Join us to hear about Patricia Calder’s new book I FLEW INTO TROUBLE. Born into a prolific family of eight writers, Patricia Calder dreamed of becoming a writer herself. However, the travel bug hit and she lived in Europe for a year, visiting 22 countries. Then began a 30-year teaching career which included Writer’s Craft and Journalism. Meanwhile she kept the dream alive studying fiction writing under Canadian authors such as Matt Cohen.

She published a novel, Roadblock and is working on a story about her Uncle Jack called I Flew into Trouble. Her grandmother’s World War II scrapbook has recently been accepted into the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. She has also published splendid photographic records of her visits to the see the Spirit Bears in BC and the wild horses of Sable Island in Nova Scotia.

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Join us for our latest conversation with Marie-Lynn Hammond. Marie-Lynn is a bilingual singer-songwriter, playwright, editor, writer, and occasional poet who happily moved to Cobourg eight years ago. She has published four plays and more than 50 articles and radio essays. Her play Beautiful Deeds/De Beaux Gestes was co-produced by Théâtre du P’tit Bonheur (Toronto) and the Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg). A 1987 production was seen at the Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon), at the National Arts Centre, and elsewhere. It was also successfully revived at the Spirit of the Hills Festival of the Arts in 2017. A founding member of Stringband, one of Canada’s seminal folk groups, she’s known for her original songs, which often tell uniquely Canadian stories. A passionate animal advocate, she can frequently be found rescuing cats.

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This week we welcome Ted Staunton, the author of well over 40 books; he writes everything from YA and mid-grade novels 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. 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. (He always brings his guitar and banjo to school presentations too.) He enjoys running, reading and writing and listening to music. Born young, he is now older. Ted and his family live in Port Hope, Ontario.

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This week, meet Michael Topa, poet. Michael was born in Michigan and has lived and studied in many countries, including Canada, USA, and Afghanistan. He also travelled to India, Pakistan and Nepal. He spent four years in the United States Air Force as a Weather Observer during the Vietnam War and immigrated to Canada when his tour of duty ended, He has worked for many years as a Psycho-educational Consultant and is the co-founder and Director of Greenoaks Educational Services. He has been writing poetry for over 50 years and now a memoir, SHARDS OF GLASS.

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Born in Edmonton and raised in Toronto, Michael graduated in English and History at the University of Western Ontario. He worked in construction during his school days and then as a reporter, photographer and editor at newspapers in Timmins and Ajax. After he got his high school teaching certificate he taught for three years.  Then he moved to Spain where he taught ESL and learned Spanish Flamenco guitar.  Michael has travelled and read widely in philosophy, Canadian studies and religion (Western and Oriental). He has even taught Yoga.  As for writing, he has always kept a journal which now exceeds fifty-two volumes. Out of this material he has produced poems, stories and two books. The Disillusioning (published in 2007) and The Lingering Absence (published in 2022). He says he was inspired to write in an effort to fill certain gaps which lingered even though the essential pioneering was pretty much a thing of the past.

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