Digital Doors Open at 6:45, Event Starts at 7PM
Join us for a SOOKE REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT+
Lets celebrate Sooke's amazing writers community.
About Sooke Region
Northwest of Victoria, along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island, lie the picturesque ocean and rainforest communities of East Sooke, Sooke, Otter Point, Shirley, Jordan River, and Port Renfrew, and First Nations Sc'ianew (Cheanuh/Beecher Bay), T’Sou-ke, and Pacheedaht. Sooke was named for its early inhabitants, the T’Sou-ke, a thriving Coast Salish settlement. The name T’Sou-ke is said to derive from a stickleback fish found at the mouth of the Sooke River which flows into the Sooke Basin and Harbour. Linked by Highway 14, the communities are known for their rugged coastlines, tall trees, and unspoiled natural beauty, inspiring many resident writers and artists.
The town of Sooke is located just 40 minutes outside of Victoria and is accessible by bike along the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, or by driving the Pacific Marine Circle Route extending beyond Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan and the Malahat. From local artisans, top-rated cafés, brew pubs, and an award-winning distiller, to quaint shops, a rich cultural heritage, and extensive parks and hiking trails through rainforests and along windswept coastlines and beaches, the Sooke region is an outdoor enthusiast and nature-lovers paradise, and popular seaside getaway. Presented with support from Sooke Arts Council and Sooke Region Historical Society. (Sources: Tourism Victoria, Sooke Region Museum, Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce).
For more information about Sooke authors, visit: www.SookeWriters.com.
Host
Author: DK Eve
DK Eve grew up on Vancouver Island and returned to Sooke after living in Victoria, Regina, Ottawa, and Montreal. She’s been a journalist, public servant, and hockey mom. She is a graduate of Simon Fraser University's The Writers Studio, Carleton University's School of Journalism, an active member of Sooke Writers’ Collective, president of Sooke Region Historical Society, and past vice-president of the Federation of BC Writers.
DK Eve is grateful to live, work and play in traditional territory of T'Sou-ke people. She draws on Vancouver Island’s characters and settings in poetry and short prose published in seven anthologies for the Sooke Writers’ Collective, Art & Word (Sooke Arts Council, 2018), and emerge20 – The Writers Studio Anthology (Simon Fraser University, 2020).
Follow: DK Eve | Facebook (www.facebook.com/dkeveauthor) and @Doni_Eve on Twitter.
Featured authors
Author: Wendy Morton
Wendy Morton is founder of Canada’s Random Acts of Poetry and The Elder Project. She is the recipient of the 2010 Spirit Bear Award, in 2012 she was made an Honorary Citizen of Victoria and awarded the Colleen Thibaudeau Outstanding Contribution by the League of Canadian Poets. In 2017 she was awarded the Meritorious Medal from the Governor General of Canada. She was also awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2017.
In 2020 she became the first Poet Laureate of Juan de Fuca. She has published six books of poetry and a memoir, Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
Author: Joké L. Mayers
Joké L. Mayers is a brilliant storyteller, biographer, poet, and author of several books and multiple other publications. Though born and raised in Nigeria, Africa, she has lived in Victoria and Sooke, British Columbia, Canada for decades. She is also a mother, teacher, public speaker, and entrepreneur.
Her latest publication is: Under The African Moon – Short Tales That Teach Good Values. eBook edition available at http://www.jmayersgroup.com.
Author: Jim Bottomley
A graduate of the Humber School of Writers, Jim loves collaborating with musicians to write songs. His novel Hypnotizing Lions will be published in 2021. A member of the Sooke Writers’ Collective, he finds outdoor offices to write shorts and poems. Jim’s uncommon career as independent futurist and professional speaker informs his writing, providing a different perspective on our world.
Jim’s psychological thriller novel Hypnotizing Lions, was a finalist for the 2019 Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished Canadian mystery manuscript.
Jim’s short “Running with Salmon”, was a finalist for the 2018 Federation of BC Writers’ Short Fiction contest and featured on www.StoriesLessSpoken.com podcast episode two.
Website www.JimBottomley.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jim.bottomley.125
Twitter & Instagram @JimBottomley1
Dead to Writes Author Interview Jim Bottomley, author interview (S4 E90) - YouTube
Author: W. M. Herring
W.M. Herring lives at Gleann Eilg, an acreage on the south shore of the Sooke Basin, in the traditional territory of the T'Sou-ke Nation. Her home is surrounded by an orchard, fields and tall trees, and visited by local wildlife.
W. M. Herring’s poetry collection: A Sure Connection, upcoming in Fall 2021, Now or Never Publishing. Poems have also appeared in ARC Poetry, Freefall, Geez, Literary Review Canada (LRC), The Nashwaak Review, Queen's Quarterly, and other journals and anthologies.
Author: V Knox
Veronica Knox writes ghost stories that reconcile historical facts with surreal fiction. Her intention is to set the dreariest history books on fire by granting famous portraits and museum objects chances to air their grievances. After moving to the Findhorn Community of Scotland, Veronica turned an abandoned church near Loch Ness into an art gallery dedicated to the conservation of tigers.
Publications:
‘Lisabetta – a stolen glance’
‘Adoration – Loving Botticelli’
‘Disapp’earring Twice’
‘Woo Woo – the posthumous love story of Miss Emily Carr’
‘The Indigo Pearl’
‘Pearl by Pearl’
‘Twinter - the first portal’
‘Time Falls Like Snow’
‘Tomorrow Again’
‘Snow Behind the Door’
‘The Unthinkable Shoes’
‘I Was There’
V KNOX WEBSITE & CURIOUS ART HISTORY BLOG
https://veronicaknox.com/
V KNOX AMAZON author page
https://www.amazon.com/V-Knox/e/B0094K0Q7Y
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Author: D. Lambert
At a young age, Deborah's rampant imagination kept her up, lending great detail to all the terrible things lurking in the night. In desperation, her mother suggested she invent her own stories to distract her brain. She has been doing that since, channelling her ideas into mainly sword and sorcery-style fantasy novels and shorts.
Novels: Dragon’s Voice (2019), Dragon’s Talon (2020), SoulBurner (2021)
Shorts: Someone, Dragon Speaker (both on kindle and in anthology)
Website: www.dlambertauthor.com
Amazon author page https://amzn.to/3kGXnk4
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3lPFMHR
Twitter: @dlambert
Facebook @dlambert42
Author: dl clay (Deb Clay)
Word and Image are inseparable to dl clay as an artist and writer. Each transforms the other to a new resonance. Deb collects words, texture, pattern, colour, and shape – what she calls small things of beauty. These things inspire her to further explore her connection to nature and humanity at different levels and evolve into poetry and art.
dl clay has published two poetry chapbooks: peel the red apple and on location. Her work has appeared in Sooke Writers' Collective anthologies one through seven, assorted literary journals, and Art & Word (Sooke Arts Council, 2018).
Since her 2007 move to Otter Point, a rural area west of Sooke, Deb has been part of the writing community and helped form and grow Sooke Writers’ Collective along with the support of several key people into a thriving community of writers. She is also an active board member of Sooke Arts Council.
dlclay.com
Author: Nancy Davies
Nancy Davies moved to Sooke ten years ago after many years living in Vancouver and working for the Vancouver Public Library. In Sooke she found a wonderful writing community in the Sooke Writers’ Collective, which provided the feedback, support, and inspiration she needed to finally enter a writing contest. Nancy’s story ‘Mrs. M. Cox’s Meat Roll’ won second place (and $75 damn dollars) in the non-fiction category of the 2020 Word on the Lake Festival writing contest.
Nancy has stories in seven volumes of the Sooke Writers’ Collective's anthology and in Wish You Were Here, the Word on the Lake festival’s 2020 anthology.
Author: David Reichheld
David Reichheld lives in Sooke, BC, with his wife Nancy. A graduate of UVic’s Creative Writing program, his story settings tend to feature beautiful locations on the west coast of Vancouver Island— the Sooke Basin, beaches along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, the hills and forests overlooking the glittering Salish Sea. He has been a finalist in writing competitions sponsored by the Federation of BC Writers and in the Islands Short Fiction Contest, and is presently working on a novel set in historic Leechtown during its gold rush heyday.
David’s short story “Sombrio Beach” earned third place in the 2017 Islands Short Fiction Contest. His stories “Let Morning Bring Me” and “Washing Up” earned honorable mentions in contests sponsored by the FBCW and the Islands Short fiction contests in 2019 and 2020.
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