Reading Where We Live
Celebration of local writing session planned in Bridgetown
The Ernest Buckler Literary Event Society is hosting its second major event: a celebration of local writing on June 3.
The upcoming event, Reading Where We Live, is aimed at encouraging a wider appreciation of Canadian literature.
It is being chaired by Jane Borecky and organizers include Anne Crossman, Robert Maher and John Montgomerie.
In 2015, the group sponsored Remembering Ernest Buckler, an occasion which commemorated the literary achievements of a native son. Montgomerie said he became a pioneer in the advancement of Canadian literature.
The success of this venture has inspired the society to present Reading Where We Live: A Celebration of Local Writing, which will take place in the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #33 building in Bridgetown on June 3 from 4-9 p.m.
Two leading scholars in Canadian literature will be the keynote speakers. The first is Alexander Macleod, son of the late writer Alistair Macleod, is the author of the 2010 Scotiabank Giller-nominated
Light Lifting and a professor of English and
Atlantic Canada
Studies at St.
Mary’s University. The second is Nick Mount, a professor of
Canadian Literature at University of Toronto, who studied at Dalhousie University. In 2005, his book, When Canadian Literature Moved to New York, won the Gabrielle Roy Prize for the best book in Canadian literary criticism.
“We will be fortunate indeed to hear the individual views of these two men on writing for a local audience,” Mongomerie said.
Paul Colville of Mosher’s Corner, an organic farmer, has recently written The View from Delusion
Road: A Settler’s
Story, a work of fictional nonfiction about life in the North
Mountain area between 1860 and 1870. He recreated dialogue between his two protagonists, Joseph and Jane Bent. Colville will detail his experience as a writer exploring a local theme with help from historian
Barry Moody and Linda Bent.
The panel will then be expanded to include Mount and Macleod with a question and answer session involving the audience.
Blain Henshaw, who is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, auctioneer, songwriter and performer, will provide musical entertainment, as well as commentary on his recent book
All Hands Lost, which records the tragic last voyage of the gypsum freighter SS Novadoc in March 1947.
Ken Maher has chosen a selection to read from Whirligig, Buckler’s collection of wit and whimsy, which won the Leacock Medal for Humour in 1978. Finally, the Annapolis District Drama Group, under the direction of Brian Dickinson, will stage Peggy Armstrong’s play Starting Over.
An important ingredient of this local writers’ event will be a locally-sourced supper catered by D’aubin’s Family Meats of Bridgetown. Anyone with dietary concerns should tell their ticket seller as D’aubin’s is prepared to honour such requests.
As an added attraction, Montgomerie, who is a Bridgetown pianist, will provide background dining music. A cash bar will be available.
Tickets, $35, are on sale at the Middleton, Lawrencetown, Bridgetown and Annapolis Royal branches of the Annapolis Valley Regional Library as well as Endless Shores Books in Bridgetown and Bainton’s Tannery Outlet in Annapolis Royal.
Only 80 tickets are available. For any further inquiries, contact Borecky at 902-665-2038. like us on facebook facebook.com/pages/ kingscountynews
Two touring musicians coming
Craig Visser and Emily Shaw will be travelling around Nova Scotia this spring for a run of guitar concerts, including stops at Wolfville and Annapolis Royal.
The concerts will feature classical standards by Chopin and Rossini, as well as modern music for the guitar by Dyens, Assad, Omar Daniel, and Visser. Come and hear these young emerging guitarists in what will be an exciting and diverse program for all tastes and interests.
On May 31, they will perform at 7:30 p.m. in Manning Memorial Chapel, Wolfville, and then on June 3 at 3 p.m., their concert is set for the Artsplace Gallery, Annapolis Royal.
Admission is by donation for both concerts.
Wedding Belles goes on Centrestage roster
Wedding Belles by Alan Bailey and Ronnie Claire Edwards is a delightful comedy set in the garden in Eufala Springs, East Texas.
Four garden club ladies meet a young girl who has come to their little Texas town to marry an infantryman before he ships off for the Second World War. The women impulsively decide to throw the girl an elaborate wedding.
Wedding Belles is directed by Heidi Price. The cast includes Charley Mcbride, Junie Hutchinson, Carolyn Landry, Terri Bowlby-chiasson and Emily Burton.
The play runs from June 2–24, with maintess on June 11 and 18. The evening shows begin at 7:30 p.m. The matinees begin at 2 p.m.
The featured artist during June is Kimberly Taggart.
Go online: www.centrestagetheatre.ca
Get ready for the Music Man
Following a successful run of the musical Grease in early 2017, Quick As A Wink Theatre Society in Windsor is ready to tackle its next big Broadway musical, and this time, The Music Man is making its way to the local theatre stage.
Shows will take place at Fountain Performing Arts Centre of King’s-edgehill School in Windsor June 2, 3, 9, 10, at 7 p.m., with special matinees on June 3, 4, and 10 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at QAAW.CA or by visiting The Box of Delights Book Shop in Wolfville.
An East Coast Classical weekend
A wonderful weekend of classical music is coming up in Wolfville June 2-4. It opens with Voices 10; professional opera singers, from across Nova Scotia, will sing arias, duets, trios, quartets and choruses from famous operas. There is also a free vocal class, starting at 7:30 p.m., at Wolfville Baptist Church.
Then, join Fab Five Instrumental, featuring Chantal Peng, piano, David Parker, french horn, Jennifer King, piano Charke/ Cormier Duo , flute and classical guitar. Enjoy the fiery rhythms of Machado and Ginastera and soothing classics of Handel, Gounod, and Chopin. Free to public.
Tickets are $25 for adults or $12 for students/children for Voices 10 and Fab Five Instrumental; Vocal Masterclass is free.
Coming up at Kings Theatre
The well-known Valley performers, the Spinney Brothers, will be in concert on June 4 at 2 p.m. They are an award-winning Bluegrass quartet.
Then, on June 10, the Xara Choral Theatre will bring their moving new production of The Hours Turn to Nothing to Annapolis Royal. The choral theatre ensemble’s new work marks the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion. It begins at 7:30 p.m.
The Kings Shorts, the 11th annual festival of 10-minute plays, runs from June 16-18.
Fundy Cinema to screen
Fundy Cinema screens Fences on June 4 at 7 p.m. Denzel Washington directs and stars as Troy Maxson in this powerful screen version of August Wilson’s 1983 play about an unhappy workingclass African-american family in 1950s Pittsburgh.
On June 11 at 7 p.m., the society will show Neruda. Pablo Larraín weaves an engrossing metafictional fable around the 1948 manhunt for celebrated poet and
NKEC goes on stage
Northeast Kings Education Centre is present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast June 9–11. There will be two matinees at 2 p.m. and the three evening shows at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for children.
The production will take place at the Festival Theatre in Wolfville.
Madison Violet is coming to Berwick
The Union Street Café presents Madison Violet on June 10.
Madison Violet began in 1999 when a duo met in a restaurant called The Green Room in Toronto. That was 17 years ago, and the pair have been writing and creating beautiful music together ever since.
Ian Janes is at Al Whittle June 10
Hantsport native and musician Ian Janes performs at the Al Whittle on June 10 at 8 p.m. promoting his new CD, Yes Man. Fresh from a songwriting trip to Nashville, Janes is touring the province with fantastic reviews.
Tickets are $22 advance and $22 at the door, and can be purchased at the Box of Delights in Wolfville or Eventbrite.ca
Deep Roots presents Hillsburn June 17
The Deep Roots Music Festival organizers have announced that the recent ECMA award winning Nova Scotia band Hillsburn will be on the Al Whittle stage on June 17. Hillsburn was one of the most popular entertainers at the festival in 2016.
Last December, the band won a Canadian Folk Music Award for New Emerging Artist of the Year, and in April, their video for Run Down was awarded the video of the year at the ECMAS in Saint John.
Hillsburn features Paul Aarntzen, Clayton Burrill, Rosanna Burrill, Jackson Fairfax-perry and Clare Macdonald takes their name from Aarntzen’s hometown of Hillsburn, N.S.