Yay for the beer barge!

The beer barge has arrived in Yellowknife, heralding the start of summer.

Back in the old timey days, the first barge that made its way across Great Slave Lake to Yellowknife, right after spring break up, carried a supply of beer. Given a lack of roads and the fact beer is heavy (so expensive to fly in), the little mining camp on the edge of the big lake would run dry towards the end of winter. The arrival of the beer barge was an occasion of great joy.

And it still is. We now have a road in, but the re-enactment of the arrival of the barge is a great way to remember Yellowknife's heritage, and as well as acting as a fund raiser for good work of the NWT Mining Heritage Society. We go down to Max Ward's dock in the Old Town, try to guess what time the barge will come in, have a barbecue and drink of (you guessed it) beer. A lovely way to kick off summer.

(Photo: the 2014 beer barge just about to reach shore at Max Ward's dock in Yellowknife's Old Town.)

NorthWords 9: A Brave New North

Last weekend's NorthWords Writers Festival was the usual blur of activity. As we've come to expect, the events were incredibly well organized, the visiting writers were friendly and approachable, and we all had a chance to hear from some really great local talent.

I sometimes blog about NorthWords here, but this time around I provided an article to the NWT Literacy Council's blog.

If you'd like to read about this year's NorthWords, please click on the link above.

Come see us at NorthWords!

The NorthWords Festival is almost here!

This year's festival theme is Brave New North, so it has a speculative fiction feel to it. Yellowknife events will be held from June 5 to 8, with Canada’s Premier Sci Fi Author Robert J. Sawyer as the headliner. Other guest authors include Hayden Trenholm, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Dave Bidini, Todd Babiak and Billeh Nickerson.

I will be reading twice during the festival:

Thursday, June 5 - A Touch of Fiction Brown Bag Lunch, 12 noon – 1 pm, Yellowknife Book Cellar

Thursday, June 5 - FLASH: Your 3 Minutes of Fame (Open Mike), 8 – 10 pm, Baker Community Centre (complimentary beverages & dessert)

I've written a new piece of speculative fiction for FLASH, so come on out. We'd love to see you!

Six weeks left for NorthWords mentorship program

The NorthWords Writers Festival is offering a one-on-one online mentorship program until March 31, 2014. The program is open to people living in the Northwest Territories or NWT students attending educational institutions in southern Canada.

Participants can book time to speak with an author about the writing process, publishing, agents . . . anything, really, that strikes the writerly imagination. Participants can also request feedback on a work in progress.

Fees are $20 per hour, which is a really good deal.

Mentors are Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Laurie Sarkadi, Hayden Trenholm, Richard Van Camp, and Cathy Jewison (yes, me).

For more information, please check the NorthWords website.

Yellowknife's answer to Burning Man

OK, so maybe our little Boxing Day diversion isn't anywhere close to the scope and extravagance of the actual Burning Man festival, but it got me out of the house and standing around in the snow at -32C.

A couple of our neighbours had some dead wood to burn, so they decided to stage a little neighbourhood bonfire down on the ice of Yellowknife Bay. It worked - I'd say about 30 people showed up to celebrate the season and say hello to one another. It was a good bonfire, big enough without going over the top - my dad was a fire safety inspector, so I have a healthy respect for the flame.

My biggest concern was the slamming sound I heard right after they lit the fire. At first I thought it was a rifle shot, but I was early by a few days - in the North, people in some communities fire rifles to welcome the New Year. When I realized the ice under my feet was popping, I shuffled toward the shore. It's the same place I put my kayak into the lake in the summer, so I know it's only a couple feet deep. Except that it's -32, so it's frozen solid and no need to worry. So I shuffled back to the fire.

I lasted for almost an hour before my toes got too cold and I decided to go home. When I left, there was a ring of water around the dying fire and the people in charge were getting ready to shovel snow over the embers.

Wonder what they're planning for next year.

An Evening with Northern Authors

Join us tonight at the Yellowknife Book Cellar for An Evening with Northern Authors, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Store-wide discount of 20% and lots of local authors to sign your books. Get a jump on the holiday shopping!

NorthWords 2013: Generation North

Join me, and ever so many other authors, at the NorthWords Writers Festival, which runs from Thursday, May 30, to Sunday, June 2.

Author/Designer Douglas Coupland will headline the festival, which will also include poets Anna Marie Sewell and Reneltta Arluk, and Teller and Writer Sylvia Olsen. Mystery fans can get their fix with Giles Blunt, author of the John Cardinal mystery series, as well as Vicki Delany and Barbara Fradkin, whose work I know from the rather fabulous Ladies Killing Circle anthologies.

I will be reading a new (very short) story at the Flash: Your 3 Minutes of Fame open mike, on Thursday May 30, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Greenstone Building. I will also MC A Touch of Fiction, readings by five authors, on Friday, May 31, from noon to 1 p.m., also at the Greenstone.

Be sure to check out the full schedule on the NorthWords NWT website and come out and join us!