Recent Programs

Christopher M Briggs

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Christopher M. Briggs graduated from Trinity College, University of Toronto, with a degree in English Literature and Philosophy.  He spent forty years underwriting insurance contracts for large construction projects.  He also served as a Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve.  Christopher holds a Creative Writing Certificate from the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies as well as a post-graduate Certificate and Letter of Distinction from the Humber School for Writers.  Trial is his first novel. Chris lived in Cobourg for 20 years and was an “extreme commuter” to Toronto on VIA Rail.  Currently living in Toronto, he still has friends in Northumberland and loves to visit whenever he’s able.

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Marnie Hare Bickle

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Marnie Hare Bickle worked for most of her career in music academia as Head of Circulation for the

Music Library at the Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario; Ontario Regional Director

for the Canadian Music Centre; and Concert Manager for the Faculty of Music, University of

Toronto. She studied piano, voice, and because she was a teen in the 60s, learned guitar and

performed at coffee houses, folk concerts, church events, and community functions. Always a

writer at heart, she has written poetry, songs, short stories and articles. She combined her interest

in music and research to record part of U of T’s Opera School history (1972-1996) as well as

other articles to promote and showcase classical musicians.

She and her husband moved to Port Hope in1997 and she gave private piano, voice and guitar lessons until COVID brought about her retirement. In that family home she found a treasure chest of documents, written by her husband’s great uncle David Ford. After several years of research into Ford’s papers and background she produced her very successful book, Native Born Son: The Journals of David J Ford published by Blue Denim Press in 2018.

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Tom Cruikshank

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This week we welcome Tom Cruikshank. With an abiding interest in local history and heritage architecture, these are subjects Tom has pursued in no fewer than five books. His work includes Old Ontario Houses, Old Toronto Houses and The Settler’s Dream. For the better part of 25 years, he worked in the Canadian magazine industry, first as editor of the locally produced Century Home and later, Harrowsmith Country Life. He is currently at work on an inventory of the older buildings of Hamilton Township. He sometimes uncovers strange stories! The incident is long forgotten, but in 1895, a mailman “went postal” and shot a prominent lawyer to death at his desk in his downtown Cobourg office. It was a bizarre and dramatic scene that plays out like a psycho-mystery movie.

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Renee Sgroi

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This week our guest is Renee Sgroi. Renee was born and raised in Toronto. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and her poetry has been published in numerous Canadian journals and anthologies. A member of the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers Union of Canada, an executive member of the Canadian Authors Association (Toronto branch), as well as a contributing editor for Arc Poetry, Renée’s poems have been published in The Windsor Review, the /tƐmz/ review and The Prairie Journal among others. She recently won 2nd prize in the Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize and continues to make long and short lists worldwide including that for the Fish Poetry Prize. In 2019, her unpublished novel was shortlisted for Canada’s Guernica Prize. She recently read at an Ontario Poetry Society event held in Cobourg. She lives in the GTA with her husband and children.

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Sharon Ramsay Curtis

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This week we talk to Sharon Ramsay Curtis. She has always described her artistic interests as a “mixed bag” sampling many types of activities and learning a great deal in the process. After many years of struggling with this she has made peace with the concept and is enjoying the journey. She has successfully combined her skills as a visual artist and as writer in the production of two picture books and is now transforming them into a new format. Please join us.

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Katie Hoogendam

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Join us as we welcome Katie Hoogendam. MERKAT (Meredith Katherine Hoogendam) is a poet, writer and interdisciplinary artist; other incarnations include high school teacher and local community radio host and producer (currently Nightfall with Merkat, for 89.7). Folklore, feminism, archetype and the natural world inform her work. Her writing and images appear in publications across the U.S. and Canada, including Room Magazine, Geez Magazine, Mutha and catapult, among others. Her play, Plan X, debuted at the 2019 Northumberland Festival of the Arts. Spring Thaw, her third collection of poetry, dropped spring 2022 from Glentula Press. She is currently at work on her fourth collection of poetry, entitled Materials at Hand. Find her on Instagram @merkatart.

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Artists’ Retreats in Haliburton and Prince Edward County

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This week is a repeat broadcast of a programme about local artists’ retreats in Haliburton and Prince Edward County. Administrators, Ruth Walker and Jean Baird and a 2022 resident, sophie anne edwards talk about the opportunities for writers at these special places. Please Note that the Hall’s Island retreat has extended the time for applications to January 31st this year.

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Ted Staunton

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This week is an encore episode from last summer, featuring Ted Staunton. Ted is the author of over 40 books; he writes everything from YA and mid-grade novels (including titles in the popular SEVEN series) to Hi-Los, non-fiction, early chapter books, and of course picture books. His YA novel Who I’m Not won the 2014 CCBC John Spray Mystery Award. Ted’s work has also been nominated for Silver Birch, Red Maple, Hackmatack, Arthur Ellis, and BC Stellar awards, and many of his books are on CCBC Our Choice lists. Trained as a teacher, Ted is a speaker, performer, and workshop leader in schools, libraries and venues across Canada. As well, he teaches the Writing Children’s Fiction courses at George Brown College. He has also travelled to Ethiopia several times to work with English language writers and editors there. When he’s not writing, Ted plays in the MAPLE LEAF CHAMPIONS JUG BAND. Ted and his family live in Port Hope, Ontario.

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Holiday Programme 3

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Join us for our final holiday show for this year and listen to readings by Donna Wootton, Antony Di Nardo, Sharon Ramsay Curtis, Gwynn Scheltema and John Unruh. We all wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Holiday Programme 2

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Join us for our second Holiday Show and listen to short fiction by Chris Cameron and from Ronald Mackay, read by Lynn Bilton. Anne -Marie Burrus, Katie Hoogendam and Felicity Sidnell Reid will read their poems about winter and the holiday season. 

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