Take the next steps on the BRAIN Conference planning with updates, program details, website review, and announcements.

Wilderness and Wordcraft: Poetry in Practice

a writing workshop with Rosemary Griebel and Juleta Severson Baker

Battle River Writing Centre hosts 15th annual poetry workshop!

Cost: $125 (includes lunch), deadline May 25
(maximum capacity of 22 people)

Rosemary Griebel is an award-winning writer from Calgary, and former librarian, with a deep respect for the language of the land and its peoples. Her writings include a book of poems, Yes (2011) and of essays, Ascenti: Humans Opening to AI (2024). For an example of her poetry and statements about writing poems, see Rosemary Griebel Reads "Dear Patrick" on YouTube. We welcome Rosemary back by popular demand.

Juleta Severson Baker is also a poet, a teacher of performance poetry and drama, and Assistant Principal at Calgary Arts Academy. Her third collection of poetry, Okay, tell me what happened is forthcoming this fall. For an example of her work, check out Powerful Words Juleta Severson Baker on YouTube.

Wind, Water, and Horses: Where Do Poems Come From?

a writing workshop with Dennis Cooley

Battle River Writing Centre hosts 15th annual poetry workshop!

Cost: $125 (includes lunch), deadline April 17
(maximum capacity of 22 people)
Early Bird: $100/person, deadline April 3

Dennis Cooley, active in prairie literature as poet, teacher, editor, and scholar, has a passion for life and writing in the prairies. Living in Winnipeg, he has published over thirty books, most recently: The Gibbous Moon (2021), Body Works (2023), Love in a Dry Land (2024), and Wind and Horses (2026). He has received teaching awards from the University of Manitoba, and lifetime achievement awards from the League of Canadian Poets and the Manitoba Writers' Guild. He has conducted many workshops, including in Spain, Portugal, and Germany.

Our last presentation of the summer is from best-selling author and nature photographer Myrna Pearman, in collaboration with the Red Deer River Naturalists: Beauty Everywhere: Tales of a Wandering Nature Photographer. Join us this Thursday, 7PM at the Stoney Creek Centre, to celebrate the diversity and beauty of central Alberta, the Prairies and the Arctic. From bluebirds and bobcats to purple martins and polar bears, Myrna will share her love of nature, photography, and storytelling. All are welcome to attend!

This event connects Art & Garden; Gardener & Artist. Camrose Gardeners offer to host artisans working live in their gardens and welcome our ticket holders to come in – to see their beautiful gardens, discuss the plants and design and to meet their visiting artisans, see them display and/or demo their art. Its a wonderful day of immersion in nature and art.

Admission is $25.00, see the Camrose Arts Society website for more details.

This planning meeting is for the Working Group only.

Dr. Simon Sutcliffe will be in attendance for this meeting.

This planning meeting is for the Working Group only.

Friends interested in writing and reading are welcome to attend both events.

Alexina Dalgetty will be outlining publishing requirements and opportunities, updates will be provided about the Royal Alberta Museum and selling our Battle River books in the museum shop.

BATTLE RIVER WRITING CENTRE HOSTS 13th WRITING WORKSHOP!

PLACE: Camrose Heritage Railway Museum & Park

Cost: $75.00. To register, contact Jane Ross at T:780/672-9315 E: writingpoetryforsubmission@gmail.com
Limited to 15 participants. Lunch & breaks included.

Writing Poetry for Publication

A full day workshop for poets and would be poets. From inspiration to publication, this course will map the journey of a poem and explore a variety of poetic forms including erasure, poetry of place, and narrative. Together we will develop a language for critique and discuss the importance of writing and submission along with its attendant joys, frustrations, and hard work. We will write to prompts, critique, and refine our work. Participants will leave the workshop with new poems written and a playbook for submission or self-publishing. 

An interactive poetry workshop with Battle River Writing Centre Facilitator, Alexina Dalgetty

Alexina Dalgetty, who has and will teach courses on submitting at the Alexandra Writers Centre (The Art of Rejection, Submit, Submit, Submit and An Introduction to Submittable).

Since its beginning in January 2012, Battle River Writing Centre writers have been gathering for WRITING ROOM every third Friday of the month. You can imagine that a lot of words have gathered on our pages! Many of them have found their way into published format, others into articles and news features. 

Her Honour, Lt. Governor of Alberta,

Salma Lakhani, and

His Honour Dr. Zaheer Lakhani

make first visit in rural Alberta.

1 pm Picnic at Battle Lake Campgrounds

2 pm Program: Battle River Headwaters

Covid-19 guidelines will be observed.

You can read about Her Honour ‘s appointment here: https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/alberta-businesswoman-named-lieutenant-governor-first-muslim-in-role-in-canada-1.24162594

You can view the installation ceremony, Alberta Legislature here:
https://www.assembly.ab.ca/about/news-and-announcements/2020/08/28/watch-the-installation-of-salma-lakhani-as-alberta's-19th-lieutenant-governor

For information: Call 780/672-9315; (C): 780/781-2487

Canadian Northern Railway Family Day event for all
ages and interests at Meeting Creek. Spend a marvelous day in the country.

Linear Park open all day from early morning. Organized events 10-4pm.

Admission by Donation.    

•                                                bird watching trip along the Linear Trails west on the Alberta East Central Natural Linear Parks to Edberg (4 km return trip). and east to Highway 56 using the Discovery brochure.  Examine the flora along the trail and adjacent grasslands. Listen for the Meadow Lark, raptors and prairie birds. Take a Discovery Self-guided hike or cycling adventure using prepared discovery packs, with your group family or friends. Contact us to book the Discovery packs if hiking prior to 10 am.

• Take a horse-drawn interpretive wagon ride down the Canadian Northern abandoned rail line linear trail east of the site through the prairie grasslands to highway 56 overpass. Stop and walk the labyrinth. Learn about the grassland restoration.

• Family Special Pioneer Activity Fun With Folklore will take place in the community hall. Adults can help children build a pioneer town, learn to dance the Virginia Reel, sing some pioneer songs and following move outside and take part or watch the children in sack or three-legged race with your children or try your luck on the stilts.

• Give your children a chance for safe creative play by going back in time at this historic site at the playground and other areas on the site. Dress like pioneers for added fun.

• At the Station site before riding the motor car, meet Fireman Garry and hear what his job on the railway was all about. Tour the 1913 station and 1917 elevator with knowledgeable guides.

• Homemade Chili and Sunny Boy Bread; cookies, homemade pies, and beverage will be available for purchase at the community hall.  Admission to the event is by donation. For more information call 780 672-3099 or e-mail canadiannorthern@telus.net.

  Web site: www.canadiannorthern.ca

BATTLE RIVER WRITING CENTRE HOSTS 13th WRITING WORKSHOP!

PLACE: Camrose Railway Museum and Station

Cost: $50.00. To register, contact Jane Ross at T:780/672-9315 E: source21@telus.net
Limited to 15 participants. Lunch & breaks included.

Home and Away: Writing the Land

In this workshop, we’ll explore how the lands we carry with us can be both places of belonging and epicentres of disconnection. Drawing from Robert Macfarlane’s lyrical book of essays, Landmarks, we’ll look at creating our own word-hoards for the places we live and the landscapes we carry within us in the form of personal or familial memories. Writers of all genres and all levels are most welcome. 

Jenna Butler: AUTHOR. TEACHER. ENVIRONMENTALIST.

Jenna Butler is the author of three critically acclaimed books of poetry, Seldom Seen Road (NeWest Press, 2013), Wells (University of Alberta Press, 2012), and Aphelion (NeWest Press, 2010), an award-winning collection of ecological essays, A Profession of Hope: Farming on the Edge the of Grizzly Trail (Wolsak and Wynn, 2015), and a poetic travelogue, Magnetic North: Sea Voyage to Svalbard (University of Alberta Press, 2018). Her new work includes the forthcoming memoir Revery: A Year of Bees, essays about beekeeping, climate grief, and survival.

Butler’s research into endangered environments has taken her from America’s Deep South to Ireland’s Ring of Kerry, and from volcanic Tenerife to the Arctic Circle onboard an ice-class masted sailing vessel, exploring the ways in which we impact the landscapes we call home. A professor of creative writing and environmental writing at Red Deer College, she lives with seven resident moose and a den of coyotes on an off-grid organic farm in Alberta’s North Country.

PROJECT BRING BACK THE GROUSE

The Grouse Working Group is hard at it, planning the 2nd Grouse Symposium to be held in the Wainwright area – venue will be announced soon.

During YEAR OF THE GROUSE 2019, a great amount happened in support of grouse learning and understanding:

• Lek Watch at Czar (Wainwright Wildlife Society)

• recognition (Anne Mirejovsky),

• logo (Kelly Skinner)

• sightings (Janet Enns),

• stories (regional contributors – wait til you see the list and read or hear the stories!),

• grouse walks (Susan Kokas) and interpretations (Don Ruzicka)

• scientific research (Myrna Pearman, Glen Hvenegaard),

• policy scans (Cliff Brown, Isabel Plasse)), documentation (Janet Enns),

• photography (Peter Mirejovsky, Joe ,

• music (Jack Ross),

• habitat (Glenys Smith)

• taxidermy (Rudiger Schmidt),

• sculpture (more coming),

• drama (Sheldon Frissell),

• dance (Maskwacis Chicken Dancers).

• Poetry (many poems by Battle River Writers with more on the way!)

• Film (Eastlink Community Television – several programs)

• Advent (Grouse were factored into the regional Advent service at Fridhem Heritage Church when Stephanie Thunberg reported on her biological research and Caroline Taylor presented the poem about her Ruffed Grouse neighbour).

Start planning now to attend, and, like last year, come with items for the Pop-Up Art Show!

The Grouse Working Group is hard at it, planning the 2nd Grouse Symposium to be held in the Wainwright area – venue will be announced soon.

During YEAR OF THE GROUSE 2019, a great amount happened in support of grouse learning and understanding:

• Lek Watch at Czar (Wainwright Wildlife Society)

• recognition (Anne Mirejovsky),

• logo (Kelly Skinner)

• sightings (Janet Enns),

• stories (regional contributors – wait til you see the list and read or hear the stories!),

• grouse walks (Susan Kokas) and interpretations (Don Ruzicka)

• scientific research (Myrna Pearman, Glen Hvenegaard),

• policy scans (Cliff Brown, Isabel Plasse)), documentation (Janet Enns),

• photography (Peter Mirejovsky, Joe ,

• music (Jack Ross),

• habitat (Glenys Smith)

• taxidermy (Rudiger Schmidt),

• sculpture (more coming),

• drama (Sheldon Frissell),

• dance (Maskwacis Chicken Dancers).

• Poetry (many poems by Battle River Writers with more on the way!)

• Film (Eastlink Community Television – several programs)

• Advent (Grouse were factored into the regional Advent service at Fridhem Heritage Church when Stephanie Thunberg reported on her biological research and Caroline Taylor presented the poem about her Ruffed Grouse neighbour).

Start planning now to attend, and, like last year, come with items for the Pop-Up Art Show!

Camrose Outdoor Club on March 2nd at 6:30 pm
Camrose Heritage Railway Station
Potluck followed by
Presentation: Glenys Smith - “Eyes on Israel Trip”

Poetry Punch
Spoken word night + open mic

Address: 950 8th Ave, Canmore AB T1W 2T1

Phone: 403-609-2623

Tickets: $10.00

POETS
Cathie Bartlett, Lenard Calon, Ashis Gupta, Erik Johannesen, Jack Ross, Jane Ross
present at  ARTS PLACE CANMORE

featuring performance poet Erin Dingle and emceed by Canmore's Tim Murphy — celebrates spoken word in all its wonderful forms: poetry mixed with dance, music and media arts. Come to watch or share your poetry!

Come early to sign up if you wish to perform.  

Guest Poet

Erin Dingle tells it like it is. Whether it’s sad, silly, science or whatever, she “takes that confused feeling or idea you’ve never had words for and paints it into poetry you’ll understand.” Erin came second at the Canadian Independent Poetry Slam in 2014 and was part of 5 consecutive Calgary Slam teams. She has spoken at festivals and events across Canada, about issues like cancer, motherhood, mental and emotional health, and sexuality. She is a Type 1 diabetic and a breast cancer survivor.

Representatives of Battle River Writing Centre will
participate as guests at Banff Centre Writers’ Retreat in discussion aboutwriting and writing trends. The Discussion leaders are well known Canadian authors, Ali Bryan and Louise Halfe.

Time: 7:30 pm at Kinnear Centre, Room 301.

Join us for coffee and a rich interactive time of talking
about writing – and a presentation of poetry readings and stories.

 Oxbow Lounge is the perfect setting: easy to get to, ambiance perfect for writers and their readings!

   There will also be discussion on book distribution, facilitated by Bayeux Arts Publishing.

  To get there: 1126 Memorial Dr NW. Parking available at the back, underneath. Just press the button and the attendant will let you in.

T:  (403) 228-4442



 Using hands-on methods, you will be introduced to storytelling and how

to collect and tell your personal, Community, or themed stories.

•  Using worksheet examples, included in your handouts, you will practice the interview process.

• You will be introduced to the engaging of the community through the use of “In Their Footsteps” exhibition, connecting community to ancestral footsteps.

Glenys Smith is an experienced storyteller. She has collected many community

memories and has developed monologues and characters for herself and others.

She has facilitated many workshops on I nterpretation Through Storytelling, and

shares historic stories with community groups and school children.

Maximum 24 persons.

Co-sponsored by: Camrose Arts Council.

$20.00 Lunch provided

VENUE

CAMROSE HERITAGE RAI LWAY STATION & PARK

4407-47 Avenue Camrose, AB 780-672-3099

Battle River Writers regular Writing Room

from 1:30 – 4:30 pm,

followed by Christmas Supper (potluck).

Friends interested in writing and reading are welcome to attend both events.

Seasonal prompts and themes will be part of this wonderful gathering.

Local books!

in time for Christmas!

Poems from Life as it Happens: An anthology by Battle River Writers.

Poems from across the Battle River Region.

Battle River Books. $20.00

Destination Prairie by Cathie Bartlett.

A new novel set in rural Central Alberta.

Bayeux Press. $18.00

Contact Jane Ross and/or Cathie Bartlett

source21@telus.net

T: 780/672-9315

The BRWA is hosting a Winter Tales open house on Thursday Dec. 12th and would love to have you attend. It will be from 2:00pm to 5:00mpm in our office at the Mirror Lake Centre.

The event will include holiday baking and warm drinks, crafts and activities for kids, and storytelling . . . themes of bringing people together to celebrate the season.

We will have some storytellers lined up, but will also include an "open mic" time so that others can join in too.

Nathalie Stanley Olson

Education and Outreach Coordinator
Battle River Watershed Alliance

Mirror Lake Centre (Ground Floor)

5415 49 Ave, Box 3, Camrose, Alberta. T4V 0N6

Office: 780-672-0276
Cell: 780-678-6857
www.BattleRiverWatershed.ca

Join the BRWA on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

December 1, 2019.

8th Annual Concert in a Country Church with Augustana Mannskor under
the direction of Dr. John Wiebe! 

This is a much loved concert - symbolic of rural places, our histories and beauty of place.

We are honoured to have this much-loved choral group return! This year promised to be even better. In case you haven’t heard the good news, Dr. Wiebe has been awarded the Richard T. Eaton Distinguished Artist award for his stellar work in chorale leadership and music.

As always, a Duket Bord will follow. Duket Bord is Swedish for a seasonal fellowship table.

Getting to Fridhem: 4 miles east of Ferintosh on Township Road 440. South side of the road.

FRIDHEM means “peaceful home” in Swedish. Fridhem country church has its origins in the late 1800s when Swedish and other settlers began arriving in the areas south of the Battle River at places that later became known as Meeting Creek, Edberg, Ferintosh, New Norway, etc. Even Camrose had yet to be born at the time of the early Fridhem settlement.

For information, call Jack Ross: 780.672.9315

artsPlace Canmore

NOTE: Nan Hughes Poole and her husband, Peter Poole, hold the LIVING TREASURES OF BATTLE RIVER COUNTRY AWARDS 2019. This important award recognizes people who have contributed significantly to the creative fabric of the region and beyond. To date, 19 individuals have been honoured with this award. The organization, ALL of ALBERTA, has since 2012 been documenting the lives and contributions of the award holders, and is in the process of documenting the contributions in short biographical films. For more information, please call 780/672-9315.

THE RADIO HOUR

Event: The Radio Hour Sat. Nov. 23 at 7:30 pm

artsPlace | Details

CBC radio personality, Katherine Duncan hosts Radio Hour with Bow Valley musicians – mezzo-soprano Nan Hughes Poole and pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon – as well as cellist Beth Root Sandvoss. The programme takes the listener through the playful and capricious sounds of Debussy, the lyric expressions of Schumann, and Janáček’s fairy-tales, with humour, intrigue and sophistication. Katherine Duncan will intersperse entertaining anecdotes about the featured composers throughout the programme.

Open seating: $35

Program Fee Member: members $29.75 / youth $17.50CBC radio personality, Katherine Duncan hosts Radio Hour with Bow Valley musicians – mezzo-soprano Nan Hughes Poole and pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon – as well as cellist Beth Root Sandvoss.

To Register: https://artsplacecanmore.secure.force.com/ticket/#sections_a0F1N00000xeIyGUAU

Nan Hughes 

Nan Hughes is a lyric mezzo-soprano, whose interest in a variety of musical genres has taken her around the globe. Solo orchestral appearances include the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, in Vienna and Eisenstadt (Mozart), the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra in Hamburg (a live broadcast of Pendereçki’s music, conducted by the composer), the Dnipropetrovsk Symphony Orchestra in Kiev, the Calgary, Edmonton, London and Vancouver symphonies in Canada, and the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina (Beethoven).  She has toured throughout Europe, the United States, Ukraine and Brazil as soloist with New York’s Continuum contemporary chamber music ensemble, working with composers such as John Cage, Earl Kim, Giya Kancheli, Leon Kirchner, and Roberto Sierra, among many others. A member of the vocal trio, Times Three (www.timesthree.org), she appears, in Andrews sisters’ style, with pops symphonies in the USA and in Canada. In Macedonia, she filmed Dimitrije Buzarovski’s Songs of Peace and War for Macedonian television.  That cycle was written specifically for her.  Other premieres include the title role in Sebastian Hutchings’The Agony of Mrs. Stone (Banff, 2009) and the role of Katherine Anne Porter in Anton Coppola’s  Sacco and Vanzetti (Opera Tampa, 2001). She has many recordings to her credit, most recently Berg and Zemlinsky with the Gruppo Montebello chamber orchestra (October 2017).  Of that recording, Opus Klassiek writes, “Last but not least, is Nan Hughes's magnificent voice that gives these songs an optimum expressive vocal form.”

Cellist Beth Root Sandvoss has a notably varied career as a recitalist, chamber musician and pedagogue. Beth lives in Bragg Creek, Alberta, and enjoys an active performance career in Canada and abroad. She has recorded for WERN Madison public radio, RTHK Radio Hong Kong, and CBC Radio.  Beth has recorded six commercial CDs and has premiered more than 50 new works for solo cello, cello/piano and chamber ensemble. Beth has an intense interest in new music and is a founding member of the acclaimed Juno nominated Land’s End Ensemble. Beth is also a member of the UCalgary String Quartet in residence at the University of Calgary. Nominated as Instrumental Group of the Year, the UCalgary String Quartet has completed live recordings of all the Beethoven String Quartets as well as the CD Far Behind I left My Country which features Klezmer and East European Folk Music. Beth has the great pleasure and privilege to perform on an award - winning cello made by her husband, Luthier, Christopher Sandvoss.“The performance brought out its depth of passion.... Beth Root Sandvoss has a beautiful sound, coupled with an excellent sense of harmony—“ Gordon Rumson, Music and Vision

Swedish-born pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon’s passion for chamber music is evident. Quoted by the Chronicle Herald as “A superb musician” and other critics as “accomplished, experienced….providing an evening of musical magic”,  she has collaborated with artists such as Andres Cardenes, Ron Leonard, Andras Diaz, Desmond Hoebig, Ian Swensen, Alain Trudel, Jens Lindemann, Ning Feng, Ni Tao, Arnold Choi and Nikki Chooi. Studies at the Banff Centre Music and Sound program brought her to the Bow Valley where she now resides with her family. Her primary teachers include Jose Ribera and Greta Eriksson from the Edsberg Institute of Music in Stockholm where she graduated with a Diploma in Chamber music, but she has also had the privilege to learn from Gilbert Kalish, Marc Durand and David Moroz.Susanne has been on faculty at the Mount Royal University Conservatory since 1991 where she is the coordinator of Collaborative Pianists and teaches chamber music. She has also been a Collaborative Artist for the acclaimed Morningside Music Bridge program in Canada, China and Poland since 2001.

Programme

Jules Massenet: Élégie for Voice, Cello & Piano

Leoš Janáček: Pohádka (Fairy-tale) for Cello & Piano

Robert Schumann: Lieder

Robert Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73 for Cello & Piano

Claude Debussy: Sonata for Cello & Piano

de Falla: Siete Canciones populares Españolas for Voice, Cello & Piano

Nicolas Slonimsky: Five Advertising Songs

Jack Ross and Jane Ross participated in an evening of poetry at Canmore Arts Place.

Jack read his poem, Listen to the Message, then sang it for a highly receptive audience – many who expressed their delight with a “sung poem.”

Jane presented two poems: Young Muskrat and Maria Campbell.

The book of poems is available from Battle River Books at source21@telus.net for $20.00. An excellent Christmas gift!

Lots of exciting things happening with Battle River Writers!

At the November 15 event, we will  

• Update our efforts for the Places that Matter publication – begun in response to the invitation from Alberta Culture to write responses to the Alberta Heritage Art Series.
To  date there are 16 pieces of visual art work and 15 pieces of written responses in the form of poems, short stories, reflective essays and music.  

Some will remember the Art/Writing exhibitions we partnered on two winters ago with Augustana, Sacred Arts and Alberta Historic Resources Branch. Our efforts were also presented at the National Trust conference in Ottawa, 2017. Since heritage places and artistic interpretations do not outdate/age, our work is current, meaningful and getting ready for publication.

 • Discuss the Grouse Compendium, which is an emerging body of work based on 2019 Year of the Grouse and Project BRING BACK THE GROUSE.

 New people are welcome to join Writing Room at

Story’s Way, 176 William Street, Braim.

For information, call 780/672-9315.

If you haven’t yet picked up copies of our published work,

you can find the information under the PURCHASE page of this website.

They are excellent Christmas gifts!
  The two works published to date are:
            Poems from Life as it Happens. (2019). $20.00; French flap cover; 147 pages.

            Beauty Everyday: Stories from Life as it Happens. (2016). $30.00; Hard cover; 325 pages.