Members
Current Members:
Bonthoux, Barbara
Boyle, Christopher John
Butler, Brian
Cumming, Maxine
Gartner, Bev
Hill, Norma
Holland, Shelley
John-Thorpe, Yasmin
Kapeikis, Harry G.
Korinetz, David
Longworth, Alan
Middler, Sharron
Miller, Karen
Moore, George (Herb)
Nybo, Darcy
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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Barbara Bonthoux started writing poetry at age 15 and has continued journaling through poetry since. She also has been exploring her interest in science fiction and the view of the world from a child's perspective by working on several short stories that she hopes to have published in the near future. As a poet, she has been published in the anthology "To Hope and Beyond". Currently, Barbara is helping to transcribe an oral historical account of her family's immigration to Canada for her father's book in progress as well as editing a science fiction book (untitled) by Nikki Guyett in preparation for publication. Barbara is living with her husband in Lethbridge Alberta working full time in the Health Care Industry. |
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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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Bev Gartner enjoys writing poetry, short stories and has even attempted stories for children. Her greatest interests are ancient civilizations, parapsychology. One of her short stories entitled "Sara" and several of her poems have been published in a local anthology. |
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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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Shelley Holland's passion is aerial photography and she has worked as a photojournalist for local newspapers. Her photography has appeared in provincial magazines and in book publications. At present Shelley is researching her family history for a future novel. She is a committee member of the PWAP annual conference. |
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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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Harry G. Kapeikis has written a one hour Christmas play entitled "The Fourth Gift" (not published) that was performed two seasons in Seattle, Washington. In addition, he has written a one hour Easter play entitled "In the Spirit of Easter" (not published) which has been performed in Seattle, WA; Lafayette, CA; Calgary, AB and Winfield, BC. Presently he is writing memoirs of World War II. |
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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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Karen Miller is a poet. Karen began writing at age 16 and has never stopped. She writes tributes, descriptive, religious, rhyming poems but enjoys limericks most of all. Karen is currently working on a collection of her poems for a book. |
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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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Darcy Nybo is a long time member of PWAP and in 2004 formed her own writing group in Kelowna that goes by the acronym of COWS (Central Okanagan Writers Society). She is also a member of the Okanagan Freelance Writers group. Nybo is the proud owner of Always Write Business Services and supplies business copywriting and editing services to a variety of companies in her area from newspaper columnists to motivational speakers to marketing firms and periodicals. Nybo firmly believes in the power of the written word and focuses on that in her business and in her personal writing. Learn more at Darcy's website. |
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Gail Prior loves reading, going to plays and watching classic movies. At school, she excelled at compositions, grammar, spelling and literature, but not in Math and Science. Gail was Social Worker, in Vancouver, learning more on the streets and in the project housing complexes, than from her university textbooks. Her career experiences left a legacy of insights into people, their problems, their passions, their expectations. The street "stories" were real life. Gail retired, moving to a Gulf Island, where she wrote a cooking column for a weekly newspaper. Occasionally, she submitted short stories and poems. Moving to Penticton, Gail attended a brown bag lunch at the local Museum, where Yasmin John-Thorpe was lecturing. She learned of the Penticton Writers and Publishers group. Gail joined, and is now busy learning from the co-founders, as well various other members. She is busy writing short stories and poems for future publications. |
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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 A Father's Last Letter, a modern love story, is in bookstores. At present Klaus is working on his memoirs. Learn more at Klaus' website. |
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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. Volden won contest awards for both young adult and children’s writing at the Penticton Writer’s conference in 2003 and 2004. She resides with her husband Bruce in Okanagan Falls, BC. They have two sons, Oliver and Casey. Email: janeyvolden@shaw.ca Web: www.janeyvolden.com Tel: (250) 497-8885 |
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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! |
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IN MEMORY...