Members
Current Members:
Boyle, Christopher John
Butler, Brian
Cumming, Maxine
Festel, Claire
Hill, Norma
John-Thorpe, Yasmin
Korinetz, David
Longworth, Alan
Middler, Sharron
Moore, George (Herb)
Prior, Gail
Renaud, Dawn
Rothlander, Fay
Smith, Penny
Sturze, Klaus
Volden, Janey
Are you interested in becoming a member of the Penticton Writers and Publishers?
Contact us and arrange to join us for a meeting.
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Born and educated in England, C. John Boyle spent his working life as a window-dresser, carpet salesman and, later, as an educator. Happily married for over forty years he now resides in BC’s beautiful Okanagan Valley with his wife and dog. He spends his time renovating, writing and enjoying his grandchildren. He has been writing since his early teens and was first published in his College magazine, Cresset and lately in various Okanagan newspapers. His first collection of poetry was published in 2009. He continues to work on a couple of ideas for novels and various short stories. His second collection of verse is under way and is due to be published in 2011. |
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Brian Butler has always been a wordsmith, possibly due to principles instilled during his schooldays by his English teachers, who insisted on attention to spelling, grammar and clarity. Born and educated in England during the time when such values were still considered to be important, Brian worked in the burgeoning computer industry providing computer systems for use by Travel Agents. Here Brian put his wordsmith skills to use, authoring both detailed specifications for new product lines and also writing instruction manuals for users of these products. In his spare time, Brian took to writing full length novels and has completed two so far, one a crime novel and the other a novel about a disabled girl making a success in both life and business. He is presently working on a third novel in the science-fiction genre. |
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Maxine Cumming was talked into accompanying a friend to a writing class at Chilliwack Elder College in 2000 and discovered a passion to write poetry. She sometimes writes under the pen-name MaxRae, and since returning to Penticton in 2001 she has had poetry published in To Hope and Beyond -Tales & Poems of British Columbia and The Seniors Choice as well as a story in Penticton British Columbia: Celebrating a Century. Maxine is presently working on Adventures with Nana, stories for her grandchildren and is experimenting with a creative non-fiction, working titled Musings of the Crone. |
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Claire Festel writes about her two motivating passions: travel adventures and people’s stories. With her husband and travel partner Ed, she has hiked in the Himalayas, flown in their own Cessna 170 over Canada’s arctic, kayaked in Australia’s Whitsunday Islands, canoed the northernmost navigable river in the world, and in between has taken on many adventures while visiting friends and family across Canada and in Switzerland. Claire is currently fulfilling a life-long goal of capturing - through 50 Yukon women’s personal stories - what makes this northern territory such a special place. Her philosophy is, “People tell stories to conceal as well as reveal; this conjunction is where their essence resides. My life work is to bring the essence of a person to light through the experiences they relate.“ She has written tourism advertorials for the Yukon, published travel articles and profiles in magazines, and written for CBC radio. |
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Norma Hill, aka 'penandpapermama', has a lifelong love affair with the literary muse. She has dabbled in all kinds of writing – fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as poetry (rhythmic but not always rhyming). She has written newspaper columns and worked on websites, blogs, email lists, social networks, and even the NaNoWriMo challenge. Articles based on her passion-of-the-moment have been published in newsletters and magazines. Norma loves journaling (120 notebooks and counting). Norma has joyfully passed her writing skills to her children, to friends, and to school and college students. Visit Norma's website or email her at nlhills@shaw.ca |
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Yasmin John-Thorpe is a cofounder and driving force behind this organization. Learn more about Yasmin and her books on the CoFounders page. |
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David Korinetz joined PenWriters after attending the 2003 PWAP Writer’s Conference. His first publication appears in the 2004 PWAP anthology “To Hope and Beyond” and his science fiction story “The Magic Of Mars” was published in 2005 by Tall Tales Press. In 2007 he self-published his first Fantasy novel, FireDrakes – Chronicles of the Daemon Knights and one of his articles on writing was published in “The Canadian” newspaper. More recently, his article on the Raise-A-Reader program was published in the 2008 summer issue of the Okanagan Arts magazine, which has a distribution of 15,000. website: www.davidkorinetz.com |
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Alan E Longworth’s interest in writing began at age seven, when his teacher praised a five page composition on his summer adventures. During his working years, he gained insight into many different levels of society ranging from Vancouver’s sleazy east side, to corporate boardrooms. He continued to write on a small scale, becoming the West Coast correspondent for his national company’s quarterly magazine. Alan won three awards for his contributions, plus an award for his adult fiction. Upon his early retirement, Alan began to write seriously, encouraged by the Penticton Writers and Publishers group. He writes several genres of poetry and has been published in three countries. He performs his cowboy poetry at cowboy poetry festivals. His work includes:
Alan’s books are available at Coles Books in Penticton’s Cherry Lane Mall, at Tickleberries in OK Falls, or from the author at (250) 497-6499 or email: longworth@shaw.ca |
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Sharron Middler found her way to PenWriters through her art. Her watercolor painting of the Penticton art gallery was published in the 2004 PWAP anthology “To Hope And Beyond”. Sharron’s writing talents are expressed mostly on the Web. Besides developing web sites, Sharron has written about web development, art and her insights on how the subconscious mind works. To read Sharron’s articles on the Web go to: www.artistoutofcanada.com |
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George (Herb) Moore This cowboy was born on a ranch near Penticton, B.C. He has lived and worked all over Canada, but is presently residing in Oliver. His life could best be described as 'been there done that!'. George is a published cowboy poet, and has written two fiction novels (which he has never tried to have published... maybe someday!). |
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Gail Prior is a B.C. Woman, who has lived most of her life on the West coast. Retiring from a career in social work, she moved to sunny Penticton. Gail is an avid environmentalist and was “green” long before it became a buzz word. She is active with several animal welfare groups. A vegetarian, Gail loves cooking and previously wrote a weekly cooking column for a small newspaper on Saltspring Island. Retirement opened the doors to hone her writing gift. She is a member of the Penticton Writers' group, as well the River Writers' group in Arizona.
Her short stories and poems have been published in North of 50, The Regina Senior Newspaper, the 2009 Anthology of Okanagan writers and New Canadian short stories by Polar Publishing.
She takes her writing seriously but herself lightly!
Blessed with a great sense of humour, it has always been her lifeline.
Gail continues working on a variety of short stories and poems adding to her collection for a future book publication. |
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Dawn Renaud offers full edit, design and layout services to other authors, helping them turn rough notes and photos or electronic manuscripts into files ready for publication. Her own words have appeared in Okanagan Life, Progress, Thompson Life, North of 50, Summerland Review, Penticton Herald, To Hope and Beyond, and in Sunshine, the South Okanagan Women's Weekly. Her fiction has made the Okanagan College Short Fiction Contest's finalist cut three times (Raindance, Aftermath, Failed Brakes) and her action-packed CyberDimension Mysteries for young readers have been used in elementary school classrooms. Dawn's website: www.dawnrenaud.ca phone: 250.493.7554 |
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Fay Rothlander was born and raised in Germany, where she trained and worked as a nurse. She met and married a merchant sailor, who wanted to settle down on land - in Canada. She is an enthusiastic reader, which woke the desire to write. She is presently writing her memories in short stories. Two of those stories have already been published, one in Toronto and one in Germany. She and her husband live in the small town of Okanagan Falls, BC. |
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Penny Smith is one of the original founding members of Penticton Writers and Publishers. Learn more about Penny and her books on the CoFounders page. |
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Klaus Sturze was born and raised in Europe, where he trained as an hotel administrator. His life experiences are far reaching from surviving WWII, escaping Communist territories, to migrating to Canada in 1960 with two dollars in his pocket and a heart full of hope and enthusiasm. His wife and daughter followed six months later. In 1975 he moved his family to the Okanagan where he still resides. After retiring from professional life, Klaus turned to writing. His first novel was A Father's Last Letter, a modern love story. He finished his memoires titled, From War to Peace. Three more novels followed; The Orphan, The Orphan Now A Man, Missions of A Secret Agent and The Baron and the Assassins (not in print yet). His memoires received a glowing critic by Allan Twigg, editor of BC BOOK WORLD magazine, available here. Learn more at Klaus' website. Email: maxco35@hotmail.com |
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Janey Volden grew up in Kenya, East Africa. Her love of travel, especially into the remote area of Northern Kenya, gave her the inspiration to write Gabbra's Song, a young adult novel published in December 2006. Gabbra's Song is endorsed by Raise-A-Reader in the South Okanagan. Articles: "JANEY VOLDEN: Remembering the people and adventures of Kenya", by Liz Burnett, editor of Okanagan Artworks Magazine |
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IN MEMORY... Violet Smith was born in England and had her first poem published in England in 1988 at the age of 77. Violet passed away in 2010. Her work appeared in more than 10 publications in England and Alberta. She enjoyed writing humourous, religious, and descriptive poems. Violet could look out the window and a poem would take form, regardless of what kind of weather it was outside. Thank you for leaving your lovely words with us, Violet. |
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IN MEMORY... Long time associate member, Helen Wyatt, passed away suddenly on May 31, 2008. Helen not only wrote and published her book Firestorm 2003, she contributed to many of PWAP's publications over the years. Most recently, was her stories and photos, which are featured in the Penticton Centennial Book. She wrote articles and stories for local magazines and papers. Helen tenaciously attempted any writing challenges set before her. We will all miss her wit and her famous storytelling voice at our monthly meetings. Keep writing Helen! |