Paul Strickland,
Contributor

At the 8th Annual Barry McKinnon Chapbook Awards and Prince George
Chapbook Fair, held April 11 in the downstairs lecture theatre at the College
of New Caledonia, Mateusz Partyka won the top award of $350 for his
chapbook titled “Desire/Exile.”

Runners-up in the competition were Layne Ongman, whose entry
was entitled “Carpe Diem,” and Tessa Gregory, who had submitted her
chapbook “Lines of Change.” They received a collection of chapbooks by
Barry McKinnon and other northern B.C. Poets for their personal library
collections.

During opening remarks for the awards ceremony, Graham Pearce, CNC
creative writing instructor, emphasized freedom of expression and literary
imagination. “Poetry is the last place where we can say what we mean,” he
told the audience.

Katherine (Penny) Douglas read her poem, “Human Condition.”
“Poetry helps us to come to terms with our life,” she said.

Guest poet Ciara Shuttleworth, who writes for Los Angeles print media,
said, “Barry McKinnon should be recognized internationally.” She read
some of her poems, including “Harnessing Electricity,”

“Long Distance,” “Baptized” and “Devotions.”

McKinnon read his poem, “in Arizona,” with its powerful descriptions
of the landscape of the American desert Southwest and its references to its
cultural values and dangers that might follow from “. .. whatever one could
say, taken the wrong way... .”

Guest poet Paul “Red” Shuttleworth of Moses Lake, Wash., who taught at
CNC during the mid-1970s, said, “This is a homecoming for me. I’ve led the
most fortunate of lives. . . . Barry is in a sense my older brother, and Irving
Layton my (literary) uncle.” He read from his work, including poems like
“Sunrise Ribbon,” “Dry Wells,” and “A Postcard to Jerry L. Crawford.”

“If you have a message, you shouldn’t write poetry,” Shuttleworth said.
“Write an essay.”

After the ceremony, participating poets exchanged or sold chapbooks, and
Shuttleworth gave some of his chapbooks, including “Weathered Corral
Boards,” to interested members of the audience.

At the 4th Annual John Harris Short Fiction Award event held April 12 at
The Twisted Cork in downtown Prince George, A. Warren (Andy) Johnson
was declared the winner of the $1,000 award for his chapbook, “Nothing in
Between.” It deals with, among other things, the decreasing quality of life
and reduced opportunities for young people in Northern British Columbia
and the rise of intolerance and political correctness in some academic
literary groups in this region.

Those who made the short list in the competition were Adrienne Fitzpatrick
(for “Kemess Lake”), Tanya Clary (“The White Girl on Reserve”), and B.
Heather Mantler (“Rose”).

Special guest speaker Michael Turner of Vancouver, B.C., referred to
“trouble currently in the literary community.

“It’s unfortunate that the
consequences of the (poetry) war
or disagreement is that people are
not attending events in the name of
people who have lived here a long
time,” Turner said.

Introducing John Harris, Pearce
praised Harris’s mastery of irony.
“We should note how other writers
fear Harris, but writers have arrived
when Harris reviews them,” Pearce
said. “He uses humour and realism.”

During his remarks, Harris said,
“Sharing your writing puts your ego
on the line.”

“My particular hero is Joseph
Conrad,” he continued. @

Harris made available free copies =
of mid-1970s issues of the literary J
magazine he edited in Prince George, !
“Repository.” Covers of some issues E
featured photos of nudes. “Political 6
correctness was not a problem in the z
‘70s,” he said. “But religious groups §
and newspaper editors came at us.” ,

“Keep people who love you away &
from looking over your shoulder
as you write,” Red Shuttleworth |
said during his speech, prior to
announcing the short list and winner.
“Self-censorship will kill you. |

“Avoid self-censorship,”
Shuttleworth continued. “Don’t step
on the throat of your own song.”

At the end of the evening, Andy
Johnson read the final two pages
of “Nothing in Between” about
belligerent people who try to enforce
observance of their political views
on writers endeavouring to remain
philosophically independent.

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