This week a conversation with Bernie Morin who was a film producer/director of television and radio advertising in Toronto for about twenty years. He then purchased a summer house that he eventually discovered was heavily haunted. The journey that ensued as a result of that realisation changed his life. He wrote a short story which he put away for many years Much later two friends encouraged him to write the story into a play. Six years of revisions culminated in the play entitled “In Continuum”. It was produced this past year for 89.7 with the assistance of the Northumberland Players Guild.

Janet Kellough is well-known for her historical mystery series featuring circuit rider, Thaddeus Lewis. On a previous visit to Word on the Hills she discussed her novel Wishful Seeing, set in Cobourg, which was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award Best Book category for 2016. She has since published a new Thaddeus novel Heart Balm Tort and released another book, this time set in the future. She also talks about the second, Women Killing It literary festival which she and Vicki Delany are organising over Labour Day weekend, since the first festival was such success last year.

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An interview with William Donald McKay, who was born and raised in Bracebridge, Ontario. Don moved to Belleville in the summer of 1989.. There he worked at retouching colour film negatives by hand then setting up his own wedding  photography business which he ran for a number of years. Don has had several cover photos and articles published in nationally distributed magazines. Having always been a writer, he recently decided he should start to publish. His creative focus now is on writing science fiction, and he has completed a trilogy of novels titled The Lanark Chronicles which were released in 2013-2014. He is now working on a fourth novel at his home in Foxboro.

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An interview with Shane Joseph about his recent projects. Shane’s latest novel, In the Shadow of the Conquistador, set partially in Peru, was released in the fall of 2015 and his collection of short stories, Crossing Limbo, was launched in June 2017. Shane is also the editor and part owner of Blue Denim Press, a literary press he founded with his wife Sarah Jacob in 2011. The co-owner of two travel agencies he says that his travelling informs his writing. To-date he has visited 65 countries, one for each year of his life, with a few more to spare. He finished a further collection of short stories, while in Ireland recently on a retreat, which will be released later this year, and is working on a new novel Milltown.

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Kathryn Corbett is the owner of Lighthouse Books in Brighton. Kathryn is a former elementary school teacher and librarian. Her career working with books and kids and, as an avid reader herself, gave her the interest and qualifications to take over Brighton’s well-known Lighthouse Books when the previous owners retired. She and her husband Dan, bought the business a couple of years ago and are enjoying the challenges of running an independent bookstore in what many have found  difficult times.

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Jennifer Bogart, editor and publisher, and Angelica Ottewill, story teller and harpist, talk about the posthumous autobiography of Angelica’s father-in-law, artist John Ottewill, The book, Journey Of An Artist, follows John’s life and career, from his childhood in wartime Britain to Canada and ultimately to Warkworth, where he lived for many years. His autobiography, recently released, will be for sale at the Market on the the Millennium Trail during the Warkworth Lilac Festival on May 26th and 27th.

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Linda Hutsell Manning has had a long and successful career as a children’s author, poet, novelist and playwright. Recently she has been working on a memoir about her experiences teaching in a one-room school on the outskirts of Cobourg.  Last year, her 2 act comedy A Certain Singing Teacher was produced by the Victorian Operetta Society in Cobourg and this year she published a new story for children with Common Deer Press, Finding Moufette. Catch up with all Linda’s projects in this episode.

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This week we continue to celebrate Poetry Month as we discuss his work with poet, MIchael Topa. Michael was born in Ann Arbor Michiganbut when his mother was hospitalised for severe depression, his father sent him to live with his uncle, a thoracic surgeon in Dallas. Texas.  In 1962-3, Michael lived with his uncle’s family in Kabul and that year Michael was able to travel to Pakistan, India and Nepal. Michael spent 4 years in the United States Air Force as a Weather Observer during the Vietnam War then immigrated to Canada. He studied at the Universities of Michigan, Guam, York and Toronto, worked as a Psycho-educational Consultant and is the co-founder and Director of Greenoaks Educational Services. He has been writing poetry for over fifty years.

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We continue our celebration of Poetry Month with a programme about Wally Keeler. He was born and raised in Cobourg and now describes his occupation as Poetentate, and his location as People’s Republic of Poetry. His work has been published in a number of literary arts journals, including Prism, Impulse, the Fiddlehead, Descant, West Coast Review and others. His poetry collection Walking on the Greenhouse Roof was published by Delta Canada, Montreal, in 1969 to excellent reviews. Wally’s primary life interest is poetry and he has spent his life promoting poetry. Please join us.

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