News Items

On August 21, fourteen OIW members and three guests gathered at Biagio’s Italian Kitchen for an enjoyable summer social despite the rain. Some of us were among the determined bunch who also attended reading night after the June 23rd earthquake.

As the “summer” event organizer, I left home early in the pouring rain to catch a city bus and continued along the street even after getting soaked by a speeding truck. The unnecessarily rushed driver seemed to have an uncanny ability to hit puddles at the side of the road.

Biagio’s was flexible with letting us set up early. Our server was very accommodating with reorganizing tables and shuffling menus for hungry patrons. As more warm bodies arrived at our private room, she turned on the air conditioner.

Attendees were treated to appetizers and the welcoming spirit of Shannon Lee Mannion who provided me with relief as I attempted to dry off and relax with a glass of white wine. Shannon also helped coordinate the readings and took photographs of the group.

Treasurer Mike Montreuil and Membership Director Theresa Jobateh represented the OIW Executive. The others already had full social calendars with marathons, weddings and other social gatherings.

Katherine Williams was our timer, making sure each reader didn’t go too far beyond the allotted time of five-minutes.

The Readings:

Bernard J. Muzeen read from “Legend of the Candy Cane” while wearing a Santa hat with bells.

Barbara Florio Graham read an excerpt from Simon Teakettle’s Mewsings called “Grow Your Own Fur Coat”.

Relatively new member Katherine Williams read from “Workplace Bullying: A Survival Guide”.

Mike Montreuil read the original French and his translated English versions of poems by Monique Bosco.

Newest member Janice Tuzo read from her romance / thriller novel “Whispers of No Escape”. Apparently, this was her first public reading. We congratulated her on her confident delivery.

Agnes N. Bright read from “The House of the Yellow Star”, a novel about the lives of teenagers in 1944 Hungary.

Margaret Cunningham read from “Leaves and Fishes”, recalling memories of times with her father and brothers.

Theresa Jobateh read an excerpt from “The Year of the Rabbit”, her hopeful, forth-coming novel about fate, family and forgiveness.

Shannon announced a plan for a Basic Internet Training workshop that she and a friend are organizing for senior citizens. For more information, visit www.slmannion.com and look for links with updates.

Since Biagio’s needed the room for another party arriving at 6:30 p.m., we accommodated their request to pay our bills and clear out by 6:00. Attendees were welcome to move to the dining room for dessert and coffee. Only five of us ladies took advantage of that option. I lost the battle with attempting to finish a piece of their delicious chocolate pecan pie.

It was a wonderful afternoon and evening spent with OIW members, friends and new acquaintances. I think my pants and sandals finally dried out by the time I left the restaurant – just in time to skip around puddles and catch an OC Transpo bus home.

Organizing these events takes time, energy and patience. I admire those who volunteer to do this on a regular basis.

The next members’ reading opportunity will be at the September 30th meeting. For information on future events visit www.oiw.ca and click “Events”.

Report prepared by Theresa Jobateh; photographs by Shannon Lee Manion

Eight dauntless OIW readers had their voice despite a 5.0 earthquake and barred gates at the Library and Archives Canada building.

Randy Ray, OIW publicity director, moved quickly in the wake of the earthquake that shook most of central and eastern Ontario, Wednesday, June 23.

He checked on the status of 395 Wellington. Learned that the building was closed and sent an email to all members announcing the fact.

Randy and I agreed that we should arrive on schedule to greet any who did not receive the email. Good move because about 20 came. We milled about for a half-hour or so, waiting for stragglers, while considering two options: one that we convene somewhere else or that we postpone reading night to the first membership meeting in September.

Eventually we decided to do both. With September in mind, many decided to return home. But eight readers, non-reader Barbara Hummel, and Randy, Theresa, and I, headed south up the hill to the Southern Cross, undaunted even by the graying sky with clouds that looked puffed with moisture.

Julia Cromey was able to arrange for a long table but otherwise the conditions were not satisfying. We had to contend with piped music and animated (but polite) conversation of others.

Fortunately, Patricia K. McCarthy was first to read and she then volunteered to do the timing. A serious missing piece was the lack of a timer. So (no pun intended) we had to play it by ear. A result was an uneven amount of time given different readers.

One reader was most efficient and read her piece a healthy number of seconds under the allotted five minutes. Another reader lost her place at exactly five minutes so she was asked to stand down. Other readers crept passed the allotted time.

The writing was excellent and the stories told were most interesting. After each reader there was animated discussion, in a spirit of good feeling that included responses from the writer.

I won't report on them here but they reinforced my conclusion that OIW houses a remarkable and growing number of first-string writers. By the way, it was raining when we headed for home, but we were satisfied (pun intended) that it hadn't rained on our parade.

In the spirit of fair play I'll be proposing to the board that we reschedule Reader's Night to our first membership meeting of our next fiscal year, Thursday, September 30. Those who will read then should include the dauntless eight who read Wednesday, June 23.

They were: Patricia K. McCarthy, Susan Jennings, Hazel Johnson, Agnes Nemeth Bright, Mary Ellen Kot, Julia Cromey, Yohanna Loonen, Albert Villeneuve-Sinclair.

More power to you.

Looking forward.

Carl Dow
Vice-President
Ottawa Independent Writers

Ottawa Independent Writers (OIW) has created a writing scholarship for students who attend the University of Ottawa (U of O).

Known as the Ottawa Independent Writers’ Scholarship for Creative Writing, it will award $500 per year to a student involved in creative writing courses at U of O during the academic years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The first and third years will see scholarships given to the student who has achieved the highest mark on the portfolio of finished works completed at the end of the seminar ENG3264, Creative Writing, a U of O course in the English program.

The second year will see a scholarship given to a deserving undergraduate student registered in a program at the Département de français at U of O that includes at least one course in creative writing. Applicants must submit a portfolio composed of three of their finished works.

OIW’s board of directors will review the scholarship in 2012 and decide if it will be renewed.

"OIW does its best to help writers in the Ottawa area develop their skills. Our board felt it was appropriate for the organization to contribute money to deserving young writers who show promise during their academic years," said OIW President George Laidlaw.

Ottawa Independent Writers is a 165-member organization created in 1984 as a gathering place for people with a passion to weave fiction and non-fiction books and short stories, write poetry and plays and string words together in a variety of other formats. OIW provides a venue where writers and others can share experiences and learn new aspects of their craft.

Members are involved in fiction and non-fiction writing, children's literature, advertising, biographies, business communications, literary publicity, book illustrating, editing, memoirs, translation, publishing, freelance writing and more. OIW meets monthly at Library and Archives Canada at 395 Wellington St. Its Web site is: www.oiw.ca

For more information, please contact: Randy Ray, OIW director of publicity at: (613) 731-3873 or rocket@intranet.ca

Please click here for an update on the 2009 OIW Membership Survey

OIW has produced a catalogue of its members' books in CD format, to be sent to buyers at major Canadian bookstores, libraries and school boards to boost the sale of books written by OIW authors.

Click to download the OIW Authors Catalogue [6MB, .pdf]