Events

Calgary Book Launch – trust the bluer skies by paulo da costa

Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 7pm | Treehouse at cSpace Marda Loop

4th Floor, 1721, 29th Ave SW, Calgary, AB

Free event. Everyone welcome.

Join us for an evening of conversation, readings and camaraderie with paulo da costa as he launches his latest literary work, trust the bluer skies, Meditations on Fatherhood.

Hosted by Richard Harrison

About the Book

Award-winning author paulo da costa meditates on fatherhood, place, and memory during a trip to his childhood home in Vale de Cambra, Portugal.

During an extended stay in his childhood home in Portugal, author paulo da costa distills the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture into a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.

Evocative and heartwarming, Trust the Bluer Skies is a literary time capsule—a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing.

In Toronto – February 2024

Join us at Queen Books for a compelling evening of readings as two authors examine returns to origin, in different ways.

•paulo da costa, author of TRUST THE BLUER SKIES
•Larissa Lai, author of THE LOST CENTURY

Evocative and heartwarming, TRUST THE BLUER SKIES is a literary time capsule—a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing. The story tells of da costa’s family spending an extended stay in Portugal. Distilling the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture, da costa crafts a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.

With great heart, THE LOST CENTURY explores the intersections of Asian relations, queer Asian history, underground resistance, the violence of war, and the rise of modern China – a sprawling novel of betrayal, epic violence, and intimate passions.


Casa do Alentejo – Toronto – Feb 2024

– Apresentação (em Português) do novo livro “Trust the Bluer Skies”
-Sessão Virtual por ZOOM em simultâneo
– Período de Perguntas e Respostas
– Venda de livros autografados pelo autor
– Período de convívio (serão servidos petiscos e refrescos)
ENTRADA LIVRE – TODOS BEM VINDOS
R.S.V.P. : CONFIRME se vai estar presente na C.do Alentejo
Se participar por ZOOM a senha (password) será publicada na devida altura.


Calgary – March 9th 2024


In Calgary 2023

Immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of Portugal with Portuguese-Canadian authors paulo da costa and Esmeralda Cabral. Dream of travel to Portugal as you listen to stories of family, ‘home,’ adventure, and food. Fish may figure prominently!

This is a free event and all are welcome!

Instagram Live link : https://www.instagram.com/shelflifebooks/… for the reading at Shelf Life on Nov 21st at 7 PM.

ABOUT HOW TO CLEAN A FISH:

How to Clean a Fish describes an extended family stay in Portugal, full of food, adventure, and the search for home. Offered the opportunity to live in Costa da Caparica for an extended period, Esmeralda Cabral jumped at the chance to return to the country of her birth. Together with her Canadian-born husband, children, and Portuguese Water Dog, Maggie, Cabral makes new and nostalgic discoveries—a labyrinth of cobblestone alleys and beautiful painted tiles, a delicious bica and pastel de nata, a classic fado concert, the gentle ribbing of local fishmongers, a damaging high tide—translating words and emotions for her family along the way. Packed with local cuisine and customs, tales of language barriers and bureaucracy, and threaded with that irresistible need to connect with the culture of our birth, How to Clean a Fish is for readers curious about life in Portugal and for anyone who has moved from one place to another and is seeking their own version of home.

ABOUT TRUST THE BLUER SKIES:

Award-winning author paulo da costa meditates on fatherhood, place, and memory during a trip to his childhood home in Vale de Cambra, Portugal.

During an extended stay in his childhood home in Portugal, author paulo da costa distills the wide-eyed innocence, joy, and curiosity of his four-year-old son as he meets his aging grandparents and explores an unfamiliar country and culture into a beautiful, tender, and poetic portrait of father-son relationships.

Evocative and heartwarming, Trust the Bluer Skies is a literary time capsule—a father’s vivid account of his son’s early years, a sensory-rich journey through rural Portugal, and a poignant exploration of masculinities that is positive, compassionate, and nurturing. 

ABOUT ESMERALDA CABRAL:

Esmeralda Cabral’s travel memoir, How to Clean a Fish and Other Adventures in Portugal was published in Spring 2023 and short listed for the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Association Nonfiction Prize for BC authors. Her writing has been published in anthologies, literary magazines, and The Globe and Mail, and two of her stories have aired on CBC Radio.

Esmeralda was born in the Azores, Portugal, grew up in Alberta, and now lives and writes in Vancouver.

ABOUT PAULO DA COSTA:

Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. The Midwife of Torment is his latest book of fiction.

Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram


Five Alberta authors to feature in North/West Passages online event marking 50th Anniversary of The Writers’ Union of Canada

For more information, interviews or photos, contact Jackie Carmichael at Carmichael dot Jacqueline at gmail dot com

Five Alberta authors will feature in an upcoming online event marking the 50th Anniversary of The Writers’ Union of Canada.

North/West Passages is a year-long monthly Zoom-based reading series celebrating authors from The Writers’ Union of Canada.

Featured readers on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 6 pm Alberta time will include authors Lori Hahnel, Katherine Koller, Sharon Butala, paulo da costa, and Anna Shannon.

“I’m dazzled by the calibre of writing this series is attracting. Each of these authors are impressive, amazing writers,” said host and organizer Jackie Carmichael, who represents Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut on TWUC’s national council.

“We’re especially proud to dedicate this year-long series to celebrating The Writers’ Union of Canada’s fifty years of service to the Canadian writing community, and the readers who benefit from these original works produced by these writers,” Carmichael said.

The events are free to the public. Attendees need to register in advance to attend, and receive the link via email. Register here to attend!  

MORE ABOUT THE FEATURED AUTHORS:

Lori Hahnel’s latest novel, Flicker, is published in the University of Calgary Press’ Brave & Brilliant Series. Her last book, Vermin: Stories, won an Alberta Literary Award, and was a finalist for a High Plains Book Award, the CAA Fred Kerner Award and the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts Glengarry Book Award. Her previous books are the novels Love Minus Zero and After You’ve Gone, and the story collection, Nothing Sacred. Her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio, and has appeared in The Fiddlehead, JoylandThe Saturday Evening Post and many other journals and anthologies. Lori was Calgary Public Library’s Author-in-Residence in 2020 and has taught creative writing at Alexandra Writers’ Centre and Mount Royal University. She has also acted as a mentor through the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, The Writers’ Guild of Alberta and AWCS.

Katherine Koller writes for stage, screen and page. Her books are Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays, Art Lessons (novel) and Winning Chance (stories). Short fiction has also been published in Grain, Room, Epiphany, Alberta Views, Very Much Alive, Polish[ed] and EDify; poems in Prairie Journal, NorthWord, Happiness Reflected and online at Poetry Pause; and creative nonfiction in Prairie Journal, The Pandemic and Me, WestWord and (forthcoming) Please Don’t Interrupt.

Sharon Butala has published 22 books of fiction and nonfiction, including her newest, Leaving Wisdom. Her honours include the Marian Engel Award, the W.O. Mitchell Award. She’s been shortlisted three times for the Governor General’s award, once for the Commonwealth Prize and once for The Writers’ Trust Fiction Award. She’s an Officer in the Order of Canada, has three Honorary Doctorates and she’s invested in the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.   

Born in Angola, and raised in Portugal, paulo da costa is a writer, editor and translator living in Canada. He is twice the recipient of the James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction (2023 and 2020), the 2003 Commonwealth First Book Prize for the Canada-Caribbean Region, the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Canongate Prize for short-fiction. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published widely in literary magazines around the world and translated into Italian, Spanish, Serbian, Slovenian and Portuguese. The Midwife of Torment is his latest book of fiction. Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations of Fatherhood, a book of creative non-fiction, is forthcoming in 2024 with University of Regina Press.

Anna Shannon is readying her first novel for publication. It’s based on the researched history of a 19th century Quebec City photographer named Alice, wet and dry plate photographic technology, and the tumultuous events in western Canada in 1885. Her short stories, prose and essays have appeared in The Coachella Review, Remington Review, The Existere Journal of Arts and Letters, and more. Her short story, “The Tenant” was a finalist in the Regulus Press’ Literary Taxidermy contest, and published in 34 Stories/124 Beloved. Anna is a proud board member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, and member of The Writers’ Union of Canada. She is a technical writer, former governance specialist, and former theatrical costumer. She lives in Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 land with her husband, and her feline writing partner. 

Host Jackie Carmichael is an author and book coach. She represents Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut on the National Council of The Writers Union of Canada. A longtime journalist, her work has appeared in many publications, including The Edmonton Sun, the Dallas Morning News, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Her honours include First Prize from the APME for feature series writing. She is the author of Heard Amid the Guns: True Stories from the Western Front and The FabJob Guide to Become a Party Planner. Her book , Tweets from the Trenches  was shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Awards. She lives in St. Albert with her family, including two noisy Shetland sheepdogs. 

For more information about The Writers’ Union of Canada, visit writersunion.ca 


WGA 2023 Literary Award Readings Please join the Writers’ Guild of Alberta for readings from twelve finalists of the various 2023 Alberta Literary Awards.

Featuring short readings from Lareina Abbott, Paulo Da Costa, Marcello Di Cintio, Patti Edgar, Tasnuva Hayden, Kyra Koustrup, Kimberley McCullough, Seth Rasporich, Trevor Schmidt, Vivek Shraya (virtual), and Chris Turner.

April 25 7:00pm – 9:00pm (MDT)

Shelf Life Books 1302 4 St SW 100

Calgary, AB Canada get directions

Join us for an on-line reading. The PALAVRAS event on Zoom will feature paulo da costa, Jason Lee Norman, Esmeralda Cabral, Dhana Musil and Jennifer Irvine !  October 22, 2020, 5:30 – 6:30 pm PDT. Register at https://bit.ly/3cMxPQ3
 
Please register by clicking on the link and you will be sent Zoom details a few days before the event.

June 4th 2020
Announcement of  the 2020 Alberta Literary Awards

The 2020 Alberta Literary Awards

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Alberta Literary Awards. This year’s award winners were announced in an online video release on June 4th. The video is available to watch on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. This celebration marks the 38th anniversary of the Alberta Literary Awards and brought together writers from across Alberta.The Alberta Literary Awards were created by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta in 1982 to recognize excellence in writing by Alberta authors. This year, jurors deliberated over 220 submissions to select winners in the following eight categories.

 

Polyglot: Multilingual Readings by Calgary Writers

Thursday, Oct. 3 – 2019
6:30 – 8 p.m.

Jaspreet Singh, who speaks almost five languages, will host local writers who engage with two or more languages in their work, including Helen Hajnoczky (Hungarian), paulo da costa (Portuguese), Sharanpal Ruprai (Punjabi) and Trent Fox (Stoney Nakoda).

Where When    
Central – Central Library – Level 0 – 0-13 Thursday, Oct. 3
6:30 – 8 p.m.
   

MAY, 23    2019 | VANCOUVER – University of British Columbia

  • Toronto, Monday, April 3 2017 – 18h30 na casa do Alentejo

     
  • Casa do Alentejo de Toronto, 1130 Dupont St, Toronto, ON M6H 2A2, Canada

     

A Coordenação do Ensino Português no Canadá e o Núcleo de Leitura da Casa do Alentejo de Toronto convidam para a apresentação do livro «O Perfume da Mentira» de paulo da costa

paulo da costa nasceu em Luanda, Angola e cresceu em Portugal. Reside na Ilha de Vancouver no Canadá e o seu primeiro livro de contos, The Scent of a Lie foi galardoado com o Caribbean & Canada Commonwealth Writers Prize 2003 – First Book, o 2002 W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize e o conto principal com o Prémio do Conto da editora Canongate na Escócia. A sua ficção e poesia estão representadas em diversas publicações espalhadas por cinco continentes. Alguns desses trabalhos foram traduzidos para Italiano, Mandarim, Esloveno, Espanhol, Servo e Português.

Esta sessão, em português, contará com a presença do autor.

 

 

PAST EVENTS

Lisbon, Thursday 21 January 2016 – 19h30 at Bookshop Bivar

In Lisbon – An evening of readings by award-winning writer
paulo da costa

Thursday 21 January 19h30 at Bookshop Bivar
Rua de Ponta Delgada 34A, 1000-243 Lisbon, Portugal

http://bookshopbivar.com/

Alisa Gordaneer and paulo da costa

  • Victoria – Planet Earth Poetry is located at Hillside Coffee and Tea, 1633 Hillside Ave (across from Bolen Books)

paulo da costa: writer, editor and translator living on the West Coast of Canada. www.paulodacosta.com

Alisa Gordaneer: Poet, writer, teacher, journalist, Victoria BC
Still Hungry, (2015, Signature Editions)

NanaimoJanuary  27 2015    WordStorm Reading Series

paulo da costa, Renee Saklikar and Dennis E. Bolen

Demeter’s Coffee Vault
499 Wallace Street, Nanaimo, BC
Phone: 250.591-0776

WordsThaw 2014 – Victoria’s Annual Spring Symposium – February 20 – 22

An Intellectual Icebreaker at the Cusp of Spring
Friday, February 21, 7:30 p.m. (doors at 7:00 p.m.)
Words on Ice: Evolution of the Author
Rm. 240, Human & Social Development Building, University of Victoria
 
An evening of readings by writers at different stages of their careers: paulo da costa, Cynthia Flood, Phil Hall, Anita Lahey, David Leach, Daphne Marlatt, Miranda Pearson, and Benjamin Willems Hosted by John Barton and Yvonne Blomer
Co-organized with Planet Earth Poetry
WordsThaw Pass or Evening Ticket required. Regular evening ticket price (at door): $10
Student/Friend of the Malahat evening ticket price (at door): $5
All attendees at Words on Ice will receive a free copy of our upcoming issue, #185 Winter 2013.
 

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Toronto, 6:00 pm – Tuesday, April 23 – 2013

Freehand Spring Launch (featuring paulo da costa and Ali Bryan)

Type Books – 883 Queen Street West, Toronto

Join us for this evening of words … this is the place where the book magic happens !!!

Calgary – Thursday, April 25 – 6:00 pm

paulo da costa – Book Launch and fS Magazine’s 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary Collective Retrospective
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 2013
TIME: 6 pm-late
VENUE: Kensington Legion, Royal Kensington Room (1910 Kensington Rd NW)
$: Pay What You May (at the door)

https://www.facebook.com/events/443533579056325

Celebrate 20 years of pushing the limits of literature with the filling Station collective, past and present!

With 7 pm Book Launches By:
paulo da costa – The Green and Purple Skin of the World (Freehand Books) – 7 pm
Jacqueline Turner – The Ends of the Earth (ECW Press) – 8 pm
Jonathan Ball – The Politics of Knives (Coach House Books) – 9 pm

And Readings By:
Braydon Beaulieu derek beaulieu Chris Blais Caitlynn Cummings Jasmine Elliott Jon R. Flieger Jocelyn Grosse Jill Hartman Colleen Hemsing Mark Hopkins Jani Krulc Marc Lynch Colin Martin Tom Muir Émilie Parks Natalie Simpson Angelo Tembreza
Emily Ursuliak Natascia Vervena jonathon Wilcke Julia Williams Steph Wong Ken & more!

https://www.facebook.com/events/443533579056325

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VictoriaSaturday, May 4th – 3.00 pm

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Spring 2013 – Book Launches & Readings
Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria

VancouverWednesday, May 8th  2013    Incite Reading Series

an evening with paulo da costa, Shyam Selvadurai and Colin McAdam

Award-winning authors: Colin McAdam reading from A Beautiful Truth, paulo de costa reading from The Green and Purple Skin of the World and Shyam Selvadurai reading from his latest, The Hungry Ghosts.

 
 

7:30 pm  Wednesday – May 8th,   Free
Alice MacKay Room, Vancouver Central Library

350 West Georgia Street,

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Azores Fringe Festival 19-30 JUN 2013 www.azoresfringe.com

June 28th – 2013 Ilha do Pico

28 sexta 12:30 Salão Nobre, Paços do Concelho da Madalena
A Arquitetura da Identidade Multicultural – Para lá do Hóquei no Gelo e das Touradas

28 sexta 21:30 Salão Nobre, Paços do Concelho da Madalena
Lançamento do livro “O Perfume da Mentira”

June 29th

29 sábado, a partir das 15h participa no projeto ATLANTES – Das Ilhas às Comunidades (Palco da Praça e Jardim dos Maroiços, Madalena)

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