Jennifer Jane Whiteford

Reading at Venus Envy Ottawa on October 1st

2011-09-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about this reading I'm doing here in Ottawa on October 1st. I've been a fan of Cindy Crabb's Doris zine for many years but have never met her in person. And, as I've said before, I have a lot of admiration for my friend Jeff Miller who is also on the bill. I haven't done a reading for a while and I will be reading brand new, non-fiction pieces at this reading. I haven't read non-fiction in years! The event is free, so come one, come all.

Facebook Event is here.

J.

Coming Out of Hibernation

2011-06-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'll be doing my first reading in a long time with the excellent and revered Toronto writer Jessica Westhead at Octopus Books on June 23rd. We read together in 2008 and both enjoyed it, so I think we're both pretty excited to do it all again! And this time we have the added bonus of Kingston author Iain Reid. I'll be reading a new-ish short story and there will be wine and snacks! What more could you want? Here are the details from the Octopus Books website:

On Wednesday 19 March 2008 Octopus Books hosted Jessica Westhead and Jennifer Whiteford for an astonishing night of readings. Noone in the audience walked away unchanged.

This month, three years, three months and four days later, we believe that Ottawa has had sufficient recovery time to be able to host these two powerhouses again, with Iain Reid along to raise the stakes.

Thursday 23 June 2011 7:30pm
Octopus Books
116 Third Avenue Ottawa ON

A free event with wine and snacks.
The store is wheelchair accessible, the bathroom is not.

Jessica Westhead is a Toronto writer and freelance editor. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as Joyland, Matrix, Geist, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, and Indiana Review. She also stapled together poetry winner, a zine exposé of the nefarious National Library of Poetry (AKA www.poetry.com). Her short story chapbook, Those Girls, was published by Greenboathouse Books in 2006, and her first novel, Pulpy & Midge, was published by Coach House Books in 2007. She was shortlisted for the 2009 CBC Literary Awards. Her short story collection, And Also Sharks, was published by Cormorant Books in spring 2011.

Jennifer Whiteford lives in Ottawa, Ontario with three dogs, two cats, and one husband. In 2006, her first novel, Grrrl, was published by Gorsky Press (Los Angeles). That same year she was voted best local author in the Ottawa XPress readers' poll. She writes regularly for Razorcake Magazine, interviewing bands and reviewing records and zines. She's toured extensively as a reader and has read locally in many venues, including as a featured reader at Ottawa's Westfest in 2008. She is currently working on a second novel.

Iain Reid has written for several CBC Radio shows, including Definitely Not the Opera, Metro Morning, Here and Now, and GO. His work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, Iceland Review Online, and Atlantica. A graduate of Queen's University, Iain Reid was born in Ottawa in 1981, and now lives in Kingston. One Bird's Choice is his first book.

Facebook event is here.

See you Ottawa types there!

J.

Launch Party! Launch Party!

2010-12-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!

Just wanted to let you know that the Launch Party for this collection of screenplays, These Are Not Movies, (featuring a script by yours truly) is happening this coming Saturday, here in Ottawa.

The launch will be at the always lovely Raw Sugar Cafe on January 8, 2011 starting at 8 PM. I will be reading from my script and so will Adam Thomlison, Colin White, and Sean Zio. We'll also be helping each other out a bit by playing characters in each other's scripts. (Not everyone was crafty like me who wrote a script with only one character!)

Raw Sugar is located at 692 Somerset Street West right by the big, beautiful Chinatown arch. Hard to miss! If you haven't been, you're in for a treat. It's a cosy space with lots of seating and you can get yourself booze or tea or coffee and something delicious to eat as well if you're so inclined.

We'll all be signing copies of the book after the reading if you're looking to get your hands on a copy and have it promptly autographed.

See you there!

It's that time of year again!

2010-11-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

Expozine time!

Yes Montrealers! I will be in your fair city this Saturday tabling at Expozine 2010. Last year was my first year at the fair, and I had so much fun I thought I'd do it again this year. I will have copies of Grrrl for sale, plus copies of These Are Not Movies, the new book of scripts that I am lucky enough to have a piece in. In addition to those, I'll have three different fiction zines: This Tornado Loves You (a split zine with Megan Butcher), Typical Girls (an oldie, but still one of my favourite stories I've ever written), and the relatively new Robot Heart, which features two brand new stories for your reading pleasure.

It's worth noting that although Expozine happens on Saturday and Sunday, I'll only be tabling on Saturday because I'll be hustling back to Ottawa to go to another event that I just can't bring myself to miss.

If you're in the area, do come say hi! The place will be full of cool people selling awesome stuff.

J.

Teen Author Week

2010-10-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Just dropping in quickly to say that later this month I'll be participating in a panel discussion for the Ottawa Public Library's "Teen Author Week". The panel will take place at the Greenboro branch of the public library on Thursday, October 28th at 7 PM. We'll be discussing how to get your work published. The panel lasts for one hour (so you'll be able to get home before your bedtime) (or, you know, so I'll be able to get home before my bedtime). I think the whole idea of Teen Author Week is great and I would have been totally into it when I was a teenage aspiring author. I hope I can help a few people out!

Jeff Miller's Ghost Pine Book Launch

2010-03-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

I'm very, very happy to be one of the Ottawa opening acts on Jeff Miller's book launch tour. Jeff is an amazing writer who tells his true stories with a sensitive, engaging style and I always really love reading his zines. I know lots of us have been waiting for him to have a book out that we can carry around, loan to our friends, and put on our shelves.

Also on the bill will be local writer and all-around good guy Adam Thomlison. Books and zines from all three of us will be on sale. And if all goes well, I'll have a brand new zine with a brand new story in it for you to buy and take home to curl up with.

The reading takes place on May 6, 2010 at the excellent Raw Sugar Cafe (692 Somerset St. W. at Cambridge) Start time is 7:30 PM.

I believe the reading will morph into a fun, fun party afterwards, with music, beer, snacks, etc, so don't feel like the night will end when the books close.

I'm super looking forward to it. See you there.

J.

Expozine, ho!

2009-11-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

This coming weekend I'll have a table at Expozine in Montreal. I'll be selling copies of my book and three different fiction zines: Typical Girls (2 stories), The Mattie Stories (4 stories), and This Tornado Loves You/Star Crossed (one story by Megan Butcher b/w one story by me).

I'm sure it will be an excellent event with lots of great literature up for grabs. My friends Jesse Staniforth, Adam Thomlison, and Jeff Miller will all have tables too.

If you're there, come say hi. Bring tea.

xoJ.

(I've decided to do actual posts as updates at this site because updating the sidebar doesn't actually get anyone's attention and leaves me no way of archiving the fun writing-related things I've done. )