When the Northern Light Writers first formed 25 years ago, all creative work was done with pen and paper. But while many of their individual processes now include keyboards and wi-fi, the group remains the same in their unwavering commitment to their art and to each other.
The Bancroft-based writers’ group is now celebrating their 25th anniversary with the release of their latest collection, The Art of Being Short: A Pocketful of Stories. Together, the group will be celebrating the book’s release with a launch, book sale, and author reading at 7 p.m. on Friday (April 26) at Tweed and Company Theatre’s Bancroft Village Playhouse.
With refreshments and appetizers available, the free-admission event will be extra special as two of the featured writers are also launching their own independent books: Being by Gail Manion and Unfiltered by Robert Pearson (aka krys bradley).
“Those who get there early can get a glass of wine and sit up in the theatre and then afterwards come down and meet the authors — and hopefully we get some people to buy books, too,” says Pearson, who is also a visual artist and did the cover design of the new anthology. “This is the biggest launch we’ve done yet.”
Pearson has been a member in the group since it formed in 1998, alongside Doris Douglas and leader and instructor John Keith. Other members have come and gone from the group over time, with Gail Manion, Maureen O’Hara, Sue Malloy, Beth Weaver, and Susie Hedley currently rounding out the writers’ circle.
With contributions from seven of the writers in the Northern Light Writers group, The Art of Being Short: A Pocketful of Stories includes more than 50 short stories and flash fiction stories ranging in themes and genres from historical fiction to humour and science fiction.
“You have seven different people and seven different mindsets — some dark, some hilarious,” says Pearson. “It’s full of weird and wonderful stuff and is just all over the place. Think of (Jackson) Pollock, the artist who threw paint against the canvas. That’s what we have here.”
Though the book itself is not quite as pocket-size as its title suggests, each of the stories included in the anthology are intrinsically short in length and made to be read while waiting in line, sitting in a café, or taking a short mid-day break.
“The idea is trying to write stories that can be written in two or three pages,” says Pearson. “The art of being short is being able to produce 50-some odd stories that you can pick up, read, and set down and think ‘Oh, that was cool. I like those two stories. I wonder what I’ll pick up tomorrow.”
After starting out as a creative writing class led by Keith at Loyalist College, the Northern Light Writers have grown into much more over the past 25 years. When there wasn’t enough enrolment for the class to continue, the group got together on their own, holding meetings in the local library, the hospital, members’ homes, and virtually during the pandemic.
Now, 25 years later, Keith still sits in as the instructor, guiding the others on tools for writing prose and a range of poetic forms including haikus, sonnets, and villanelles. The group then shares their pieces, critiquing and editing each other’s for publication.
“John always comes with an agenda and there’s always homework,” says Pearson. “Without John, there is no Northern Light Writers.”
While Pearson and the group have certainly learned from Keith and one another, most of all, the writing group is meant to encourage each individual to stay dedicated to their art.
“The whole idea is if you want to be a writer, you write every day,” Pearson says. “If you look at professional writers, that’s their job. That’s what they do for a living and that’s how they come up with these wonderful and prolific stories.”
Throughout its 25 years, the group has previously published three other collections of work: Selected Poems and Prose (2001), Quill and Grill: The Writer’s Cookbook (2015), and Black and White: Poems and Reflections (2017).
Some of the writers have also published independently, including Manion who will be reading from her memoir Being, and Pearson, who will read from his collection of poetry. Aptly named, Unfiltered is a curious collection of several dozen poems ranging from themes of war and motherhood to the human body and cigars.
“Whatever I decided to write, I wrote — that’s how I express myself,” says Pearson. “It’s a very personal thing, to write. You better be willing to let your heart onto the page. If you’re prepared to, as John says, dig as deep as you can and let it just come from the bowels, then you’d be surprised what comes out.”
Pearson is already eagerly preparing to read some of his poems and stories at the Bancroft Village Playhouse, recognizing that a stage performance of spoken word is something that he doesn’t get to do often.
“I won’t say poetry is a dying art, because there are all sorts of people out there that like poetry, but people are more in tune with streaming services and books and theatre,” he says.
“In the late 1800s, people would go to poetry readings and sit around in coffee shops and snap their fingers when someone was done their reading, and that’s not something we see a lot anymore.”
Fortunately, Pearson adds, Tweed and Company Theatre has always been supportive when it comes to showcasing and giving a space for all kinds of artists, no matter their art forms.
“Tweed has been absolutely outstanding allowing our group to use the theatre and supporting us all the way,” Pearson says. “They are amazing and they’re not just doing Valdy and things like (Becoming) The Beatles — by the way, everything (they do) is absolutely outstanding and totally professional — but they are also a part of the community and supporting local.”
For more information on the launch, visit www.villageplayhouse.ca. No tickets are needed to attend.
Following the April 26th book release, copies of The Art of Being Small: A Pocketful of Stories will also be available for purchase in Bancroft at Ashlie’s Books (65 Hastings St. N., 613-332-2946) and The Muse (23 Bridge St. W., 613-334-1573) or by emailing Pearson at krysbradley_13@icloud.com.
