Poet Catherine Graham to read in Parry Sound with The International Festival of Authors on 6 November.

Poet Catherine Graham to read in Parry Sound with The International Festival of Authors on 6 November.

Review by IFOA Parry Sound Committee member Gillian Holden

The International Festival of Authors returns to Parry Sound this fall for the 7th year. In 2008 the touring program of the IFOA was an experiment, it is now an event that readers eagerly look forward to attending each year.

This fall, on Thursday 6 November at 7:30 pm we will present readings by Michael Crummey, Craig Davidson (writing as Nick Cutter), Catherine Graham and Helen Humphreys.

Catherine Graham will read from her fifth poetry collection Her Red Hair Rises With The Wings Of Insects.

Catherine Graham is a Hamilton-born Canadian poet whose work has been strongly influenced by poets P.K. Page (Canada) and Dorothy Molloy (Ireland).  This collection was launched in the fall of 2013, and was a finalist for the League of Canadian Poets’ Raymond Souster Award, as well as the CAA Poetry Award.  Graham’s poems form a permanent exhibit on the Burlington, Ontario waterfront.  She has also served as a founding member of the board of directors of Project Bookmark Canada.

This latest poetry collection is based on the style of writing known as glosa, which was developed in the early part of the Renaissance.  Glosa is a Spanish form of poetry related to the cantiga.  It is a poem that begins with a line or a short verse (cabeza) which states a theme. This first verse is then followed by separate verses for each line of the cabeza which explains (glosses) that line. The line often appears as a refrain in the first or last line, or both.

In this collection, Graham has used the glosa format more loosely, writing poems that expand on poetry written by Dorothy Molloy.   Graham has used italics to indicate the words that come from Molloy, and has not strictly adhered to the original form.  In the words of Michael Dennis, ‘She has the technical mastery to make the glosas disappear . . . and we are left with strong, vibrant poems that aren't bridled by technique. There is humour, wit, sensual experience, fantasy and grace in these poems.’

Catherine Graham currently lives in Toronto, having spent several years living and writing in Northern Ireland.  She commented that ‘Poetry is a big part of people’s lives in Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the UK where my journey as a writer began.  It isn’t confined to the backs of bookshelves or to no shelves at all, it’s at the front of the bookstore, the latest publication. Poetry is reviewed regularly in national newspapers, heard on national radio and contemporary poets are often seen on TV. People from all walks of life attend poetry readings, not just poets and emerging poets. It’s alive and vibrant and embedded in the culture.’

Catherine Graham began writing poetry following the deaths of her parents, which occurred while she was an undergraduate student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. This outlet for her grief became a passion in and of itself, causing her to move to Northern Ireland and study poetry.  She earned an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University while there and also published her first collection.  Graham’s work has been influenced by the strong community of Irish poets.  Her work was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster and anthologized in The White Page/An Bhileog Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets and The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol IV & V.

Picks and Sticks by Michele Muzzi

Hometown girl writes about figure skating & hockey! Picks and Sticks by Michele Muzzi I do not like competitive sports, getting out of bed in the dark on winter mornings or the bone chilling cold of winter. So, why did I read a young adult novel about elite level figure skating and small town hockey that involves all of this? Because, Picks and Sticks written by Michele Muzzi, who grew up in Parry Sound has set her first novel in her hometown.

What I expected was a simple little book for young teens, what I read is a thoroughly captivating, well-constructed, very well written, and powerful novel. Although the target audience is really thirteen to eighteen year olds, Picks and Sticks is a novel with more depth and compassion than most for that age. I read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

Picks and Sticks opens with the famous 1972 hockey game between Russia and Canada – and don’t we all know where we were on that day. I was working at the York University Bookstore where someone had brought in a television for all the hockey crazy fans. Jane Matagov is in Parry Sound, in high school, watching the game with her classmates. Jane is a figure skater, daughter of a hockey player, Bud, who died some years earlier in an automobile accident. Jane’s mother, Deb, now a caregiver at the local nursing home, was once also a young figure skater heading for fame, and Jane’s brother, Michael, who plays with the Shamrocks shows promise of being an accomplished hockey player. Jane’s skating coach, Leonard, was once her mother’s pairs partner – a man disappointed by his own lack of success as a skater. So, we have our central characters. Added to the mix is Ivan, the Zamboni driver at the local arena, and his daughter, Irina, and various assorted friends of Jane and Michael. And, the arena manager and hockey coach, Al, a thoroughly miserable man - and the principal of the local high school, Mr. Marsh, a man many Parry Sounders will recognize.

Until I moved from Toronto to Parry Sound in 1988 I had no idea of the importance of both hockey and figure skating in the lives of small town Ontario - and I expect, across the country. But, I have learned that it is a passion that many live and breath for – and Michele Muzzi has nailed it.

Jane practices hard, she has just won the Junior Ladies skating event for Northern Ontario and is heading for the Canadians. But, unknown to others, Jane sometimes puts on hockey skates and goes alone to a pond where she skated with her father, the place she feels closest to him. One morning Jane sees Ivan and Irina skating there, playing hockey with each other, and she joins in. This becomes their secret place and secret time. Jane, along with the reader, discovers there is a lot more to their story than is at first apparent, and how that is revealed is one of the most interesting parts of this novel, as we discover how Ivan is connected to Russia, and hockey, and Jane’s father.

At the local arena where Jane practices in the early mornings and after school, and the boys play hockey, there is a rather nasty atmosphere as the coaches compete for ice time. Jane is a very talented, disciplined and committed skater but she feels an intense loneliness as a figure skater with all of the other skaters her competition. But hockey is giving her a community as gradually, with a group of other girls, a sort of team is formed. Jane for the first time experiences the camaraderie of her peers, while skating on a pond overlooking Georgian Bay in the early dawn.

Jane at fifteen is experiencing what a difficult draining age that can be. She has the usual conflicts with her mother, complicated by the death of her father and her skating career. The self confidence and determination that she has as a skater serves her well – she is able to stand up for herself in the face of opposition by the adults in her life. Jane is determined to play hockey against the orders from her mother and her skating coach.

I don’t want to reveal any more of this story. Jane’s development as a figure skater heading for International fame, her relationship with her mother and how that changes over the course of the novel will bring you to tears.

I found myself full of questions about the background to this novel. I know there is very active figure skating, and hockey for boys and girls in Parry Sound. This is after all is the home of Bobby Orr, who does make an appearance in this story. We now have girls and women’s hockey teams here and around the world. So, I picked up the phone to talk with Michele Muzzi.

Michele Muzzi grew up in Parry Sound, living here until she was nineteen years old – most of that time on Church Street, where Jane also lives in Picks and Sticks. Michele was a figure skater herself, “but not a really good one”, she says, and she did do the early morning practices, the figures.

One well-known person who makes an appearance is Hazel McCallion, long time mayor of Mississauga. She did play hockey herself in the late 1920’s, later turning professional in Montreal. Michele told me that girls hockey was quite popular, and organized, in the years before the Second World War, but repressed for some unknown reason in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

You will also recognize Bobby Orr. Although he was in Parry Sound recuperating from knee surgery, he did not make an appearance at the arena as he does in this novel, but I like to think he would have.

I recognized many Parry Sound locations in this novel – and you will think that you recognize some of the people – but this is fiction and Michele has used the writers’ prerogative to change things to suit her story.

Michele Muzzi will be home in Parry Sound to share her book with hometown readers, on Sunday 15 December from noon until 2 pm she will be at Parry Sound Books to sign her books, and celebrate with family and friends the publication of Picks and Sticks.

International Festival of Authors Parry Sound 23 October 2013

The International Festival of Authors Parry Sound takes place Wednesday 23 October at 7:30 pm at the Charles W. Stockey Centre. This is the seventh year that this prestigious organization has worked with a local committee, with the support of local sponsors, to bring internationally recognized authors to Parry Sound.

This year four authors, Lewis DeSoto, Alexander Maksik, Nicole Lundrigan and Janet E. Cameron will read from their most recent novels. I first met Lewis DeSoto in 2005 when he accepted my invitation to come to Parry Sound to read from his first novel, A Blade of Grass. Set on the border between South Africa and an unnamed country, A Blade of Grass tells the story of a young couple, Ben and Marit, farmers maintaining old traditions, their days passing peacefully. They manage the farm, and their black workers cultivate the fields and tend the animals. But when guerilla violence and tragedy erupt the novel proceeds to its devastating conclusion, unfolding a tale that is both terrifying and hopeful. We are offered a profound perspective on what it means to be black and white in a country that both call home. A Blade of Grass is on my list of favourite novels. Lewis De Soto’s most recent novel is The Restoration Artist. This novel is set in France, mostly in Normandy, where Lewis DeSoto and his wife live for part of each year. We meet Leo, a painter, his wife Claudine and their son, Piero, on holiday in Cyprus when tragedy occurs. Claudine and Piero are killed and Leo survives – a man broken by grief and guilt. A year and a half later we find Leo on a small island off the coast of Normandy where he has come to find a way to carry on – or not. What follows is the story of a man struggling to find love and peace and fulfillment. The cast of characters includes others who are damaged - a child, Tobias, and a woman, Lorca - and the very perceptive local curate who truly lives his faith and helps each one in his own quiet way. This is a novel that explores loss, despair and hope.

Lewis DeSoto was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to a family that arrived from Europe in the eighteenth century and eventually located to farming country near Vryheid in Zululand after the Boer War. Lewis attended the University of British Columbia, where he received a master of fine arts. Lewis DeSoto is also the author of Emily Carr a volume in the Extraordinary Canadians Series.

Joining Lewis DeSoto, Alexander Maksik and Janet E. Cameron is Nicole Lundrigan.

Nicole Lundrigan is a native of Newfoundland, where she grew up in Upper Gillies with her five siblings. She now lives in Ontario.

She is the author of The Seary Line, Thaw and Glass Boys all set in Newfoundland.

Nicole Lundrigan steps far away from Newfoundland with her new novel. She will read from The Widow Tree, a novel set in the 1950s, in post-war Yugoslavia. When a trio of young men find a cache of Roman coins they argue over what to do with their new found wealth. Silent betrayals take place in this tightly knit village, where suspicion counters hope in the post war years. Secrets, once closely guarded, are revealed, resulting in tragic consequences.

The International Festival of Authors provides a unique opportunity to hear authors not usually available for readings right here in our own community. Join us for an entertaining and exhilarating celebration of the written word.