NEWS & EVENTS
Accepted!
Writing Workshop!
(January 3, 2013) Brent will be leading a writing workshop as part of the Hamilton Public Library's 2013 Tween summer writing contest at the Ancaster branch on Tuesday, July 9 from 2:30-5:30pm. More information about the contest itself will be available on the library website at a later date. Finding December: Christmas Tales
(December, 2012) A collection of six holiday stories that carry the reader to new places in search of a perfect December. In "Finding December," a lonely traveler in a strange and foreign city discovers a bit of humanity; in “Our Own Voices,” a family faces a first Christmas after unspeakable tragedy; in "To Love Everyone," a cantankerous man tries to find an argument at the local church, but discovers a greater narrative at play; a young boy discovers that even great people are humans too in "A Command Performance"; in “Next Door,” even private neighbors can shine for each other at the holidays; and "Tupperware and a Christmas Star" finds Joseph on Mary's doorstep for a first Christmas date. Click here for Paperback Click here for Kindle Click here for Kobo A Cool Indian Name: Fictions
(December, 2012) In a striking first collection of stories, Brent van Staalduinen leads the reader through tales that echo with loss and redemption, discovery and fear, tumult and victory. Where three young children create a Christmas in July for their bedridden mother, a military wife tries to help her son answer life’s toughest questions, a homeless man convicts an entire church congregation of their prejudices, and a baby cries in the midnight hold of a smuggling ship. A boy discovers the magic in Union Station while a terminally ill girl finds magic in laughter. From the title piece, “A Cool Indian Name,” which explores the dark remnants of abuse in a residential school and the limits of friendship, to “Buddy’s Mirror,” where a medic sent on an ill-fated peacekeeping mission is forced to ask how far he will go to protect those under his care, van Staalduinen’s fictions force us into difficult places and situations and, afterwards, demand we account for ourselves. Click here for paperback Click here for Kindle Click here for Kobo Borderless...
Logo design by John Triemstra: www.johntriemstraphotography.ca October 2012: BORDERLESS, Brent's new monthly column in The Christian Courier, will first appear in the Nov. 12 issue. Brent Reading at Locke!
When: Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 2:00pm
Where: Locke Street Library, Hamilton. What: I am third in a series of readings by local authors. I'll be reading a selection from AEDEN'S WAKE (unless the spirit moves me in another direction...) and I will have copies of MAKE FIRE IN THE DESERT for purchase as well. Hope to see you there! A big thanks to Kathy May, Locke St. Branch Manager, for organizing the readings. 
Finalist!
Brent's short story, "Buddy's Mirror," was selected as a finalist in The New Guard Literary Review's 2011 Machigonne Fiction Contest! Brent makes an appearance...
My experiences at the Surrey International Writer's Conference 2011 have been picked up by Nicole Baute, a colleague of mine working through the Humber School of Writers.
Click here to read her blog. Surrey International Writer's Conference
Oct. 19-23
Brent attended the Surrey International Writer's Conference 2011 from Oct. 19-23. He pitched seven agents/editors, and received requests for Aeden's Wake material from six of them...including four full manuscript requests! Being tunnel-vis'd for the weekend on pitching his novel he did not, however, take any photos. Next year... Man Booker Winner!
No, I didn't win the big prize...Julian Barnes did.
BUT, I did win signed copies of the Booker shortlist for contributing the penultimate line in their 100 characters or less competition. Here's my line: He holds the cool, black cloth he had taken from her eyes. "Finish it," she says. Touch to put on my writing resume, of course, but six free books to read ain't bad! Oct. 1: Brent at reDiscover Redeemer
Brent will be making a presentation entitled, "Writing Kuwait: Unredeciphering the Middle East" at reDiscover Redeemer. Click here for more info: reDiscover redeemer.
Photo credit: Redeemer University College Alumni assoc. Published! "A Command Performance"
Brent's short story, "A Command Performance," will appear in the next issue of The Storyteller Magazine. Click here to find out more about the magazine.
Aeden's WakeBrent is currently seeking representation for Aeden's Wake, a literary novel with a touch of the supernatural. If Rhoda Camael gave you the chance to ask, you might wonder about the eighteen months she spent in darkness, about the shades of black she found. When she finally opens her eyes she is, of course, given the facts – that her father and little brother were murdered and she was raped and left for dead in the living room of the family home. Devon Eli, the man who committed those terrible crimes, is fading away in prison, having surprised everyone with a quiet guilty plea. When Rhoda tries to return to her ordered, private ways, she is unprepared for how she will be treated by others or the expectations they have for how she should be grieving. Nor can she anticipate that, even from his tiny prison cell, Eli will reach out to her – she will face sunlight and shadows, and a moment of choice that can only happen in a place like Aeden’s Wake.
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