The Citizen, 2018-04-12, Page 25PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018.
Entertainment & Leisure
Thien, McKay, Donoghue headline Munro Festival
The Alice Munro Festival of the
Short Story is taking some
inspiration from its festival
namesake, Huron County author
Alice Munro, renowned for writing
about the lives of girls and women,
to focus exclusively on women
authors at their 2018 event.
The current women -led
movements addressing gender
equity and advocating for social
change have affected every industry,
including literature and publishing,
making 2018 a perfect time to
spotlight some of the incredibly
Environmental excellence
Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company, and the team behind building it, were honoured late last
month with a special award from the London District Construction Association for
environmental achievement. Allan Avis Architects was honoured with the award for work that
was carried out by H. Bye Construction. The Cowbell project was named a project of
distinction and recognized for its excellence by the association thanks to its high energy
efficiency and closed-loop water system. From left: Matt Nigh of Allan Avis Architects, Allan
Avis, Cowbell General Manager Grant Sparling, Jason Morgan of Allan Avis Architects and
Chad Aitken of H. Bye Construction. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
CCRC to host Syrian dinner
The Canadian Centre for Rural
Creativity is hosting a special
evening featuring dinner and a
documentary film - a combination
organizers hope will catch on.
Blyth 14/19 Project Director Peter
Smith is the architect of the event,
which will feature an authentic
Syrian dinner at Memorial Hall,
followed by the screening of three
documentary films and then a meet -
and -greet reception with both
filmmakers and the cooks for the
evening.
Smith says he hopes the April 26
event will be the first of what will
eventually become a series of dinner
and entertainment evenings that
make use of the hall year-round. The
plan is to pair the subject matter,
whether it be a documentary film or
a keynote speaker, with a special
ethnic -themed meal.
The April 26 event originated in
Smith's mind when he met someone
from Syria at a recent symposium in
Guelph. He was speaking with her
and she connected him with another
Syrian native who is attempting to
open her own baking business.
Conversation soon turned to
Memorial Hall and the need for
events outside the Blyth Festival
season. Smith said he hoped the
centre could screen documentary
films and perhaps pair them with a
meal and the first event began to take
shape.
The cook for the evening will be
Syrian Muna Merai and she will be
assisted by a number of local cooks,
including Lisa Bromley from the
Queens Bakery, Allison Elligson
from Part II Bistro, Kim Oster from
the Blyth Corner Cafe and Blyth
Cowbell Brewing Company Chef
Alex Lussier. The meal will be
authentic Syrian fare and it will then
make way for three documentary
films, one of them on Canadian
immigration.
19 Days is a National Film Board
of Canada short film about the
refugee resettlement process in
Canada. A Silent Transformation, a
film on the power of local co-ops in
Ontario by Stratford's Simon
Brothers, will also be screened, as
well as Twilight Dancers, a film on a
group of First Nations square
dancers.
If the night is a success, Smith said
that he and the centre hope to host
three or four more events like it in
2019, perhaps even expanding to
bring in guest speakers and panels,
instead of documentary films He
does, however, hope to keep the
subject matter on the stage or on the
screen tied to the type of fare that
will be on offer.
Tickets for the evening are $35
each and there are only 150
available. Those interested in
attending should call Smith at 519-
955-4594 or reach out to him
through e-mail at
peter@blyth1419.com
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talented and diverse voices of
Canadian female authors.
The 2018 line-up of guest authors
is anchored by three critically -
acclaimed and international best-
selling authors: Madeleine Thien,
Ami McKay and Emma Donoghue.
Madeleine Thien's novel, Do Not
Say We Have Nothing, won the
Scotiabank Giller Prize, the
Governor -General's Literary Award
for Fiction, Edward Stanford Prize
and was shortlisted for the Man
Booker Prize, the Baileys Women's
Prize for Fiction and The Folio
Prize.
Ami McKay is the author of three
bestselling novels, The Birth House,
The Virgin Cure and The Witches of
New York. Her debut novel, The
Birth House was a number one
bestseller in Canada, winner of three
CBA Libris Awards and nominated
for the International IMPAC Dublin
Literary Award.
Emma Donoghue is best known
for her international bestseller
Room, a New York Times Best Book
in 2010 and a finalist for the Man
Booker Prize, the Commonwealth
Writers' Prize for Best Book and the
Orange Prize. Room was adapted
into a film nominated for a Best
Picture Academy Award in 2015
(Donoghue's screenplay adaptation
was also nominated for an
Oscar that year).
Gary Caldwell
is 60!
April 15
Four other remarkable Canadian
women authors round out the list of
guest authors. Scaachi Koul, a
culture writer at BuzzFeed, will also
be at the Festival. Her first book One
Day We'll All Be Dead and None of
This Will Matter, is a collection of
fierce and funny essays about
growing up the daughter of Indian
immigrants in Canada. Johanna
Skibsrud, Scotiabank Giller Prize-
winning author of The
Sentimentalists (2009), will be
reading from her new collection of
short stories Tiger, Tiger (2018).
Casey Plett, author of the 2018 novel
Little Fish and the Lambda Literary
Award-winning short story
collection A Safe Girl to Love
(2014), will also be there, as will
Sarah Meehan Sirk, author of the
critically -acclaimed short story
collection The Dead Husband
Project (2017) and a longtime CBC
Radio producer and broadcaster.
The 2018 Alice Munro Festival of
the Short Story takes place June 2-3
in Bayfield and Wingham, and
includes author readings, panel
discussions, writing master classes
and an awards luncheon for the
annual short story contest.
Tickets and passes for the event
went on sale on April 9 through the
Blyth Festival box office.
Contact it at blythfestival.com or
1-877-862-5984.
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Love your family
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Saturday, p 21
2-4 pm
Blyth East Side Dance
273 Hamilton St.,
Blyth
4� M/ehorae
PARK THEATRE 30The Square / •
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GODERICH 519 524 7811
FOR MOVIE INFORMATION...
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www.movielinks.ca long distance?1-800-265-3438
You're not in your 70's anymore
...good thing 80 is the new 60
Help us celebrate Jack Ryan's Birthday!
Art & Corrie Bos
are celebrating their
50th Wedding Anniversary
Saturday, April 28, 2018
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Blyth Memorial Hall
Friends and family are invited to attend
Your presence is our gift
•
1 4,
Brussels Legion on April 14th from 2-5
- Your presence is the only gift required -
With gratitude & love: Monica & Steve,
Peggy & Terry, Rhonda & Joe, Darlene & Steve
and families.
V
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