GORE BAY–Three Manitoulin authors will deliver book talks at the Gore Bay Museum this Friday, June 15 from 1 to 4 pm. The event, co-sponsored by the museum and the Manitoulin Writers’ Circle, rounds off a week of Taste of Manitoulin festivities.
Rose Brandon, a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul, will be on hand to share her Manitoulin connections. She lives in Caledonia and summers in the Mindemoya area. An award-winning personal experience writer, she has developed a following on her faith blog entitled ‘Listening to my Hair Grow,’ available at http://rosemccormickbrandon.wordpress.com
. Currently, she is researching and collecting stories of British home children. Readers can check out ‘The Promise of Home’ at http://littleimmigrants.wordpress.com
Joe Ann Lewis, author of ‘One Tree on an Island,’ the history of Barrie Island, will also be in attendance. She was born on Barrie Island and her parents were descended from two early pioneer families, Galbraith and Baker. Her early schooling was at the local one-room schoolhouse. Her family moved to Ceylon, Ontario and she finished her education in Flesherton. Her educational background includes studies in library technology at Cambrian College as well as public administration at Ryerson University. An avid historian and genealogist, Ms. Lewis volunteers with the historical societies in both Campbell Township and Central Manitoulin. During her presentation she will update listeners on her current project, the history of Campbell Township.
The third guest writer is Paula Mallea, author of ‘Aboriginal Law: Apartheid in Canada and Fearmonger,’ her recent assessment of the federal government’s tough-on-crime agenda. In the book published by James Lorimer, she disputes the Conservatives’ claim that their new legislation will make our streets safer. She argues that the policy is really “lazy on crime” and tough on taxpayers. ‘Fearmonger’ is a compelling critique of the financial as well as the human costs of harsher prison sentences and the incarceration of ever greater numbers of people. Ms. Mallea was born in Ice Lake and practised criminal law for 15 years in Toronto, Kingston and Manitoba. Many of her clients were penitentiary inmates and she has walked prison ranges in two provinces. She is a research assistant with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and active in community issues on Manitoulin.
Since it is Farmers’ Market day Friday morning in Gore Bay, visitors and residents alike are encouraged to feed their craving for local food at the market and then make their way to the museum at 12 Dawson St. to feed their craving for intellectual stimulation.
For more information call 705-282-1714 (Writers’ Circle) or 705-282-2040 (museum).
