Transcript (continued from part two)
Jenna Morton - Rhonda, I'd love to bring you back into the conversation on that point of kind of those full circle moments and looking back over 40 years and kind of give us a snapshot of how this fits into what the Federation is doing now and is looking forward to.
Rhonda Bulmer - Well, you know, I joined the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick in 2010 as a new writer who was not published, who had a manuscript that probably wasn't that great, but I had high hopes for it. I had written my first book when I was 15 on a typewriter my parents gave me for Christmas. And I always, but I didn't, because I shot for the moon and sent my romance spy novel that I wrote at 15 to McClelland and Stewart, figured that they would publish it because they published Margaret Atwood, why wouldn't they want my book? And I got this big rejection from, but I hand-typed, like an editor bothered to actually type out a rejection for me and say, ‘Don't give up. Keep writing. Here are all the publishers that publish books.’ And I'm just telling you that because I think that for me, the Writers’ Federation, just as an aspiring writer, made it possible for me to not give up. And it's because of the writers who I met who were established, and really good writers, and kind of took me under their wing. And I don't know, they felt sorry for me or something. But I really appreciated that, and I feel like I've gotten so much out of this organization. So I think even though the structure might be a little more formal with the programs that we do regularly through the year, the heart of it is still the same. And we still don't have a tiered membership - no matter who you are, you can be a member. And I think it gives more established writers an opportunity to shepherd writers who are not, but have big dreams. And I really appreciate our more senior writers. I mean, senior as in accomplishment, not necessarily in age, although I think they sometimes go together - age and accomplishment. And so, for full circle moments, I would say that all of our programs run together in order to create that. So we send writers into the schools to encourage young people. We have young people submit stories to the Sheree Fitch Prize for Teen Writers in the New Brunswick Writing Competition. We've had, in my time as ED since 2021, I've seen quite a few, like some kids submit things just because their teacher is encouraging it. And some people submit because you can see it. It's 15-year old Rhonda, you know, you can see it. The person wants to be a writer - they need to express themselves through words. And then, you know, you get someone who, like, Thomas Chamberlain this year. He submitted a book, a manuscript twice to the David Adams Richards prize, he won. He got an Honourable Mention the first year, he took it back, he took that as encouragement, he got an editor, he really worked hard. He submitted it again. The next year, he won second prize. And this year, he got a book deal. And so, isn't that awesome? That's what we're all here for. And, you know, and who knows, he might submit that book in the next year and the next year to the book awards. And he has an opportunity to win that. And I don't know, I just think it's very rewarding. I think you can do a lot with a little. We still don't have huge resources, but I think with what we have, we do our best to really create that grassroots opportunity, to connect and learn from one another.
Nancy Bauer - One thing is that we have never had even, we've just not had the right amount of money. We're so much the poorest federation. And part of that is that we kind of missed the real time when money was being given out. And that was around 1967, and afterwards when the federal government was giving money and provinces were giving money. And when we came along, that was not such a priority for the governments. And so, for example, we've never had, you know, enough money to pay Rhonda. I mean, we pay her, but we don't pay her anywhere near enough. We've never had really an office. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. I mean, do people get too...
Jenna Morton - There's something to the magic of the grassroots nature of the group.
Nancy Bauer - If they have enough money, I don't know. People have to be passionate about and do and do, you know, much more and with much more enthusiasm than they get paid for.
Rhonda Bulmer - I think maybe in this modern day, of internet connection, that a brick-and-mortar location is really not as important as it used to be, or it might have been. It might make some things easier, and it really just depends on who the ED is. I know that in the past when you've had EDs in Fredericton, they've had space at the Charlotte Street Art Center or something like that. For me, I have a home office, and it suits me just fine. And, you know, we can be nimble. We don't have a lot of the expenses that are attached to that. So, I think that's not the biggest worry. I think just having enough resources to pad our awards programs, particularly, you know, to be able to offer bigger prizes, to pay the judges more, that kind of thing. I think maybe just to sustain those programs in the long run, would be what I think we need resources for. And some philanthropists to come along and say, ‘I want to sow into this organization.’ So I have to seek those people out.
Jenna Morton - Well, if we're lucky, maybe they're listening to this and we'll hear the call. Before we end our time together, I just wanted to give each of you an opportunity to share some final thoughts, whether it's about the history or the future or just what writing in New Brunswick means to you. And maybe Ann, we'll start with you.
Ann Brennan - Yes, thank you. Because one of the things that my daughter Rayanne and I've been talking back and forth, she would like to do a history display, which is interesting. And I have some things here, including a lot of the little chapbooks and poetry books that began early on. I'm a pretty good saver of things. And I also come across a couple of nice articles about Maritime Writers’ Workshop. kind of thing. And so, Rayanne did ask that in this information session that we kind of search around and bring some things if you'd like to display them. So, I'm doing my best to get, I've got most of Alden Nowlan's books, and I thought I had some of Fred Cogswell's chapbooks. I haven't found them yet, but I'm sure I have some of Allan Cooper's books, but Allan, you probably have copies of some of yours.
Allan Cooper - I do.
Ann Brennan - Some of the few early…
Allan Cooper - I stored a few away for my daughter.
Ann Brennan - Yeah, well I know some of the early ones because I used to... I was always fun to buy your books. I always buy your books and I'm sure I have them all at one point. But anyway, I've been collecting them for her because we'd like to have a little bit of a display of some of those early productions and any photos or anything that you want to present. I think she'd be happy to have them. So anyway, that's one little project that we're working on.
Allan Cooper - Yeah, I'll try to get some stuff together for you.
Ann Brennan - Yeah. And just maybe in summation, I have to say that somewhat like Nancy, I think I'm going to be very sentimental because never, I think in our wildest dreams when this began, would we ever realize that in 40 years from now, we'd be sitting here celebrating it. Number one, I didn't think I was going to last that long. Every time I turn around, I think, okay, I'm still here. I'm still writing, actually. I'm doing the Fairy Chronicles book three. At my age, it's kind of exciting that I'm now doing what I love, and it's so much fun, and I'm not as hung up as I would have been 50 years ago. I think you write because you love it. And you just get up in the morning and think, ‘what can I, how many pages can I do today?’ As opposed to what, you know, you're looking at it a completely different way. It's, you write because you have to. I remember writing an article. to myself about getting up in the morning and knowing that I had to sit down and write in my journal. I've done that my whole entire life. And then every once in a while, I'll read my journal and come across these gems and think, ‘wow, did I really write that?’ So you're born to write. And I think that to go back to the beginning, these are changing times. And they say that the poets are always the leaders. They're always the leaders that write the songs and write the poems that inspire people and that people need that inspiration now. And they need us to continue with the poems, and they need us to write our stories, and they need us to dream. We need to dream the future, and that's our role. And don't be afraid to be outlandish. And dream big, and pass that torch to the young people. That's why we're here. So it's been my pleasure to be part of a group of dedicated friends that I've grown to love over the years. And it's been really special.
Allan Cooper - I think Ann has summed it all up for me. And the fact that she's still nurturing people and Nancy is still nurturing and encouraging people. And Me and now in my 70s, I'm using them as examples. It doesn't matter how old the writer is or whether they're beginners or whatever, I think we can all just feel the love and keep doing it. That's all.
Jenna Morton - Beautiful. Rhonda, do you have anything to say before we let Nancy have the last word?
Rhonda Bulmer - Oh gosh, like I said, I joined in 2010 and I was on the board in 2017 or '18, and I was the president. I felt like I wanted to give back the amount of encouragement that has been given to me, and mentorship by WFNB members. And I just appreciate the organization very much. I think it's worthy, and I think people are always better together.
Jenna Morton - Nancy, we're going to leave the last thoughts with you and back to your living room.
Nancy Bauer - Yes. I've always felt usually grateful to destiny or whatever it was that it landed me here because there couldn't have been a more perfect place for me. It was close enough to New England that it seemed familiar, but as I've said, far enough away to be exotic. There was so much excitement going on, so many people. I had absolute luck in this house. Bill and I chose it just on a whim, really, while we couldn't find an apartment. And so, it's a - the living room turned out to be a comfortable place for people, so that there was so much to do and so much excitement. And I just have-- looking back now all those years, I'm thinking how wonderful it was, how grateful I am. And it was wonderful for Bill, too. I mean, I think the university was the perfect place for him. It was a wonderful place to bring up children. And then to have all these people who were so, so creative and interesting. And I mean, Ann, I mean, Ann had me up to her farm and I went through a labyrinth and a fairy garden or fairy trail, I forget what you call it, Ann. And Allan and I wrote, when I was in the hospital a year ago, I had the most amazing experience that I've written about, about one of Allan's books. I've written to him, and showed him what I've written. There seemed just to be something in the air for me here. So, to have had this opportunity to step in when people said, ‘Oh yeah, let's have a Maritime Writers’ Workshop,’ or Kent Thompson said to my husband, ‘Tell Nancy to come to our writers group.’ And then somebody said, ‘Well, it would be great to have some chapbooks.’ And Mary Lund, ‘Why don't we start the Maritime Writers' Workshop?’ And Alan and others saying, ‘oh, the Writers' Federation, that'd be a great idea.’ It just went from place to place and all of a sudden I was in the midst of all this. It was just happening. Nothing I did to deserve it. But to become part of this is just-- could not have been better, really. Not at all.
Jenna Morton - I think that's a beautiful place to leave our discussion today. And on behalf of all of the writers and aspiring writers in the province, I would like to thank all of you who had a hand in starting the Federation and getting these first 40 years. under the belt and looking forward to what's to come next. So thank you so much for today and for everything you've done.
Rhonda Bulmer - Thank you.
Jenna Morton - Thank you to my guests for this discussion, Nancy Bauer, Ann Brennan, Allan Cooper, and Rhonda Bulmer. My name is Jenna Morton. If you've enjoyed this episode, please take a listen to our first season, featuring my discussions with six New Brunswick writers, sharing their thoughts on writing in this place, the role of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, and the importance of encouraging everyone to share their own stories.
Tosh Taylor - WordCraft is a project by the non-profit Writers Federation of New Brunswick. The show is hosted and produced by Jenna Morton, with technical production by Tosh Taylor. The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick acknowledges that the land on which we live, work, and gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Woolastook and Mi'kmaq peoples. We honor the spirit of our ancestors' treaties of peace and friendship.
