Young Alberta Book Society

This month, you and your kids have lots of chances to see YABS author and storyteller Tololwa Mollel live in Edmonton! And it's free!

Join the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton - Local Government for free daily Green Shack Shows! Throughout July and August, free programming and performances will happen five days a week at Green Shacks across the city with performances in the morning (11:00AM), and in the afternoon (2:30PM). The full schedule is here: https://www.edmontonarts.ca/event/green-shack-shows-2024

July 8 — 12
Morning show schedule (11 am)
July 8: Carlton (13815 — 160 Avenue) — Tololwa Mollel
July 9: Beverly Heights (Floden Park, 4209 — 111 Avenue) — Tololwa Mollel
July 10: Aspen Gardens — Tololwa Mollel
July 11: Ellerslie (319 — 83 Street SW) — Tololwa Mollel
July 12: Prince Charles (12449 — 121 Avenue) — Tololwa Mollel

July 8 — 12
Afternoon show schedule (2:30 pm)
July 8: Oxford (13104 — 155 Avenue) — Tololwa Mollel
July 9: Beacon Heights (Jubilee Park, 12037 — 43 Street) — Tololwa Mollel
July 10: Greenfield (3755 — 114 Street) — Tololwa Mollel
July 11: Charlesworth (5805 — 3 Avenue) — Tololwa Mollel
July 12: Athlone (13010 — 129 Street) — Tololwa Mollel

With his roots as a theatre actor and dramatist in Edmonton and Tanzania where he grew up, Tololwa Mollel is a storyteller and performer of stories for the young and the old. Since 1990, Tololwa has been spreading his passion for stories, storytelling and story performance across Alberta and Canada.

Green Shack Shows 2024 Everything you need to access the arts

🌞 This is our last regular day at our desks, then we'll be in and out during summer break. We'll return all calls and emails as promptly as we're able. Have a great summer! 😎

Cartoonist Gerry Rasmussen presented drawing workshops to kids and youth over two weekends at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre. One young artist came on both weekends and had an entire comic book completed by the end of the second session! Wow! Thank you to everyone who came out and to Edmonton Arts Council for funding our FLY! program 🥰

Anthem of Life, a play written by Tololwa M. Mollel and produced by Theatre Prospero is running until July 6 at Alberta Avenue Community Centre We'll be seeing it this weekend -- you should, too! 🎭

It's National Indigenous Peoples Day, a day to learn about and celebrate the diverse and vibrant cultures of Indigenous folks on Turtle Island.

We hope you'll take some time today to enjoy some Alberta authors with Indigenous connections and characters! 🪶

Did you miss out on last Sunday’s workshop with Gerry Rasmussen? Not to worry, there’s still one more!

✅ Another casino accomplished! Thank you so much to everyone who made it out for casino shifts on our behalf. The money we’ll receive pays for up to two years of travel around Alberta for our artists! (A little extra thanks to those who braved the Game 3 traffic on Thursday night 🏒)

We have two FLY! drawing workshops for children and youth (age 6+) coming up with Gerry Rasmussen at the Alberta Avenue Community Centre! Free to attend, all supplies provided 🎨

Thank you to Edmonton Arts Council for sponsoring this amazing program!

We recently received monetary donations made to us in memory of author Lyle Weis. We thank all donors for their generosity.

Lyle’s family has entrusted YABS with many copies of his books Bush Party, Burn It, and Let’s Wrestle and asked for our help in achieving their greatest wish: getting Lyle’s books into kids’ hands.

If you would like free copies of any of Lyle’s books for your family, library, or classroom, we invite you contact the office to make arrangements. Thank you so much to Lyle’s family for sharing his work with Alberta’s youth 📚

🆘Help! Our casino fundraiser 🎰 on Thursday, June 13, needs a cashier 💸from 8:30pm-3:15am at Grand Villa casino in downtown Edmonton. Can you pitch in? You get a meal, snacks, and a lovely time hanging out with other cool volunteers! Message us here or call the office at 780-422-8232 to sign up!

We are excited to be a participating charity in Rogers Birdies for Kids presented by AltaLink (BFK), a non-profit program run under the Calgary Shaw Charity Classic Foundation.

Between now and August 31, we receive 100% of BFK donations to YABS which will go directly to supporting author visits in Alberta’s classrooms. Donations are matched up to 50%, making your contributions go further!

If you would like to multiply your impact and support YABS, please visit the link in the comments! 🐥

We're closed for the May Long and we hope everyone has a lovely long weekend! 😊

Congratulations to Marty Chan! Well deserved!

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is pleased to announce that the 2024 Golden Pen Award recipient is Marty Chan.

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta Golden Pen Award is presented to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of outstanding Alberta writers.

For over 40 years, Marty Chan has contributed to theatre, radio, television, and kids’ fiction. His playwriting career began at the Edmonton Fringe Festival with hit plays, including Polaroids of Don, Maggie’s Last Dance, The Bone House, and Mothership Down. He broke into mainstage theatre with his smash hit Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl, which toured across Canada and received an Off-Broadway production in 2004. The play also received the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Best New Work. His Chinese opera/western musical, The Forbidden Phoenix, received the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama in 2004.

A regular contributor to CBC Radio, Marty wrote and performed the weekly humour commentary series Dim Sum Diaries from 1994 until 2000. He won the Alberta Anthology monologue competition four years in a row. He wrote two radio dramas for CBC (Grandmother’s Gift and an adaptation of Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl). In 2023, he wrote Double Trouble, a radio podcast drama for Odyssey Theatre.

Marty worked as a TV story editor on Incredible Story Studio and Mentors. Before joining the story department of Jake and the Kid, he briefly appeared as an actor on the Canadian series. He penned The Orange Seed Myth, a half-hour comedy pilot that won the World Charleston Film Award and was nominated for a Gemini for Best Youth Writing.

Marty’s contributions to the community include serving as the Citadel Theatre’s first playwright in residence and a writer in residence for the Edmonton Public Library, Strathcona County Library, Fort Saskatchewan Library, and the St. Albert Library. He chaired the Young Alberta Book Society and the Edmonton Arts Council boards.

The Golden Pen Award is supported by Aritha van Herk.

To learn more about the past recipients and to learn more about Marty Chan's incredible achievements, visit our website https://tinyurl.com/wp8e3cfp (link in bio)

Have you read this year's winning Martyn Godfrey Award stories yet? Check the link in the comments ⬇️ It was a very competitive year and the judges had their work cut out for them!

Thank you to Access Copyright Foundation for sponsoring this fun program! 🥰

The Young Alberta Book Society’s Annual General Meeting for 2023-2024 will be held at 7:30pm on June 24, 2024, via Zoom. We’ll give an update on how the past year went, present audited financial statements, and elect new board members.

RSVP to ed(at)yabs.ab.ca or 780-422-8232. We’ll send out the Zoom link, Annual Report, and other meeting documents closer to the meeting date. Let us know if you have any questions in the meantime and we’ll look forward to seeing you then!

🏆 We are thrilled to announce and congratulate the winners of the 2024 Martyn Godfrey Young Writers Award after receiving a record-breaking number of entries! All of the winning stories are posted on our website (link in comments).

All 18 winners are invited to our Winners' Circle virtual writing workshops with authors Natasha Deen (elementary) and Anna Priemaza (junior high) in June.

Special thanks to our dedicated jurors and to every student who entered! 🎉

Tune into CTV Edmonton tomorrow to hear Joan Marie Galat talk about her new book, "Make Your Mark, Make a Difference". Set your alarms for Monday morning so you don't miss it!

Looking forward to sharing how kids/teens can use my new book to promote the causes they care about with CTV Edmonton on Earth Day. Hope you’ll tune in! 8:15 am, Monday, April 22. SimonKIDS Stacey Kondla The Rights Factory Young Alberta Book Society

We've had many people sign up for our June 13-14 casino and we're almost there!

We have four spots to left to fill: Thursday evening cashier, Friday evening General Manager, and a couple count room spots on Friday. We also welcome backup folks in case of last minute emergencies. Please contact the office if you can help and share with your contacts 😊

"What to Bring" by Lorna Schultz Nicholson, illustrated by Ellen Rooney and published by Owlkids, is a Shining Nominee in the The Willow Awards! Congratulations to Lorna and all of the nominees! 🎉

We are SO excited about Writing For Young Readers: Essentials. This informative workshop with Kate A. Boorman sounds captivating:

"When you’re writing for young readers, understanding publishers’ parameters is a good, first step. But a successful manuscript goes beyond appropriate word count and vocabulary— beyond, even, interesting characters or setting. The story is the thing, and creating one that resonates with a young audience isn’t easy. Welcome to Writing for Young Readers: Essentials. This session introduces five essential questions that help focus and elevate your story so that it hits the audience-mark. Whether you are new to writing for young readers or a seasoned pro, join Kate for an in-depth look at what takes a manuscript from so-so to successful."

If this workshop sounds intriguing to you, then you're going to want to take a look at the 2024 WGA Conference: No Place Like Home. This conference is jam-packed with workshops, panels, speakers, and events much like this one.

Head over to our website and pursue what we have to offer over the conference weekend and then register soon to take advantage of early bird pricing and discounted room rates.

https://writersguild.ca/wga-conference-2024/

Natasha Deen and Kate A. Boorman have been nominated for the R. Ross Annett Award! Congratulations to them and all of the 2024 Alberta Literary Awards nominees 🎉

The YABS office will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, reopening on Tuesday, April 2. Have a lovely long weekend! 🐣

A public FLY! session is coming up next week!

Storyteller Kathy Jessup will be giving a storytelling performance geared towards school-aged children and youth at Alberta Avenue Community Centre at 7pm on April 4. We hope to see you there!

Thank you to Edmonton Arts Council for sponsoring this program 🐝

🚨 Deadline Extension 🚨

Due to our annual Martyn Godfrey Award deadline falling right in the middle of the Easter long weekend and the end of spring break, we're doing a very short extension in case students are working their stories over the break but need some help from their teachers to submit them to us. Stories now need to be received by midnight on April 4.

Stories will be sent to the jury on April 5, and we will endeavor to keep to the same schedule of having the winners announced by May 1. Contact info(at)yabs.ab.ca with any questions!