We’re delighted to have prolific poet and Lethbridge College teacher Richard Stevenson swinging by Word on the Street to read from his poetry collection. His recent works have used haiku and tanka, forms of Japanese poetry, to express Western Canada’s natural beauty. His most recent collections include Windfall Apples: Tanka and Kyoka (2010), The Emerald Hour (2008), Wiser Pills (2008), and Tidings of Magpies (2005).

League of Canadian Poets Biography:

“Richard Stevenson was born in Victoria, B.C., in 1952 and has lived in western Canada and Nigeria. A college English teacher by profession, he has taught English, Canadian and African literature, Business Communication, Creative and Technical Writing, E.S.L., and humanities courses in high schools and colleges. A former Editor-in-Chief of Prism international, he has served in various editorial, jury, and writing/arts group executive capacities over the years. His own reviews and poems have appeared in hundreds of magazines, anthologies, e-zines, and journals published in Canada, the United States, and overseas. He has also given numerous workshops in writing and publishing and has read to enthusiastic audiences at venues across the country. He also performs with the jazz/ poetry group Naked Ear and rock music/YA verse troupe Sasquatch.”

“Stevenson is adept at making his own poetic windows, framing experience and impression with a feel for how words sound and images might be perceived… His own often off-kilter takes on things are permeated with a gently rueful sense of humour.”
Valerie Warder, NeWest Review of Wiser Pills

We’re very excited to be bringing in award-winning children’s author Michael Kusugak to the Word on the Street Festival. He’ll be bringing in his unique ability to captivate young minds and many exciting tales from growing up in the Arctic.

Author Bio:

Michael Kusugak grew up in Repulse Bay, NWT (now Nunavut). During his childhood, his family travelled by dog sled, living a traditional Inuit lifestyle. He is the author of seven picture books, including Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, winner of the Ruth Schwartz Award; Hide and Seek; My Arctic 1, 2, 3; and Baseball Bats for Christmas; and was co-writer of A Promise Is a Promise (with Robert Munsch). Today, Michael lives in Rankin Inlet, on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He writes books for children and travels, telling the stories he heard when he was little. Michael’s work has won the Vicky Metcalf Award, which honours a Canadian author of children’s literature whose body of work is judged to demonstrate the highest literary standards, and the Ruth Schwartz Award for children’s literature. He has been short listed for various other awards, the most recent being the Hackmatack Award.

Some of his books have been translated into French, Japanese, Korean, and Braille. A PROMISE IS A PROMISE appeared in a Hollywood movie, “LEAVING NORMAL,” and was made into a play. The play has been performed across Canada and the United States, in schools and in theatres, like the Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg and the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. It is also performed occasionally by the RAG AND BONE puppet company in Ottawa.

The Littlest Sled Dog (2008)

Igvillu is a little dog with big dreams. One of her favorite dreams is of becoming a sled dog. When Igvillu is adopted from her kennel by an Inuit storyteller and moves to northern Canada, she comes face-to-face with real sled dogs. Igvillu loves living in the North, chasing siksiks and dreaming about her future. She’s a dog who believes anything is possible!

Did you know that garlic should be planted in fall or that you can sow a salad garden in late October? Learn to truly eat locally fresh from your own backyard with horticultural expert June Flanagan, as she demonstrates tips from her newest book, Edible Plants for Prairie Gardens: The Best Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs. From heirloom lettuces to mesclun greens and fragrant herbs, Flanagan shows you how to sow seeds this fall that will fill your salad bowl with homegrown organic greens next spring!

The Lethbridge Word On The Street Festival welcomes Lethbridge author and garden expert June Flanagan to speak on fall gardening techniques that will give you a jumpstart on harvesting your own fresh garden produce for the spring. 

Back in the festival office, we’ve been doing some sprouting of our own and hope to have the online event schedule  posted here and on our Facebook page any day now. And yes, we ‘like’ you too!

A big shout out and thank you to the BikeBridge Cycling Association for volunteering to provide bike valet service for The Word On The Street Festival. 

By providing a safe, secure area where festival goers can park their bicycles on the Festival site, Bikebridge is helping to reduce the demand on parking spots for Festival day. And by riding their bikes, Festival goers can feel downright virtuous about their personal commitment to fitness and the environment while standing in line for the mini donuts. You know I’ll be there. 

Here’s more on BikeBridge from their website:

It’s simple: the bicycle offers us all opportunities at improved well-being.  Riding a bike is exhilarating; it slows us down and awakens our awareness of our connection to the earth and each other.  From a bicycle’s more human scale we see, smell, hear and feel the neighbourhood’s real beauty.  Cycling builds and maintains fitness, for the cyclist and the community.

Bikebridge believes that if, as a community, we can reduce the barriers that keep us from using a bicycle, we can improve our lives and those of our neighbours.  We think that is what community is all about.

We believe the barriers to cycling in Lethbridge relate primarily to safety, security and demands on fitness.   When considering a trip by bike a first consideration is probably:  Is it a safe route to and from my destination? Secondly:  do I have the ability to physically make the trip? Is it an easy or difficult route?  And finally: once I arrive, will there be a place to secure my bike and the things I take with me or acquire en route?

BikeBridge is dedicated to removing the main barriers that keep citizens in Lethbridge from using a bicycle for at least some of their transportation requirements.

Our purpose is to inspire, facilitate, and celebrate cycling as a means of transportation in Lethbridge

Truly, this festival will have tons of fun and interesting activities for kids of all ages.  Here’s a quick look at some of what will be happening in the two children’s tents hosted by the Library chilren’s department staff. We invite everyone to join us and bring your inner child.

All day events:

Bouncy castle (donated by the YWCA)

Face painting

Meet Clifford the Big Red Dog

SAAG: Newspaper collage craft – all ages

University of Lethbridge Art Gallery: Art activity – all ages

Family Center: Make your own book, create and decorate your own book – all ages.

Galt Museum: a short historical activity inspired by books from the children’s department

Helen Schuler Nature Centre – Nature inspired learning and activities

Special events in the children’s tent:

1:00 – Sigmund Brower reading and signing

1:30 – Object Manipulation Club presentation

2:00 – Andrea Beck reading and signing

2:30 – Spanish game activity     

3:00 – University of Lethbridge Singers

3:30 – Andrea Beck reading and signing

4:00 – Dave Poulsen reading and signing

4:30 – TAG Board games

The Giller Prize is the largest purse for literature in the country! It recognizes excellence in Canadian fiction – long format or short stories – and endows a cash prize annually of $50,000.00 to the winner and $5,000 to each of the four finalists.

Two authors making an appearance at Lethbridge’s The Word On The Street Festival on September 25th are in the running to make the long list for this prestigious Canadian Literary Award.  Help Betty Jane Hegerat (The Boy) and Angie Abdou (Canterbury Trails) make the longlist!

Submit your nomination online to CBC Books today.