ArtsLink NB is presenting Dreaming Inventive Futures, its first-ever intensive workshop on anti-oppression in the arts April 23 and 24. This is the first workshop ArtsLink NB has offered that is geared not only towards artists, but also toward professionals working for creative organizations. We would love to have you join us.

I've attached the press release, and the info is also on our website: https://artslinknb.com/blog/2022/04/06/artslink-nb-to-host-anti-oppression-workshop-for-creative-sector/

The intensive workshop will be held virtually via Zoom and is free for members of ArtsLink NB. Sessions will run from 9am to 4pm each day. To register, cultural sector workers should send an email to Jericho Knopp, jeri@artslinknb.com, with their name, their field or organization, and a brief description of why they’re interested in taking the workshop.

Friends, writers, librarians, teachers and their classrooms, are all welcome to attend this virtual conversation with author Valerie Sherrard, who will be chatting about her newest middle grade novel. And of course, there will be prizes and time for Q&A. 

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/virtual-conversation-valerie-sherrard-on-her-new-book-a-bend-in-the-breeze-tickets-310015453567

March 22, 2022 – The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) and The Fiddlehead have announced the shortlisted titles for the 7th annual New Brunswick Book Awards. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony on Saturday, June 4, as part of WFNB’s annual WordSpring writing festival in Fredericton.

The program will celebrate books published in the 2021 calendar year in the poetry, fiction, nonfiction and children’s picture books categories.

The finalists are as follows:

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction
Judge: Richard Cumyn is the author of nine books of fiction, most recently The Sign for Migrant Soul, and a past fiction editor of The Antigonish Review.

Amber McMillan, The Running Tree (Goose Lane Editions), Fredericton

Beth Powning, The Sister’s Tale (Knopf Canada), Markhamville

Valerie Sherrard, Birdspell (DCB/Cormorant Books), Miramichi

Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing
Judge: Author of over 27 books, Dr. Kari-Lynn Winters is a children's author, playwright, performer, and scholar.

Jodie Callaghan, Ga’s The Train (Second Story Press), Campbellton; translated by Joe Wilmot, and illustrated Georgia Lesley

Leo LaFleur, The Errand: The Queen (Simply Read Books), Saint John; illustrated by Adam Oehlers

Riel Nason, Disaster at the Highland Games (Chocolate River Publishing), Quispamsis; illustrated by Nathasha Pilotte

The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize
Judge: An editor at Room magazine, Isabella Wang is the author of the chapbook, On Forgetting a Language and her full-length debut, Pebble Swing.

Triny Finlay,Myself a Paperclip (Goose Lane Editions), Fredericton

Rebecca Salazar, sulphurtongue (McClelland & Stewart), Fredericton

Jane Tims, a glimpse of waterfall (Indie published), Rusagonis

Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Nonfiction Award
Judge: Julie Sedivy is a language scientist, editor, and award-winning writer of nonfiction whose work crosses and recombines scientific and literary genres.

Michael Boudreau and Bonnie Huskins, Just the Usual Work: The Social Worlds of Ida Martin, Working-Class Diarist (McGill-Queen’s University Press), Fredericton

Janet Coulter Sanford,Memories on the Bounty: A Story of Friendship, Love, and Adventure (Nimbus), Moncton

Martha Vowles, Senior Management: Parenting My Parents (Nevermore Press), Grand-Bay Westfield

The New Brunswick Book Awards are open to traditionally published and self-published authors who have lived in the province for three of the last five years, including the award year.

The book awards program represents a partnership between the Writers’ Federation, which for more than 30 years has passionately supported the development of home-grown writers at all stages of development, and The Fiddlehead, Canada’s oldest literary magazine, which has nurtured New Brunswick's literary culture for more than 75 years.

I'd like to invite your organization to participate in our 2022 writing contest, offering a $200 prize. The contest judge is the amazing Pamela Painter. Details for entry are here:

https://brilliantflashfiction.com/2022/01/05/welcome-2022-writing-contest/#more-5044

Please send us your flash,

Dawn Lowe, Editor

Brilliant Flash Fiction is a nonprofit located in Colorado, USA

Wendy McLeod MacKnight presents a workshop on writing great stories and books for children. Go to Frye.ca to register! At $15, it's a great value for WFNB members, $25 for non-members.

The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) is delighted to welcome Brigitte Rivers as their new Executive Director.

Rivers has been a freelance writer since 2006, and is a published author and illustrator (under her pen name Brigitte Marsden). She has a background in publishing, marketing and web communications, as well as being an educator. A long-time member of WFNB, Rivers has supported the non-profit in a volunteer capacity as a regional representative.

“I am really excited to take on this key role in the Writers’ Federation,” Rivers said. “I have really appreciated their support , inputs and encouragement as a writer, especially launching out into unfamiliar territory as a children’s author. As well, through WFNB I learned about opportunities to connect with my audience in different ways thanks to the Writers in Schools Program and the Artists in Residency in Schools Program. I’m looking forward to working with a great team of dedicated board members and volunteers helping support other writers in reaching their goals.”  

WFNB is the only organization in New Brunswick devoted solely and passionately to supporting writers and storytellers at all stages of development and in all genres. Their vision is to create community through words, and they offer writers of all levels of experience a welcoming and supportive home.

The WFNB community includes memoirists, corporate writers, poets, mainstream writers, short story writers, magazine editors, novelists, screenwriters, newsletter creators, high school students, book editors, university students, book club readers, spoken word artists, playwrights, and journalists.

Founded in 1985, WFNB began as a few friends gathered in a writer’s living room. Today, it is a province-wide organization with members living in every corner of New Brunswick, and across Canada.

WFNB’s mandate is to help New Brunswick writers to write, and to acquire the professional skills to achieve financial self-sufficiency as writers. They also aim to raise public awareness of literary culture by showcasing works of New Brunswick and other writers.

The non-profit accomplishes these goals through their core programs: WordSpring and WordsFall – which feature workshops on the craft and business aspects of writing – as well as the NB Writing Competition and the NB Book Awards, and other programming and events.

"Brigitte Rivers brings a wealth of enthusiasm and a breadth of experience in art, writing, teaching, and non-profit work that will serve her well as Executive Director of the WFNB,” Interim Executive Director Rhonda Bulmer said. “After two years of pandemic restrictions, the board and executive is hopeful that the coming year will bring a restoration of the community-based activities New Brunswick writers value. We are confident that Brigitte's leadership will help us make this a time of growth for our organization, and our members."

Rivers feels the federation’s logo reflects the nature of the organization.

“The WFNB logo features a vibrant tree that I think beautifully illustrates who we are: strongly rooted here in New Brunswick, resilient through challenging times, and continuing to grow and expand. I see in the leaves the different backgrounds, aspirations, genres and styles expressed in our members.”

The AX Reading Series is pleased to welcome current UNB Writer in Residence, poet Phoebe Wang, for an online reading and workshop. 

On Friday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. Wang will read from her collected works before taking questions from the audience. The following morning, Saturday, January 22, Wang will host a publishing workshop. 

The reading is free, and the workshop is being offered at a discounted rate of $25, thanks to grants from the provincial and federal governments.

Visit the AX Literary page to get a link for the reading, and the AX Workshop page to register for the Intuitive Publishing workshop.

ArtsLink NB is gearing up for a new session of CATAPULT, their business accelerator program for artists. ArtsLink runs two programs per year. Generally, they take place in person, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the last couple of sessions pivoted to an online model. Due to the success of their online sessions, and the fact that the world is opening up again, they’ve decided that this year’s CATAPULT sessions will be a hybrid online/in person program. This means that they can market their programming toward people who live in rural areas of the province.

Also, they have business tips for artists, available on their online learning platform, www.thefoundrynb.ca. The promo course is designed to give people the basics of what they need for their art business. The workshop is available at the foundry for free, but registration is required. Here’s the program website  for those looking for further information: www.artslinkcatapult.com

Jeri Knopp (she/her)
Programming Director
ArtsLink NB

Below, please read the copy of a letter that the Canadian Copyright Institute sent on November 18 to those members of Trudeau's Cabinet who were or now are involved in revision of the term of copyright in a work by an author from 50 to 70 years after their death, including ministers involved in negotiations of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, which requires that amendment to our Copyright Act. (This letter to these Honourable Ministers was referred to in a letter you received very recently inviting the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick to join the CCI.)

The attached letter to these Ministers with this particular request is time-sensitive. Write to your own MP and anyone they may know in the Senate to ask them to vote for a bill requiring this 20-year extension of the copyright term. You may forward a copy of this letter to the Ministers or in your own words. The letter to the Ministers will be a reminder that the book and periodical sector needs the government to set parameters on "fair dealing for education" and to control the diversion of advertising revenues from news media to Big Tech.

Even at this late date there is still a chance of an expedited passage of a bill with the requested amendment through Parliament and royal assent being obtained before the adjournment of the current sitting of Parliament, expected on December 17 (but could be sooner).  Unless this extension is legislated and assented to by the Governor-General before Parliament adjourns for its upcoming holiday break, the additional 20 years of copyright protection will not benefit a large number of Canadian copyright owners, i.e. heirs of deceased authors who died 50 years ago and the publishers of their works (or subsequent publishers of their works),  neither in Canada nor in some foreign countries. This will be a loss to the Canadian economy as well as to the affected copyright owners.

In haste, and best regards,
Marian Hebb, Chair, Canadian Copyright Institute

November 18, 2021

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, The Honourable Pable Rodriguez, The Honourable Melanie Joly, The Honourable Mary Ng:

We are writing to express our concern and dismay that the Government continues to delay action to remedy ongoing damage to the book and periodical sector. Government has failed to (i) set parameters on ''fair dealing" for "education" under the Copyright Act, (ii) control the diversion of advertising revenues from news media to Big Tech, and (iii) extend copyright protection of authors' works from 50 to 70 years from the end of the year of their death.

The third issue, which touches on all your portfolios, has a special urgency. There is no reason to procrastinate the 20-year extension of copyright for authors' works to the 70 years' protection after death required by CUSMA- despite that the renegotiated North American free trade agreement allows Canada 2.5 years, until December 31, 2022, to implement this. CUSMA included other term extensions that were implemented and now benefit owners of sound recordings and cinematographic works and performers in sound recordings. This is inequitable. Unless Parliament enacts legislation to extend. Canada's current 50 years' protection after death to 70 years in time for royal assent to this by the end of 2021, heirs of authors whose copyrights expire December 31, 2021, successor copyright owners and their publishers will have no further protection for their works in countries that now provide longer protection than Canada but apply ''the rule of the shorter term''. They will lose all opportunities for further commercialization of their works. Copyrights that expire December 31, 2021 will not be revived - an unnecessary loss for these copyright owners and the Canadian economy. Until Canada's 20-year term extension is in force, all Canadian authors should seek ''first publication'' outside Canada in a country that offers longer protection than Canada without application of ''the rule of the shorter term'' - in order to benefit from longer terms elsewhere.

ln 2019, both the INDU and Heritage Standing Committees as part of the mandatory statutory review of the Copyright Act recommended the 20-year extension of authors' copyrights. This is a simple change not requiring regulations or other special arrangements. Although the INDU Committee recommended that Government consider not allowing enforcement of copyright after the current 50-year term ''unless the alleged infringement occurred after registration of the work," any such restriction would clearly . breach Canada's obligations under the Berne Convention, which prohibits subjecting ''enjoyment and exercise" of copyright to formalities.

We urge you to show good faith to creators and publishers by expediting simple amendments to extend copyright term now and getting royal assent before ending this Parliamentary session (otherwise ongoing incomes in our sector will be lessened for 20 years), by prioritizing legislation on use of news media content and .by regulating ''fair dealing for education.''

Yours sincerely, Marian Hebb, Chair, Canadian Copyright Institute