The editors of The Rusty Toque are starting a new online journal called Occasus.

Occasus will publish writing from the Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication students at Western University.

Check back in a few weeks for more details about Issue 1 of Occasus.

_ The Rusty Toque is looking for readers for our open call for submissions. Being a volunteer reader is ideal for students who are interested in gaining some editorial experience working for a literary journal. Readers play an important role in putting together the issue, and are credited on The Rusty Toque Website.

Volunteer readers must be enrolled at the main campus at UWO or enrolled in the Program in Writing Minor.

Readers are responsible for reading a package of submissions (from 20 to 50 pages) and attending a 2 hour meeting every 2 weeks for the duration of the Term.

We are looking for students who can commit to participating during the Winter Term 2012. Interested applicants, please send a cover letter, CV (indicating what creative writing courses you’ve taken), and a short sample critique (max 500 words). Ideally we would like to see a sample from a creative writing workshop that you’ve taken in the Program in Writing.

Please submit your application to uwojournal@gmail.com by Jan 27, 2012.

_For those in the Hamilton region this weekend, Professor Claudia Manley and her art collective Shake-n-Make have an opening at b contemporary gallery at 266 James Street N., Hamilton, ON.

Hamilton Art Crawl
Shake-n-Make

_On November 29, 2011, Vivieno Caldinelli dropped by Kathryn Mockler's Writing 2204 (Short Flicks) class, a introductory short film writing course.

He screened clips from the two Comedy Network series he directed: Hotbox and Picnicface. And he shared his insights on how to break into film. "Make good work, be persistent, and be easy to work with."

Thanks to the Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication for sponsoring this event.

For more information on Vivieno Caldinelli check out the following:

• Read Vivieno's Rusty Talk Interview
• Watch Vivieno's acclaimed CFC & NBC/Universal short film If I See Randy Again, Do You Want Me To Hit Him with the Axe?
• Watch a clip from Picnicface Season 1: "High-Five Portal"
  

Acclaimed poet, Lorna Crozier was in London on October 19, 2011 to read at a Poetry London event.

While in town, she and local publisher Karen Schindler dropped by Kathryn Mockler's poetry writing class for a reading and chat with the students.

We would like to thank the Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication and the Arts and Humanities Student Donation Fund for sponsoring this event.

During her visit, Lorna had this to say about poetry:

"If we want to be poets, we have to remain children. We have to keep our sense of wonder."
"All things are connected, and poetry shows us how they are connected."
Lorna Crozier

About Lorna Crozier
Lorna Crozier is a Governor General Award winning poet who has written 14 books of poetry and a memoir. She has also edited poetry anthologies, most recently our course textbook The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010. Lorna has received two honourary doctorates for her contribution to Canadian literature, and her poems have been translated into several languages. She is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria.

Small Beneath the Sky, 2009
Description from Greystone Books

A beautifully realized story of an internationally acclaimed poet’s coming of age.

A volume of poignant recollections by one of Canada’s most celebrated poets, Small Beneath the Sky is a tender, unsparing portrait of a family and a place.

Lorna Crozier vividly depicts her hometown of Swift Current, with its one main street, two high schools, and three beer parlors—where her father spent most of his evenings. She writes unflinchingly about the grief and shame caused by poverty and alcoholism. At the heart of the book is Crozier’s fierce love for her mother, Peggy. The narratives of daily life—sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking—are interspersed with prose poems. Lorna Crozier approaches the past with a tactile sense of discovery, tracing her beginnings with a poet’s precision and an open heart.

About this memoir Ursula Le Guin wrote, “How rare such honesty is, and how hard-won, and radiant, and beautiful.” Guy Vanderhaeghe further commented, “Lorna Crozier has woven the delicate threads of a particular place, time and family into a powerful, big-hearted, poignant, funny, wise and utterly arresting memoir.”

Mark Kearney is an award-winning journalist who has co-authored 10 books, including The Great Canadian Trivia Book. His work has appeared in some 80 magazines and newspapers in North America. Mark teaches writing and journalism at the University of Western Ontario and has won five University Student Council Teaching Awards of Excellence. His website is www.triviaguys.com.

PROSE to GO: Tales from a Private List

PEEK into the private lives of 18 professional writers from the NWT to PEI.

Review
"The tone is personal and intimate in a way that effectively bonds author and reader together, so that reading this book becomes a life-enhancing experience...This eclectic mix of memories of shared love, laughter, and hope should appeal to a wide readership, and deserves to find a place in every public library collection." (Lois C. Henderson in NY Journal of Books)

From the review in BookPleasures.com:
"heartwarming...stimulating...memorable and fascinating...ideal reading for relaxation and entertainment."

Description

DRIVE through the Northwest Territories with Helena Katz as she brings a herd of alpacas to their new home in her back yard.

JOIN Trudy Kelly Forsythe at the Rolling Stones' Big Bang Tour, and Barbara Florio Graham in her encounter with actor Peter Falk (aka Columbo).

WATCH award-winning humorist Steve Pitt deal with cherry-stealing kids, and award-winning cookbook author Julie Watson wrestle with a lobster on TV.

CLIMB inside a Santa suit with broadcaster/humorist Gordon Gibb, see a Christmas tree from Helen Lammers-Helps' vantage point, while Luigi Benetton describes a condo development community meeting gone awry.

EXPERIENCE birth from an infant's point of view,  in a mesmerizing piece by Elle Andra-Warner.

SHARE household hilarity with Lanny Boutin and Joanne Carnegie, while Debbie Gamble deals with body issues and Lorri Benedik with unwanted compliments.

CRY with Barbara Bunce Desmeules Massobrio as she describes My Life Now, and with  Hilda Young as she comes to terms with her son's suicide.

DISCOVER Canadian trivia book author Mark Kearney's secret to winning prizes at fall fairs, while Irene Davis deals with a vanished voice and Fred Desjardins with growing older.

Published by Bridgeross, 2011
Distributed by Ingram 
Available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, 
Chapters/Indigo, and on Kindle and other e-book formats,  as well as at independent bookstores

The Rusty Toque is looking for readers for our open call for submissions. Being a volunteer reader is ideal for students who are interested in gaining some editorial experience working for a literary journal.

Volunteer readers must be enrolled at the main campus at UWO or enrolled in the Program in Writing Minor.

We are looking for students who can commit to participating from October 2011 to January 2012. Interested applicants, please send a cover letter, CV  (indicating what creative writing courses you’ve taken), and a short sample critique (max 500 words). Ideally we would like to see a sample from a creative writing workshop that you’ve taken in the Program in Writing.

Please submit your application to the editors by September 30, 2011.

Send us your writing, publishing, or producing news, and we'll post it in our news section! Send us your news through our contact form.

The editors are pleased to launch the first issue of The Rusty Toque! 

Volume 1, Issue 1 includes FICTION by Josh Romphf, Marshall John Christie, Rhiannon Dickson, and Jamie Lively; SCREENPLAYS by Jessica Kotzer and Lauren Wing; NONFICTION by Ashley McCallan, G.P. Parhar, Cam Parkes, and Spencer Matheson; and POETRY by Scott Beckett and Blair Swann.

Congratulations to our writers! And thanks to Taylor Axford who won our "Name the Journal" contest.

Enjoy our first issue!