If you'd like to hear some award-winning writing from local authors, don't forget to mark your calendar for the next Spoken Ink night.
The Burnaby Writers' Society is holding its next reading and open mike night on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at La Fontana Caffe.
Featured guests for this month's gathering are the winners and runners-up of the society's annual contest - which this year was on the theme of wood, with entries in both poetry and prose.
The 2014 winners included top prize-winner Kim Clarke Harbridge of New Westminster for Blind Date, second-place winner Clarissa P. Green of Vancouver for My Father's Radio and third-place winner Lynne Burnett of West Vancouver for Love on the Table.
Honourable mentions included Burnett, plus Dorothy Podmore of Surrey and Vanessa Winn of Victoria.
La Fontana is at 101-3701 Hastings St. in North Burnaby.
Open mike sign-up starts at 6:50 p.m., and the readings begin at 7 p.m.
Check out www.burnabywritersnews.blogspot.com or contact [email protected].
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Two Burnaby talents will be in the spotlight when the Koerner Quartet offers up the second concert of its season.
The concert, Nothing But the Classics, is set for Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. in the Koerner Recital Hall at the Vancouver Academy of Music.
The acclaimed ensemble includes Burnaby native Joseph Elworthy - the St. Thomas More Collegiate alumnus who's now the executive director of the Vancouver Academy of Music.
Elworthy plays cello alongside violinists Nicholas Wright and Jason Ho and violist Emilie Grimes.
They'll be joined by another Burnaby talent, violist Marcus Takizawa, who will round out the instrumentation for Johannes Brahms' String Quintet No. 2 in G Major.
Takizawa was an original member of the quartet and played with the ensemble for its first two seasons, but left this year.
"It is a treat to bring Marcus back for this concert to perform in the Brahms - it will be an exquisite 'passing of the torch' moment to have these two talented violists work alongside one another to execute this spectacular quintet," Elworthy said in a press release.
The program also includes Franz Joseph Haydn's String Quartet No. 5 and Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 18 No. 4.
The Koerner Recital Hall at VAM is at 1270 Chestnut St. in Vancouver. Tickets are $18, or $15 for students and seniors. See www.koernerquartet.com for details.
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You're never too young to indulge your creative side.
Anyone with small kids at home knows how much they love getting hands-on with just about everything. So why not put that natural curiosity to use and start making some art?
The City of Burnaby offers a host of art classes for the preschool set, and as the mother of a two-year-old, I have to appreciate the awesome variety of offerings.
Just browsing through the Shadbolt Centre's fall Arts Guide, I came across plenty of offerings for the small folks among us. Many of the courses have already started for fall, but some are getting started this month.
A few highlights:
* Mixed Media, Baby!: This adult-participation class at Willingdon Community Centre offers sessions for two-year-olds and for three-year-olds, both on Wednesday mornings starting Oct. 15.
* Pencils, Paints and Plasticine: Four- and five-year-old artists can get hands-on in this course, also at Willingdon, running six sessions starting Saturday, Oct. 18.
* Baby's First Dance and Toddler's First Dance: Willingdon Community Centre plays host to both these courses on Tuesdays, with eight sessions for babies (two to 12 months) and toddlers (12 to 30 months) starting Tuesday, Oct. 14.
(Incidentally, I did the Baby's First Dance with my own now-two-year-old back when she was but a wee thing. We liked it so much we took two sessions. I also wrote more about it - plus some other local offerings for toddlers - in a special report on Babies and the Arts a year ago. If you're interested, check out the story online)
There are also plenty of offerings at the Shadbolt Centre and other city facilities for older kids, teens and adults - check out the Arts Guide by downloading it from www.shadboltcentre.com or pick it up at city facilities.
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Do you have an item for Lively City? Send arts and entertainment ideas to Julie, [email protected], or find her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.
