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PRAC: Juried Art Show • Photography • Supporters • Community | Heritage | Literary • Indie Authors • Performing • Teaching • Visual Artists
Indie Author Day 2020 will be part of Artfest on Saturday, May 23 ~ watch for details!
Thank you to all attending Indie Author Day Pickering ~ October 5, 2019The goal of Indie Author Day is to show the new faces of Indie publishing to as broad a local audience as possible. Objectives are: Independent authors display their works at the Pickering Central Library on October 5th from 1 to 4 pm as part of the celebrations of Indie Author Day. Meet the authors from noon ~ discussions begin at 1:00 pm
Angie's article Indie Author Day: Grow Your Creative Community in Silver Sage Magazine HERE Book clubs are encouraged to bring your entire group to hear you speak and to meet and interact with local authors. 
Keynote Speaker: Natalee Antoinette Johnson ~ My Magnificent Hair; I Come as I Am: reflections in verse najohnson.ca Panel Moderator: A.B. Funkhauser ~ Scooter Nation; Heuer Lost and Found ~ abfunkhauser.com Presenters
Book Club Panelists
Guest Authors
Pickering Public Library Angie Littlefield | Marangi Editions | PineRidge Arts Council | Indie Author Day |
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Books by Indie Authors |
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2019 GUESTS |
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Natalee Antoinette Johnson ~ KEYNOTE SPEAKER Author of I Come as I Am: reflections in verse | My Magnificent Hair Natalee Johnson, is a mother, author, educator, community change agent and advocate for children, youth, women and families. She is the founder of Passion 4 Dreams Inc. Natalee is the author of My Magnificent Hair (2016) and I Come As I Am: Reflections of Verse (Revised 2016). I Come as I am: No Pretense highlights Natalee's journey of self-discovery and faith. She shares her testimony through inspiring, uplifting poetry. In 2015, Natalee's poems: The Beauty of Canada ... and High Park Pantoum were published in the 2015 The book Literary Connection Volume 2: My Canada. She has been featured in the documentary of Early Childhood Video for Ontario by the College of Early Childhood Educators (2013) and several newspaper articles within Ontario, Canada. As a trailblazer, Natalee is not only an author and mother, she is passionate about community and uses her talents, skills and knowledge to partner with organizations and community leaders to work towards sustainability and build stronger communities. She is active volunteer within her community and has served as a board member for not-for-profit organizations. najohnson.ca | Instagram: jjj_7_ | Twitter:@ NataleeAJohnson | Facebook: Natalee Johnson | Facebook Page and Group: Passion 4 Dreams
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| 2019 Moderator | |||||
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Author of Scooter Nation | Shell Game: A Black Cat Novel | Heuer Lost and Found A.B. Funkhauser is a funeral director, classic car nut and wildlife enthusiast living in Pickering, Ontario. Like most funeral directors, she is governed by a strong sense of altruism fueled by the belief that life chooses us, not we it. A devotee of the gonzo style pioneered by the late Hunter S. Thompson, Funkhauser attempts to shine a light on difficult subjects by aid of humorous storytelling. “In gonzo, characters operate without filters, which means they say and do the kinds of things we cannot in an ordered society. Results are often comic, but, hopefully, instructive.” Funkhauser’s debut novel, Heuer Lost and Found, is the winner of the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll for Best Horror 2015, and the New Apple EBook Award 2016 for Horror. Her sophomore effort, Scooter Nation, is the winner of the New Apple Ebook Award 2016 for Humor, and the winner Best Humor Summer Indie Book Awards 2016. Shell Game: A Black Cat Novel was released in September 2017 by Solstice Publishing. |
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2019 Presenters |
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Author of A Time and a Place Joe Mahoney works full-time for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he’s helped make many radio shows over the years. His short fiction has been published in Canada, Australia and Greece. Joe lives in Whitby with his wife and two daughters, and their golden retriever and Siberian forest cat. A Time and a Place is his first novel. |
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Author of Bald Guys: The Greatest Conspiracy Never Told | Meatballs & Microphones: A True Story about Small Kitchens and Big Dreams and co-creator of RoundFire Legends Gregory Patrick Travers is an author out of Toronto and the co-creator of RoundFire Legends (www.roundfirelegends.net), a small press dedicated to gritty and urban adult short stories. He has also published two novels under the same press, "Meatballs & Microphones: A True Story about Small Kitchens and Big Dreams" and "Bald Guys: The Greatest Conspiracy Never Told" |
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The Wellspring Podcasts Gwen Tuinman is a fiction writer, and also the host and producer of The Wellspring Podcastwhere she digs for details that form the bedrock of her novels and short stories. Episodes feature curious facts about bygone days plus interviews with history buffs revisiting life in the past. Gwen’s writing appears in The Renaissance Anthology, Wunderlit, and online at The Litter I See Project. She is also the founder of The Wild Nellies, a performing collective of dynamic women creatives that raises funds in support of women escaping domestic violence. Gwen lives on an urban homestead with her husband and three hens. GwenTuinman.com |
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Author of Wild Caving | Kidnap My Heart | Feeding Frenzy Maaja Wentz loves writing page-turning stories with mystery and wonder. "Inside of a Dog," appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. “You,” won a short story prize in the national Norma Epstein Foundation competition for Creative Writing, University of Toronto. Maaja’s first novel, Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer, received over 141 000 reads on Wattpad before winning the HQ Love Watty award. It is available in print and digital formats on all major platforms. For free stories and more information visit maajawentz.com. |
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| 2019 Guest Book Clubs | |||||
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Ajax Library Book Club ~ Book Chat | Tea and Books | A Novel Bunch |
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Dunbarton Fairport Women's Book Club |
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The Original Pickering Library Book Club Started some 27 years ago by the Pickering Central Library |
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PROBUS Brooklin/Whitby Book Club Book Clubs are open to Members only |
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PROBUS Pickering Book Club "Cover to Cover" Book Clubs are open to Members only and currently full. |
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| 2019 Guest Authors | |||||
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Author of Severed Knot Cryssa Bazos is an award winning historical fiction writer and 17th century enthusiast with a particular interest in the English Civil War. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Romantic Novelist Association and is a co-editor and contributor of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog. Her debut novel, Traitor's Knot, is published by Endeavour Press. For more stories, visit her blog. |
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Author of Too Much Trouble Barbara Beard loves books and she shares that interest by writing for children. As an elementary supply teacher she has had the opportunity to share her books with her students every year. An example of the kind of comments she receives from her students after reading them her books is, "I don't have the words to say how much I like your book." "Too Much Trouble" shortlisted for the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize and received Honourable Mention for the 2019 Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction Award. Barbara's first book, "Too Much Broccoli" won third prize in the 2015 Writers-Editors Network International Competition. |
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Author of Loving Play https://writerteacher.wordpress.com/ https://hotappleciderbooks.com/loving-play/
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Author of A Shield in the Shadows ~ Historical Novel Cheryl Bristow has had a diverse career as a high school teacher in Nigeria, ESL teacher at CFB St. Jean, administrator at the Toronto City Mission and Unionville Baptist Church, and fund raiser for the National Broadcast Reading Service. Before becoming an author, she was a free lance writer published first by Readers Digest Canada, Faith Today, Christian Week and several denominational magazines and secular newspapers. She has a passion for people and prayer, loves historical research, and is meticulous about the details in her novels. https://www.facebook.com/AShieldintheShadows/ | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB-Co4b5ZbQ
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Author of Eleanor Courtown Lucy E.M. Black studied creative writing at the undergraduate level and later earned an M.A. in nineteenth-century British fiction. She has also studied at the Sage Hill School of Writing, the Humber College School of Writing, and the University of Toronto Creative Writing Programme. A Hawk in Winter won third prize in the 2014 International Rubery Short Story Competition. Her short stories have been published in Cyphers Magazine, Fast Forward Fiction, Gargoyle Magazine, under the gum tree, the Hawai’i Review, Forge, Temenos Fiction, Romance Magazine, Vintage Script, and The Antigonish Review. The Marzipan Fruit Basket, a debut collection of her short fiction, was released by Inanna Publications in June 2017. Her first novel, Eleanor Courtown, is being published by Seraphim Editions, October 2017. She lives with her husband in a small town near Toronto. |
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Author of Crook’s Hill Peter Fritze practiced law as a solicitor in an Ontario government agency, partner in a major Toronto law firm and general counsel of a Canadian multinational. He’s now following his lifetime interest in storytelling by writing mysteries. In April 2014, Peter self-published The Case for Killing. Against the backdrop of a fictitious Toronto law firm, two plans for murder collide. In February 2015, he also self-published False Guilt, in which a lawyer’s past involvement with murder follows him from Toronto to Rome. |
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Author of Grace upon Grace Grace Fraser was an award winning athlete and Gospel singer in her native Jamaica. After immigrating to Canada, she taught High School in Toronto until the progression of Multiple Sclerosis forced her out of her career. As Grace an over-achiever who fights her disability with every fibre of her being, Grace was determined to to tell her story so that her experience of MS would encourage and help others. Grace’s story-telling began in evenings spent with friends, took shape in a friend’s computer, moved on to another friend for editing and publishing, and is now available both as a paperback and an eBook. 1graceupongrace9@gmail.com |
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Author of Clarington's Home Children Sher Leetooze has been writing about the history of the Old Durham County for 25 years, and there’s still a lot to write about. Besides the history of the old county, Sher also writes about gardening, wild plants and genealogy. Sher also visits groups and organizations as a speaker on a variety of subjects. She is popular on the Genealogical Societies circuit in Ontario and is also an international presenter. Don’t miss Sher’s booth at Indie Author Day. |
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Author of Tom Thomson's Fine Kettle of Friends Author, Curator, Educator and Editor Angie Littlefield previously explored Canadian artist Tom Thomson’s family heritage and the Toronto neighbourhoods in which he lived. Now she tackles his life through his friends and food. Angie’s eclectic interests in art and writing have led to exhibitions in Canada and Germany and children’s books in Nunavut and Tristan da Cunha. She has written about Weimar photographer Ilse Salberg, dada artist Angelika Hoerle and about art as dissent. She recently edited Ruth Abernethy’s Life and Bronze. Angie lives in Toronto with her husband David. |
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Walking Through and Other Stories Walking Through and Other Stories, a debut collection of five timeless and intergenerational short stories, was featured on CBC Radio’s Here & Now Book Club. The stories bring five unique voices together and unites them around the theme of human connection. Each story deals with a life-changing chance encounter such as a cup of tea passed between acquaintances or a shared song. The bookcelebrates women at every stage of their lives and was created in honor of International Women’s Day. The five Canadian female authors of this book are as diverse as their protagonists and hope to open your mind to the challenges women all over the world dare to overcome. Contributing Authors Group Photo From left: Paula Smellie, Francine Fleming, Manjit Singh, Maria Jemmott, and Shirley Merith |
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Author of Emma's Garden Kim spent her childhood summers visiting her grandparents in Harbourville, a quaint little fishing village on the Bay of Fundy and recalls these fond memories for the inspiration of her story. “We would run wild these seashores, everyday was an adventure”. Kim could sit for hours round the kitchen table beside the old wood stove listening to family stories of Sea Captains from the family tree, that sailed from the Bay of Fundy to the China Sea. She is a professional harpist-storyteller and featured artist at various festivals where she presents original stories, poetry and songs reflecting her East Coast heritage. |
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Author of Retire Fit, Fit & Fit Howard Pell retired at the age of 60 after a long career in the computer industry. Educating adults for most of his working life, he wanted to share his experience of the retirement process to help others with that transition. After 2 years of retirement, he published his first book Retire Fit, Fit & Fit in 2016, focusing on the insight that 3 areas of retirement life – Financial, Physical and Emotional – needed to be in harmony. He realized that the retirement activities that create an Emotionally Fit retirement also place physical demands on an aging body. Teaming with his former fitness coach Missy Gore to identify appropriate exercises and workouts to address these retirement demands, they co-authored his second book, Retire Fit with S.A.F.E. Workouts. Aside from writing books in his retirement, Howard is very active with his Rotary club, is an amateur filmmaker and enjoys travel and fishing. He lives in Kitchener, Ontario with his wife Rosemary.
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Author of Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal - The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada - 60th Battalion in WWI Rick Pyves is a local Pickering author, avid historian and genealogist who grew up in Montreal, Quebec. His first book, Night Madness: A Rear Gunner’s Story of Love, Courage, and Hope in World War II, was published by Red Deer Press in October 2012. Based on interviews, painstaking archival research, and letters from a long-distance love affair, captured in daily correspondence, Rick has weaved together his father’s tale into a touching love story and one man’s very personal war. Rick’s second book, Courage, Sacrifice, and Betrayal: The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada – 60th Battalion in the First World War was released in March 2018 by Helion & Company Limited in the UK and by ECW Press in Canada. Courage, Sacrifice, and Betrayal is a microcosm of the countless sad, heroic and everyday experiences of Canadian front line battalions that fought in WWI. Most recently the author was the honoured recipient of the 2018 City of Pickering Arts Award for his outstanding contributions to the arts both inside and outside the City of Pickering. |
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Author of Rag Dolls and Rage: A Memoir Sheila E. Tucker is a poet and author. Originally from England, she settled in Canada in 1985. She studied English at the University of Toronto and worked as an editor/graphic designer for an international firm for 18 years. Sheila is published in anthologies, magazines and newspapers. She's also the founder of Poetry&Prose, an open mic in Oakville. In Rag Dolls and Rage, Sheila takes us on a trip through time, reliving the social revolution of Sixties Britain and sharing the conversations she had years later with her psychotherapist as they sorted through her tumultuous childhood and teen years, all vivid events that are in turn happy, painful, funny and poignant. Rag Dolls and Rage is a powerful, uplifting memoir of hope, healing and resilience.
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#indieauthorday2019 #writer #authors 2018 Library YOUTUBE here | Event photos HEREIf the facebook link doesn't work, please go to our group facebook page > photos > albums Indie Author Day in Pickering ~ October 14, 20182018 Library YOUTUBE here | Event photos HERE 2017 Images on Facebook | Pickering Snapd | 2017 Indie Author in Pickering
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Since 1989 PineRidge Arts Council Inc., a not-for-profit volunteer organization has been dedicated to enhance the quality of life within the community by developing widespread appreciation, support and involvement in the arts.
PineRidge Arts Council
650 Kingston Road
P.O. Box 18258 Steeple Hill Postal Outlet
Pickering, Ontario L1V 1A0
Canada
PRAC President • ArtScene Editor • Webmistress • Phone 905.509.3855
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