Dagger Editions, an imprint of Caitlin Press, publishes literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry by and about queer women (those who identify as queer women, including trans women, or include this in their personal history).
We celebrate the launch of Dagger’s first, Oscar of Between: A Memoir of Identity and Ideas, by Betsy Warland and Flight Instructions for the Commitment Impaired, by Nicola Harwood.
Click HERE for more information and to reserve tickets.
It would be our pleasure to see you on April 2nd, from 7 PM until midnight at Lost + Found Cafe, where we will have the following readings:
- Betsy Warland, reading from Oscar of Between Betsy Warland has published 12 books of creative nonfiction, poetry and lyric prose. A creative writing teacher, mentor and editor, her 2010 book of essays on writing, Breathing the Page—Reading the Act of Writing was a bestseller. In 2013, Warland created a new template: an interactive website salon. It features excerpts from her Oscar of Between, Guest Writers’ and artist’s work, and comments from readers. In the spring of 2016, it has become Oscar of Between – A Memoir of Identity and Ideas, making it one of two books launching Caitlin Press’ Dagger Editions.
- Nicola Harwood, reading from Flight Instructions for the Commitment Impaired Nicola Harwood is a writer, theatre and interdisciplinary artist. Her plays and projects have been produced in Canada, the US and Europe and are often concerned with the hidden histories of places, women and queers. She loves to work with communities, other artists and sometimes just her own self to create beauty, oddness and non-sequiturs in the world. Nicola currently lives in Vancouver and teaches Creative Writing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. For full details see www.nicolaharwood.com
- Jane Eaton Hamilton, reading from Weekend Jane Eaton Hamilton is the author of eight previous books. Her memoir Mondays are Yellow, Sundays are Grey was a Sunday Times bestseller, and her story collection Hunger was a Ferro Grumley Award finalist. Her work has been published in the New York Times andSalon. Her new novel Weekend is forthcoming from Arsenal Pulp Press in May 2016.
- Shelagh Plunkett, reading from an original short story Shelagh Plunkett is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her work has been published in various Canadian and American journals including The Walrus, enRoute Magazine, Geist, The Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail. In 2007 she won the CBC Literary Award for creative non-fiction and her memoir of growing up in Guyana and on Timor, Indonesia, The Water Here is Never Blue, was short listed for the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction and the Concordia University First Book Prize. She has just returned south after three months in Dawson City, Yukon as the Writers’ Trust Berton House writer in residence.
- Ali Blythe, reading from “Twoism” Ali Blythe completed a residency at the Banff Centre and a writing degree at the University of Victoria, receiving a scholarship from the Lambda Foundation for excellence in writing and support of the queer community. Poems from Twoism, a debut collection, have been published in literary journals and anthologies in Canada and Germany. This year, Blythe is the judge and workshop facilitator for the University of Victoria’s Diversity Writing Contests. He is also a featured poet at the Moving Trans History Forward 2016 Conference, and will be co-presented by the English Department’s FYI For Your Ideas Forum. Blythe lives in Vancouver’s West End.
This event will be both an intimate reading with the authors as well as a social gathering to mingle with likeminded folks. Books and subscriptions to Room will be available for purchase and authors will be available for signing.
Tickets to the Queer Arts Festival will also be available for purchase.
Due to limited capacity, we will hold your reserved spot until 7:30pm, after which, we will accept all attendance on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Caitlin Press and the Queer Arts Festival present the Launch of Dagger Editions in association with Room Magazine, Plenitude, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, QMUNITY, and the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association. We thank them for their support in our shared mandate for inclusiveness and expression for queer women voices.