The Writers' Life Series - Dispelling the Myths of Publishing
Thursday, January 11, 2024 | 7pm | RGO Treehouse, 4th flr @ cSpace Marda Loop
MEMBERS: $10 | NON-MEMBERS: $20
Hosted by: Irena Karshenbaum
Join us for the first of a series of panels and guest speakers addressing various aspects of the Writers' Life. First up, Dispelling the Myths of Publishing. We will hear from a panel of Alberta publishers discussing the dos and donts of publishing, the things you need to know and little hints to help make it to the top of the slush pile.
Stonehouse Publishing, NeWest Press and University of Calgary Press will share insights and tips, answer questions and get you ready to submit your next manuscript.
This program takes place in person at the RGO Treehouse, cSpace Marda Loop, 4th flr, 1721, 29th Ave SW, Calgary
Aritha van Herk - University of Calgary Press
Aritha van Herk has published five novels, seven works of non-fiction, and most recently, Stampede and the Westness of West (Frontenac Press), a volume of prose-poetry. It seeks to unsettle history, erasure, and the idea of westness as a version of mass impulse and unquestioning destination. Her textual accompaniments to the work of photographer George Webber, In This Place: Calgary 2004-2011 and Prairie Gothic develop the idea of geographical and historical temperament as tonal accompaniment to landscape. She has been a member of dozens of juries, including the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Saskatchewan Book Awards, the Gabrielle Roy Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She has served on the boards of NeWest Press and Red Deer College Press in the past; she is currently the Series Editor of the University of Calgary’s Creative Imprint, Brave and Brilliant.
Kit Dobson - NeWest Press
Kit Dobson is a faculty member at the University of Calgary and author of multiple books, including Field Notes on Listening (Wolsak and Wynn, 2022) and the forthcoming novel We Are Already Ghosts (U Calgary P, 2024). He has served as a member of the editorial board of NeWest Press since 2013 and has edited multiple titles for the press, most recently Bertrand Bickersteth's The Response of Weeds (2020) and Sid Marty's Oldman's River (2023).
Netta Johnson - Stonehouse Publishing
Netta Johnson has always been taken with the written word, and in 2014, her passion for literature led her to take the rash step of opening a publishing house with her dear friend Julie Yerex. Over the years, Stonehouse Publishing has released acclaimed, award winning and best-selling books, and Netta Johnson continues as the Publisher/Managing Editor. She is also currently serving as Vice-President on the board of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and President of the Ethical Community Organizations of Edmonton, a new non-profit which owns Edmonton’s Earth’s General Store. In addition to her passion for books, volunteerism and community work, Netta is a builder, a baker, and an amateur mason. In her spare time, you will find her in her back yard with her chickens, building experimental pizza ovens.
Irena Karshenbaum - Moderator
Born in Kharkov, Soviet Ukraine, Irena Karshenbaum immigrated with her parents to Canada in 1979. She is best known as the founder of The Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project Society that gifted one of the last surviving prairie synagogues — the lost 1916 Montefiore Institute — to Heritage Park. She writes opinion pieces for the Calgary Herald and stories on history, heritage, travel and books that have appeared in numerous publications. She also gives talks on history and heritage preservation and organizes cultural, book and community events.
Irena’s writing has grown to include a children’s book manuscript and a fiction book manuscript, both of which she is looking to place with the right publisher. In helping to bring this event to the writing community, she wants to dispel the myths of publishing for herself and help other emerging writers by sharing this information with them.
