And the winners are...

The Writers Guild of Alberta (WGA) and the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) have announced the winners of the 2010 Alberta Book Publishing Awards, the Alberta Literary Awards, and the highly anticipated Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. The 2010 Alberta Literary Award Winners, included:

Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama

(Sponsored by Alberta Views)

Beth Graham (Edmonton), Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic —The Drowning Girls, from The Drowning Girls/Comrades, Playwrights Canada Press

James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction

(Sponsored by Western Financial Group’s West Magazine)

Joan Dixon (Redwood Meadows)—“The Perils of War and Mother-Son Relationships”

A link to the full list of winners can be seen at:

http://www.albertamagazines.com/news_and_events/news.php#BookAwards

Wanted: Your thoughts on digital media in Canada!

The Government of Canada is seeking your input on how to help inform the development of a digital economy strategy. What are your thoughts on the digital media issues facing Canada in particular, and your suggestions for a made-in-Canada digital strategy?

You can upload a written submission (deadline July 9, 2010) with your thoughts at www.digitaleconomy.gc.ca, where you can also read the full discussion paper "Improving Canada’s Digital Advantage: Strategies for Sustainable Prosperity," and contribute to the discussion through the interactive online forum.

We encourage you to let the government know your thoughts on digital media initiatives. Or, if you'd prefer to have AMPA relay on your behalf, contact us at director@albertamagazines.com.



Here's the full announcement, from Industry Minister Tony Clement:

My colleagues, the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and I are pleased to inform you that the Government of Canada has launched national consultations to help inform the development of a digital economy strategy.
Our government committed to developing this strategy in Budget 2010
(www.budget.gc.ca/2010/speech-discours/speech-discours-eng.html) and the Speech from the Throne (www.speech.gc.ca/eng/index.asp) because we understand the important role that the digital economy will play in building a strong economy for the future. A more prosperous and competitive Canada will ensure a better quality of life for all Canadians.
We know that many of you have provided your thoughts in the past or have contributed valuable input on digital economy files. We are now seeking your advice on how Canada can regain its leadership position in the digital economy. We must find solutions to the specific issues facing Canada and build a made-in-Canada digital strategy that will improve our productivity and competitiveness.
This will not be an easy task and will require the concerted and cooperative efforts of the private sector, academia, governments, public sector and the Canadian public. But the rewards and opportunities will be tremendous. We have the will and talent to compete to win in the global digital economy and take our rightful place at the top.
We invite you to visit our website at www.digitaleconomy.gc.ca, where you can read our discussion paper, Improving Canada’s Digital Advantage:
Strategies for Sustainable Prosperity, and contribute to the discussion through our interactive online forum or by uploading a written submission.
The deadline for submissions is July 9, 2010. If you have any questions, please contact my departmental officials at canada-digital@ic.gc.ca.
Ministers Moore and Finley and I look forward to hearing your views and reading your submissions in the weeks and months ahead.
Yours sincerely,

Tony Clement

A goodbye email to end all goodbye emails

With just two more weeks left at AMPA, I must honestly say that I look fondly back on my three years here. And how could I not, with the exceptional staff and working environment, amazing opportunities to hear from industry-wide experts and the hardworking, independent magazine publishers I communicated with? I say these things honestly, and find it disconcerting to know that there are countless numbers of people out there--like former television writer/producer/director Sam Toperoff who wrote this epic goodbye letter--who hate aspects of their employment, of which we all spend the majority of our waking hours...

Kudos to Mr. Topperoff for the courage to air his grievances, providing me with an entertaining read and perhaps some others with inspiration for their own future goodbye letters.

Cheers,
Anh

-AMPA Communications Specialist

filling Station offer: will trade your community space for our print space

filling Station is a literary and arts magazine run entirely by volunteers, dedicated to publishing only the most original and innovative poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, and creative criticism. Those involved with its creation and outreach events mandate comprise the filling Station Publications Society, a non-profit society registered with the Province of Alberta. We have been publishing filling Station Magazine for 15 years (and, this fall, 50 issues) with help from the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development Authority.

Unlike other literary magazines based in Calgary, we do not currently have university affiliation; as such, we often have more difficulty securing free, central community space. We have a crucial need for space for events such as literary workshops, our Blow Out Alternative Literary Festival, fundraisers, magazine launches, and, ideally, an office.

If your organization has space that is appropriate, benefits extended to you from filling Station could include a free full page ad in each of our issues distributed locally and nationally through Magazines Canada, both in print and online (our electronic edition, iPhone compatible, is available through Magazines Canada's Digital Storefront), a banner ad on our website (currently being designed by the wonderful Structured Abstraction), inclusion in our electronic newsletter, and preferential recognition in all of our publications and event materials alongside our other major funding bodies (CC, AFA, CADA), a sponsorship package with a dollar value of over $1500.

If this proposal sounds interesting, we would love to bring you some magazines, take a look at your Calgary location, and discuss possibilities further. Please contact Managing Editor Laurie Fuhr at meditor.fs@gmail.com

One [sic] Calgary Party! Local poetry, music...what's not to love?

Thursday, May 20, 2010

One [sic] Calgary Party!

Comrad Sound

1511 14 St S.W., Calgary

7:30 pm

Admission: by donation

Poetry by Claire Lacey, Ryan Fitzpatrick (Fake Math) and Nikki Reimer ([sic]). Music by Church of the Very Bright Lights and Morgan Greenwood.

Coffee, tea, goodies and books for sale.

Claire Lacey is the online spectre known as Poetactics. She also writes poetry and fiction. After Claire graduated from Glendon College with a degree in English literature and language, she fled Toronto to pursue her MA at the University of Calgary. http://poetactics.blogspot.com/

ryan fitzpatrick lives and writes in Calgary, where he is a former editor of filling Station magazine and past-curator of the Flywheel reading series. His first book, Fake Math, was published in 2007 by Snare Books. His current project, Commissioned Works, asks members of the community to commission poems that he will produce to their exacting specifications in an attempt to discover what people actually want from poetry (if anything).

Nikki Reimer is the author of [sic] (Frontenac House, 2010) and fist things first (Wrinkle Press Chapbook, 2009). She is a poet, blogger, curator, arts event planner and photographer of cats in East Vancouver, and a member of the Kootenay School of Writing collective. Reimer lived in Calgary for the first 24 years of her young(ish) life and is stoked to be celebrating the launch of her first book with so many excellent Calgary peeps. http://nikkireimer.com/

Church of the Very Bright Lights is James Cullen and crimes, aka Chris Reimer. They describe their music as “progressive.” http://www.myspace.com/churchoftheverybrightlights

Morgan Greenwood is an enigma wrapped in bacon http://www.myspace.com/maestremhandbarc

Alberta Views, Alberta Venture, Western Living and Unlimited nominated for 2010 National Magazine Awards

It's the Oscars of the Canadian magazine-world...the National Magazine Award nominees for 2010 have been announced.

Among the illustrious company are Alberta magazines like Alberta Views, Alberta Venture, Unlimited, Western Living, Wine Access.

And the nominees are....!

Alberta Views, last year's Magazine of the Year, garnered five nominations for: Prodigal Band (Arts & Entertainment), Double Life (Best Short Feature), Mr. Tree (One-of-a-Kind), The Big Squeeze (Society), July/August 2009 (Best Single Issue).

Alberta Venture is nominated for Alberta's 10 Best Communities for Business (Best Repurposed or Adapted Content).

Unlimited garnered two nominations for its Health & Wellness issue (Best Cover) and Unlimited's Interactive Adventure Calendar (Best Web-only content).

Western Living received two nominations for Still-Life Photography for Aged to Perfection and Top 40 Foodies Under 40.

Wine Access was nominated for The Seven Minute Sommelier (Service: Lifestyle).

Congratulations to all Alberta magazine nominees. Winners will be announced at the 33rd National Magazine Awards Gala in Toronto on June 4, 2010.

MAY FLYWHEEL: April Showers Bring May Winterstormwarnings (!)

Join host Meghan Doraty for the May edition of Flywheel with local poets Kevin Stebner and Preet Gill. We're also thrilled to have Bernadette Wagner launching her book of poetry, *This hot place* (Thistledown Press)! *Thursday March 6th 2010 at 7:30pm sharp*!

AND don't miss our Flywheel teaser Tuesday, May 4th 8-9pm on *Writer's Block*,CJSW's weekly foray into literature. Join radio hosts Paul Kennett and Stephanie Weidmann for a special preview of some of our May Flywheel readers. Be sure to tune in to *Writer's Block*, 8-9pm Tuesday evenings - you won't be disappointed! CJSW: Calgary's independent radio - 90.9 fm or http://www.cjsw.com/index.html.

Kevin Stebner

Preet Gill

Bernadette Wagner launching This hot place



Pages Books on Kensington

1135 Kensington Road NW, Calgary

Thursday, March 4th

7:30pm SHARP

Flywheel is a monthly reading series, which runs every first Thursday, always at 7:30pm sharp at Pages. The series is curated by volunteers from the collective that brings you filling Station, your locally created, nationally distributed literary arts magazine. Email meditor.fs@gmail.com to find out more.