the library. Bring your reading record to the library every time you visit to be eligible for medals and prizes.

Who can join?

Readers entering Grade 6 and younger are all eligible.

What’s going on at the library?

Visit us at the library each week from the end of June until August 5 for stickers, new books and free programs. We will also have brand new booklists with great reading suggestions for kids of all ages. Contests are open to ages 5-12yrs. Book draws are also held at each of the Wednesday Programs.

When is Summer Reading Club?

Sign up starts June 22 at Salt Spring Island Public Library.

There are 5 programs on Wednesdays from 1:00 – 2:00 pm, July 8, 15, 22, 29, and August 5

Check the Kids Summer Reading Club website in July and August for quizzes and reading suggestions.

The Summer Reading Club is sponsored by Salt Spring Island Public Library and the British Columbia Library Association , with assistance from the Public Library Services Branch, Ministry of Education. Medals are sponsored by the Royal Bank Financial Group.

Teen Summer Reading Club

Are you 13 or older? Check out the BC Library on-line Teen Summer Reading Club.

You are invited to share a tantric picnic  – at a reading in the ArtSpring Gallery. Monday April 27th 7PM Admission is  Free.

Hans Plomp, visiting Dutch author, will be reading from Tantric  Picnic, Tales of India, in the ArtSpring Gallery on Monday night.  This is the first reading of this fascinating work in English and launches his Canadian book tour.
Tantric Picnic, just published by BC’s Ekstasis Editions, is an insightful memoir of experiences and adventures on the astonishing sub-continent of India and has sold 50 thousand copies in Holland. The great Polish writer Richard Kapucinsky called it, “one of the best books on India he’d ever read.”
Hans Plomp’s published 30 books, including novels, short stories and essays. Some of his English poems were published in City Lights Pocket Poets Series #42: Nine Dutch Poets. He’s traveled extensively, especially in India, where he spent some five years. In 1982 he toured the U.S. with a group of Dutch poets, performing with Anne Waldman, Diana di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and others.
Born in Amsterdam in 1944, he participated in “a period of magical change.”  He took an active part in the playful Dutch Provo Revolution of the Sixties including the White Bicycle movement. In 1973 he saved a village and founded an artists’ colony with friends and kindred spirits in Ruigoord, a place destined to be demolished for Amsterdam’s expanding industries.  In addition, he continues to organize literary events and the annual “Fiery Tongues” festivals of poetry and music.
As Hans Plomp states in his introduction, “India is a time machine where travelers encounter realities and cultures that people in the West know only from history, mythology and fairy tales…”

Come and enjoy!  Monday, 27 April, 7PM at ArtSpring.  All welcome.  Free.  (Sponsored by Salt Spring Books and Ekstasis Editions)

The Way of a Story: crafting  fiction and creative non-fiction – a four day workshop with Kathy Page and Derek Lundy

Salt Spring Island May 9-13th , 2009

Writers of memoir, fiction and creative non-fiction are all storytellers, and  each genre has much to offer the other. This workshop is a unique opportunity for both beginners and experienced writers to  work in a small group with novelist Kathy Page and  creative non-fiction author Derek Lundy, two highly respected writers  who happen to be neighbours too.  It will  include presentations,  writing exercises and  discussions, as well as an optional consultation with one of the  authors, and is suitable for any writer who feels they have a story to tell, whether that be  memoir, fiction,  creative non-fiction, or yet to be decided.

The workshop begins with a local food buffet on the evening of Sat 9th May and the next three days are from 9.30am – 4pm  in the authors’ homes.  Wednesday is a half-day to allow for travel time. Readings and discussions are planned for some of the evenings.

Click here for more info: course site

See also Kathy Page teaching pages

Cost:  $390  includes the buffet, lunch Sun-Weds, and tea/coffee.  Participants are responsible for their own accommodation:

A huge range from camping to luxury  is available locally, see: Saltspring accommodations. But for budget accommodation nearby, we recommend The Harbour House Hotel where several  rooms at special rates as low as $30 per night (sharing) have been set aside for participants on  this course.

Registration/further information: contact dereklu…@shaw.ca or kathyp…@shaw.ca

Derek Lundy is the author of Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World’s Most Dangerous Waters, which was a best seller in Canada and the United States and has been translated into eight languages, and of The Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail, a B.C. Book Prize finalist, and a Globe & Mail Best Book in 2002.  The Bloody Red Hand: A Journey Through Truth, Myth and Terror in Northern Ireland was published in 2006, and a book about his motorcycle rides along the United States’ borders with Mexico and Canada will be published in 2010. This past year, Derek conducted a workshop for the Writer’s Trust of Canada, and juried both the Writer’s Trust’s non-fiction book award, and the B.C. Arts Council’s creative writing grant applications.

Kathy Page is the author of seven novels, most recently Alphabet, nominated for a Governor General’s award in 2005, and The Story of My Face, long-listed for the orange prize in 2002, and currently in development as a feature film.  An award winning short story writer, she has also written for radio and TV and  published memoir and travel journalism.  Kathy has mentored and facilitated writing workshops for many arts organisations including Banff Centre for the Arts, the Victoria School of Writing, The Writers’ Trust and the Arvon Foundation in the UK. She has worked in universities in Canada, UK, Finland and Estonia, and held numerous writer’s residencies. Wherever she works, participants come away with new ideas and insights, tools, confidence, and words on the page.