This week we welcome back Shane Joseph to Word on the Hills. Shane Joseph is a Canadian novelist, blogger, reviewer, short story writer, and publisher at Blue Denim Press. He is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. His latest novel, Empire in the Sand, will be released in the Fall of 2022. For further details visit his website at www.shanejoseph.com Shane is also the chair of the Communications committee for Northumberland Festival of the Arts, September 16th to October 2nd, 2022.
WOTH welcomes Shannon Linton and Marianne Marusic.
Shannon Linton is a Canadian singer-songwriter, classically trained vocalist, and climate activist. After narrowly avoiding a career in opera, she began performing and recording her own songs, first with Northern Hearts (2019 CBC Searchlight Top 100) and now as a solo artist. Shannon’s debut EP, In Spite of Everything, was released on May 30. When she is not writing and singing her own music, Shannon is also one of the founding directors of the SONG program, and lives on her fifth generation family farm with her husband and two kids.
Born to Slovenian and Croatian parents and raised in Toronto, Marianne Marusic is a graduate of piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music History and Mathematics from the University of Toronto. Marianne owns and operates Metropolitan School of the Arts and teaches piano in Toronto and Cobourg. She is an Examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music, has written a book for young children called Cougar’s Great Adventure and has organized several concerts in Cobourg over the last few years and is a frequent church musician.
This week we interview Susan Statham. Susan is the editor for the anthology Hill Spirits V and was co-editor and contributor for the four previous Hill Spirits anthologies. A former librarian, Susan is also a trained portrait artist and her mystery novel ‘The Painter’s Craft’ was inspired by the potential poisons in paint. Her recently completed second novel, ‘True Image’, combines her experience painting portraits with her work in a psychiatric hospital and ‘Caged’, the novel she’s presently working on, is inspired by a commission from the Toronto Zoo.
This week listen in to Cynthia Reyes and Carol Shaw talk about memoirs and the workshop they are giving at Northumberland Festival of the Arts.
Cynthia Reyes is a passionate gardener and writer, and is happiest digging around in the dirt, but she also finds time to produce her very popular blog, write several bestselling books, including the richly illustrated Twigs in My Hair, A Gardening Memoir. Her series of illustrated children’s books about Myrtle the Purple Turtle which she wrote with her daughter Lauren, have received excellent reviews. She now enjoys reading them to her granddaughter. An award winning journalist and executive producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, more than a hundred episodes of her programs appeared on network television.
Carol Shaw lives in Warkworth and is also a passionate gardener. She and Cynthia will be giving a workshop about memoir writing, another interest they have in common, at the Northumberland Festival of the Arts on September 23rd. Carol has retired from two careers – one as an elementary school teacher, and the other as an administrator in long term care for seniors. Although Carol has written and published articles on seniors’ issues when she was working, Covid gave her the chance to finally write the memoir that she had envisioned, enabling her to share her memories with her family.
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