CAA Workshop--develop your author's Voice

I am looking forward to the Canadian Authors Association workshop on October 1st at the Polish Community Hall on Fraser Street in Vancouver. The presenter will be none other than Lois Peterson, the very talented author of many books, as well as being a practised teacher and presenter. Details are available at the CAA Vancouver website, www.canauthorsvancouver.org.

Voice Lessons: strategies for making your words sing with Lois Peterson

Editors and publishers will tell you that what most effectively gets their attention is writing with the most distinctive voice. In this half-day workshop, you'll learn to recognize strong voice, identify craft elements that contribute to it, and analyse your own work in order to strengthen your writing and get the attention of editors, publishers and readers.
This workshop includes discussion, examples and writing exercises.

Details are posted on the CAA Vancouver website, above.

War Horse

A year or two ago I became aware of a play on the London stage, "War Horse". There were several fascinating facets to the play. The first to catch my eye was that the horses were integral characters, and the second was that they were played on the stage by people in large, ten-foot-high wooden puppets. Secondly, they play was deadly serious--that is, it was a serious story, and the audiences by all accounts were swept immediately into the lives of the horses, and their human companions, as they slogged their way though the horrors of the First World War.
The play has now made its way to a triumphal run on Broadway.
Interestingly, as far as I can tell, the play was adapted from a YA novel of the same name, written by Mark Morpurgo. It is about to take on yet another life form, as it is receiving the big screen treatment by none other than Stephen Spielberg. A preview is available online: http://war-horse-movie-trailer.blogspot.com/ . One can only hope that the real-life, bittersweet story and atmosphere of the novel come through on the screen. Having read the novel, I highly recommend it.