We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Gail Bowen who will take up the position of Writer in Residence at Memorial Park Library early in September. Gail is the fourteenth writer to hold the position in a program that started in 1987.
As Writer in Residence, Gail will be a mentor to writers in the community, by reviewing their manuscripts and providing criticism and advice during individual consultations. She will offer encouragement and a critical eye to beginning writers who are seeking to find their own literary voice as well as to those more established writers who desire a professional appraisal of their work.
If you would like to submit a sample of your writing for review you will find some helpful information under the sidebar labeled Manuscript Submission Guidelines on the left hand side of this page.
While she is writer in residence, Gail Bowen will also be presenting a number of public programs. Full details of these can be found listed under the sidebar labeled Public Programs on the left hand side of this page.
By wonderful good fortune, Gail Bowen has just released a brand new Joanne Kilbourn novel, The Nesting Dolls. The Alberta launch of this new book will take place at Memorial Park Library on September 11 along with the launch of the Writer in Residence program.
Calgary Public Library will be hosting Gail Bowen as the 2010 Writer in Residence at Memorial Park Library, thanks to a grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Gail Bowen was selected from a strong list of applicants by a panel of librarians at Calgary Public Library. She ably fulfills our requirements for a published writer with teaching experience who is able to critique a wide variety of genres in both creative and non-fiction writing.
Gail Bowen’s series features Joanne Kilbourn, a university professor, sometime political columnist and a wife, mother and grandmother. McClelland and Stewart will publish The Nesting Dolls, the 12th book in the series in August 2010.
The first six books in the Kilbourn series – Deadly Appearances (1990); Murder at the Mendel (1991); The Wandering Soul Murders (1992); A Colder Kind of Death (1994), winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award; A Killing Spring (1996) and Verdict in Blood (1998) – have appeared as made-for-television movies with world-wide distribution. Buring Ariel (2000); The Glass Coffin (2002); The Last Good Day (2004); The Endless Knot (2006) and The Brutal Heart (2008) have met with critical and commercial success. In June 2008, Reader’s Digest named Bowen “Canada’s Best Mystery Novelist”.
Bowen’s short story “The King of Charles Street West”, which appeared in Toronto Noir (2008) published by Akashic Books, New York, was singled out for special praise by Publisher’s Weekly.
Bowen has had four plays produced at Regina’s Globe Theatre – Dancing in Poppies (1993) which was presented in a special performance for Prince Edward, Beauty and the Beast (1993), The Tree (1994) and an adaptation of Peter Pan (1997). Manitoba Theatre for Young People chose Peter Pan as its 2000 Christmas production. The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario presented Dancing in Poppies in 2002 and Peter Pan in 2003.
Bowen’s adaptation of Doctor Doolittle was broadcast on CBC’s Showcase in April 2006, and the University of Regina produced a theatrical version of the play simultaneously. Saving Lonesome George, Bowen’s original play about the last of the Galapagos tortoises, was produced by Persephone Theatre in 2008 and will be produced by Carousel Players in spring 2010.
Bowen’s radio play The Word According to Charlie D was broadcast on CBC’s Showcase in October 2006. Her Long Time Listener/First Time Caller is CBC’s World Play for 2008 and was rebroadcast on CBC on May 18, 2009. She is now adapting the play for Orca’s new series, Raven Books.
Bowen has taught Creative Writing at a university level for the past ten years and has conducted several workshops in the Banff “Writing with Style” program. She was Writer-in-Residence for the Toronto Reference Library in May and June of 2009. She has extensive experience critiquing a wide variety of genres in both creative and non-fiction writing, and has dealt with writers at varying levels of their writing careers. She was Associate Professor of English at First Nations University of Canada before retiring from teaching.
We look forward to hosting Gail Bowen as our Writer in Residence in fall 2010.