CBC’s Grant Lawrence, author of Adventures in Solitude: What not to wear to a nude potluck, a memoir of his time spent at his family cabin in Desolation Sound, will be hosting the Authors, Seafood & Ale event on Cortes Island on May 26.
Lawrence will read from his work, and will be joined by Michael Ableman (author and Saltspring farmer), Rex Weyler (co-founder of Greenpeace International), Jan Zwicky (poet and philosopher), Monica Nawrocki (Cortes author), Judy Williams (Cortes author), and Tara Warkentin (Cortes Young Writers Prize winner).
The evening will be a celebration of British Columbia’s literary riches, the bounty of our oceans, and the craft of local brewing. Authors will read excerpts from their work, while seafood tapas are served and ale samples from two local craft brewers (Driftwood Brewery based in Victoria, and Townsite Brewing from Powell River) are served. There will also be live music and door prizes.
The event will raise funds for Cortes Island Literacy Outreach.
More information and tickets can be found at http://cortesliteracy.com
- Michael Ableman is an author, educator, advocate for sustainable agriculture, and organic farmer on Salt Spring Island. He founded the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, California. Ableman is author of From the Good Earth, On Good Land and Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It. Most recently he has helped develop SOLEfood Farm in Vancouver – a social enterprise that provides urban agriculture employment and training opportunities for Vancouver’s inner-city residents.
- Rex Weyler is a journalist, writer, and ecologist. His books include Greenpeace: The Inside Story, a finalist, Shaughnessy-Cohen Prize; Blood of the Land, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; and The Jesus Sayings, a finalist for the BC Book Award. He is a co-founder of Greenpeace International, where he publishes the Deep Green blog, and a co-founder of Hollyhock. He lives on Cortes with his family.
- Jan Zwicky has published seven collections of poetry, including Songs for Relinquishing the Earth (winner of the Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 1999), Robinson’s Crossing, and most recently Forge which has just been shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Her books of philosophy include Wisdom & Metaphor, Plato as Artist, and Lyric Philosophy, which has just been reissued by Gaspereau Press. A native of Alberta, she now lives on the West Coast of Canada.
About Cortes Island Literacy Outreach
Cortes Island Literacy Outreach (CILO) works with a collective of community organizations and community leaders to promote literacy as one of the essential skills for living.
Operating under the umbrella of Decoda Literacy Solutions, CILO believes that: “Literacy is an urgent issue that touches virtually every aspect of our lives. At work, at home, at play, in the car, in the doctor’s office, we are surrounded by information that we need to understand in order to make sense of the world around us.”
Cortes Island Literacy Outreach initiatives have sought to inspire and engage the community around the issues of Literacy. P
rojects have included: Authors, Seafood & Ale, after school programs for young writers, an annual young writers competition, First Nations language revival project, French immersion soccer hour, media literacy (including filming and editing). Recent initiatives have addressed health literacy and a community-based skills sharing including small business, financial management, board member training, wilderness survival skills and computer literacy.
As funding agencies lessen their support for our work, fundraising events like Authors, Seafood & Ale are critical to the ongoing success of Cortes Island Literacy Outreach.