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By Wendy Elliott Rum Tales: Down Home Yarns Around a Pot-Bellied Stove By David MossmanWolfville’s David Mossman is becoming a prolific writer. In his latest book, published by Pottersfield Press, Mossman sets out a time after the First World War when the men of Rose Bay gather at the local store to trade stories. The collection is focused around Arthur Benjamin Lohnes, who owned the Lunenburg County store known simply as The Shop. From 1919 until it burned in 1957, Lohnes allowed for male socializing and storytelling on Saturday nights in his shop. Born and raised in Rose Bay, Mossman…
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By Wendy Elliott Daring, Devious and Deadly by Dean JobbImagine the staff of a bank walking out the door with the till open as a circus comes to town. Can you conceive of politics leading to pitched battle during a Nova Scotia election? These are the kinds of crime stories that Dean Jobb’s Daring, Devious and Deadly looks at from the early days of recorded history in this province. Over the years the Wolfville-based writer and professor of creative non-fiction has collected fifteen true stories of murderers, pirates, bank heists, and fraudsters. Jobb, who was once a court reporter, compiled…
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By Wendy Elliott My Jelly Brain Has An Important Message Wolfville resident Mark Selvidge is a brain injury survivor with a mission. He is the co-author of a children’s book, My Jelly Brain, about brain injury and the importance of inclusion regardless of differences. He and his co-author, counsellor and life coach Betty Ann Buott, are passionate about educating others about brain injury. They have presented to various elementary schools in the Valley and several years ago at a National Brain Injury Conference. The book is a teaching tool. When talking to school classes about the dangers of brain injuries, Mark usually…
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Omar Bhimji Deborah Hemming’s novel, Throw Down Your Shadows, tells the story of sixteen-year-old Winnie, “a creature of habit, a lover of ritual and stability. If she had her way, not much would change. But when a new family moves to town, Winnie and her three best friends—all boys—find themselves changing quickly and dramatically to impress Caleb, their strange and charismatic new companion.” Set in the Valley, and centred around a mysterious fire at a winery, the book explores how Winnie and her friends test boundaries and “illuminate darkness within each other and themselves.” Recently, Hemming was kind enough to…
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Pandemic Poetry/CoronapoetryWendy Elliott & Steven Slipp There was a general burst of creativity after we all got locked up mid-March. Music especially flourished, but so did poetry. In Wolfville, Elisabeth Kosters decided to share poems. She posted a Daily Poem for Strange Times for 50 days running, starting March 28. The last work to be hand-lettered and nailed to a wooden box on Kosters’ Main Street lawn was “History will remember” by Donna Ashford. It was submitted by her friend and neighbour Lisa Mckenzie. Lots of folks, near and far, got involved in the poetry project. Kosters, who is a geologist by…
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