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Lively City: Spoken Ink, Sinatra and stories on film

Word lovers of the city, be sure to stop in to the next Spoken Ink night. The Burnaby Writers’ Society is hosting the next session in its ongoing reading series at a new location on Thursday, Dec. 10.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Align Entertainment
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is coming to the stage in Burnaby in February - and Align Entertainment is offering a pre-Christmas ticket deal.

Word lovers of the city, be sure to stop in to the next Spoken Ink night.

The Burnaby Writers’ Society is hosting the next session in its ongoing reading series at a new location on Thursday, Dec. 10.

The reading will be at Wings Pub and Grill at 6879 Kingsway (on the northwest side of Kingsway at Griffiths Drive).

This month’s session features poets Bren Simmers and Raoul Fernandes.

Simmers is the author of one previous book of poetry, Night Gears, and the winner of an Arc Poetry Magazine Poem of the Year Award. She was also a finalist for the Malahat Review’s long poem prize and has been longlisted twice for the CBC Poetry Prize.

Fernandes, meanwhile, has been writing poetry since childhood and completed the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in 2009. He was a finalist for the 2010 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and winner of the 2010 Sakura Award at the Vancouver International Cherry Blossom Festival.

You can hear from them both starting at 8 p.m. For more about the Spoken Ink series, check out www.burnabywritersnews.blogspot.com or email bwscafe@gmail.com.

 

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Burnaby South’s own crooner is keeping the music of Frank Sinatra alive.

Rick Valiant is back on stage on Saturday, Dec. 12 to pay tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes himself on what would have been Sinatra’s 100th birthday.

Valiant will be joined by the Blue Morris Swing Band, conducted by Johnny Spiby.

His show is on stage at the Columbia Theatre, 530 Columbia St. in New Westminster, starting at 8 p.m.

He’s also joined by opening act ABBA time.

Tickets start at $25 for show only, or $40 for show and dinner. Call 604-522-4500 or see www.thecolumbia.ca for more information.

You can find out more about Rick at his website, www.rickvaliant.com.

 

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Books and food: How can you go wrong?

The Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre is hosting its winter food and book fair on Saturday, Dec. 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – a collaboration between its Japanese food fair and second-hand book sale.

“Together we will share our holiday spirit with hand-made Christmas gifts, ornaments and a diversity of goodies,” a press release says. “The complimenting food fair is absolutely irresistible with their waffle, takoyaki and ramen selections.”

The Nikkei centre is at 6688 Southoaks Cres. Check out www.nikkeiplace.org, email info@nikkeiplace.org or call 604-777-7000 for more information.

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Art lovers will want to check out a couple of upcoming events at Burnaby Art Gallery.

On Saturday, Dec. 12, the gallery is offering drop-in tours of its Layers: Print & Beyond exhibition, with Mandarin and English-speaking guides.

Tours start at 2 p.m. and run every half-hour until 4 p.m.

The next day, Sunday, Dec. 13, families can drop in to the gallery to take part in a free In the BAG session, which gives people of all ages a chance to tour the current exhibition and then take part in a hands-on studio activity related to it.

This month’s activity will be about layering colour. It’s for all ages, and it’s free to drop in any time between 1 and 4 p.m.

See www.burnabyartgallery.ca for more information.

 

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Music lovers, be sure to note Saturday, Dec. 12 on your calendars.

Bridge Musicians International, a classical music performance society, is bringing a concert to the Evangelical Free Church at 6112 Rumble St.

It features pianists Clare Yuan and Scott Meek, violinists Jiln Kim and Yun Jung, violist Steven Lin and cellist Kevin Park in a program that includes Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 1 in F major.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. It’s $20 regular, or $15 for students and seniors. See www.bridgemusicians.com for all the details.

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Stuck for a Christmas present idea for the theatre lover in your house?

Align Entertainment is currently offering a December promotion, from Dec. 1 to 24, on its upcoming February production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Based on the beloved 1968 film version of Ian Fleming’s children’s book, the family-friendly musical will be on stage at the Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby from Feb. 5 to 20.

From Dec. 1 to 24, you can get $5 off a regular-priced adult ticket using the promo code Truly, at www.vtixonline.com.

Check out www.alignentertainment.ca for more about the company and the musical.

 

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Burnaby filmmakers have been named as finalists in Telus’s STORYHIVE community funding program.

Fifteen finalists from B.C. are getting $10,000 to bring their film concepts to life, with an opportunity to show them on Telus Optik TV on Demand and have them voted on by community members. The top two films will then win awards to be announced in March 2016.

Among the finalists are some Burnaby connections.

Ryan Mah is the co-founder of Black Rhino Creative, and his film Fearless will feature Amber Thomas’s battle with brain cancer. Thomas was a Paralympic swimmer and became the first blind woman to swim the English Channel.

Another Burnaby resident, Alexandre Robichaud, is the director of photography for the digital short Umbrageous.

More local connections can be found in Singer Sisters, a short comedy that follows the antics of two sisters in the film industry – Smita Acaryya is its director.

The films that earn the top awards in the new year will receive customized career training and a scholarship to the Banff Television Festival.

Check out www.storyhive.com for more about the competition.

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Do you have an item for Lively City? Send arts and entertainment happenings to Julie, jmaclellan@burnabynow.com, or find her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.