The Durham West Arts Centre is a 'hub' organization working to establish links with artists, arts groups and arts lovers. We host exhibitions, activities and events at the Centre as attractors. We want to meet and talk to the groups and individuals who are willing to help build the infrastructure for a permanent arts centre in Ajax-Pickering.
The Art of Words: Poets Read at Durham West Arts Centre
On Thursday, August 5, three of Durham's finest poets appeared at the Centre to read from new and published work. From 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Lucy Brennan, Ingrid Ruthig and Steven Laird joined our host, poet Andrea Stone(pictured) for an evening of reading. The final segment included an Open Stage for new and developing local poets. The poets and host, arranged by Ruth Walker editor of Lichen magazine, brought a wealth of experience to the Centre.
Canada's arts and culture scene became richer when Lucy Brennan decided to leave Ireland. In Canada her works have appeared in Poetry Canada Review, Pierian Spring, The Antigonish Review, Poetry Toronto and Canadian Woman Studies; in Ireland she's been published in Poetry Ireland Review, and Irish University Review.. Brennanhas read her poetry at dozens of venues in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Dublin and at Canada House in London, England. Her spoken-word CD 'The Tellings' and 'Mad Sweeney' will soon be followed by the poetry collection 'Migrants All.'
Steven Laird won the Writers Federation of New Brunswick's poetry award in 1985, and ever since, his work has appeared in literary journals across Canada and abroad. Descant, Event, The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, and Grain have published his works. Steven's first book of poetry, Charlatan, is slated for publication in 2005. Laird has served on the board of The Writers' Circle of Durham Region and has hosted an Open Stage Reading series in Oshawa. His reviews, articles, and essays appear in Books in Canada, Writers' Block, BookNinja, The Humanist, and Write magazine. Steven Laird lives in Oshawa and works as a technical editor in Toronto.
Ingrid Ruthig earned a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Toronto in the 1980's. After a decade practising that profession, she shelved her shingle. Ever since, her poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have been published across Canada and abroad in journals and anthologies including Event, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, Other Poetry (in the UK), Cordite (in Australia), and the chapbook anthology One Ticket Five Rides. She has read her work at the Art Bar Poetry Reading Series in Toronto, and last year presented two short stories at the Saturday session of the popular annual Writers' Festival held in Eden Mills.Ingrid Ruthig currently resides with her family in Ajax, where she is at work on an anthology of short poems from three centuries of Canadian poets, and is completing her own first poetry collection.
Host, Andrea Stone is a poet and former Durham Region teacher who is a member of Lichen literary journal's editorial board. Currently a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature at the University of Toronto, her poetry has appeared in Canadian publications including Diviners, The Writing Space Journal, and the Toronto Small Press Fair Instant Anthology. In 2001, she was voted runner-up in the category of favourite poet in Write Magazine's 2000 reader's poll and in 2000, she was awarded first prize in the Ontario Poetry Society contest To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme. She has judged poetry for local competitions, read as a feature poet in Toronto's Art Bar Reading Series, and is a popular host of reading events in Toronto and Durham Region.
OPEN STAGE!!! The evening also offered an opportunity for other local poets to take to the stage and read during the Open Stage segment.
Weather permitting, this event will be held in