I’m very excited to be participating in the Poetry Gabriola Festival next weekend. I’ll be performing on Thursday, February 16th. Here’s the blurby thing that explains it. If you’re in the area, I hope you come. And not just to my event. The entire festival is ALWAYS great fun.

photo © Victor Anthony 2012

Batter Up! Baseball stories with Joëlle Anthony and George Bowering

Host: Barbara Adler

Mainstage Theatre. Tix $16. 

Join two of our favourite heavy hitters on opening night for a double header that’s all about writing and baseball. Your host for the evening will be  rock-star accordionist Barbara Adler.

Joëlle Anthony  Women in the Line-Up

Through a series of fictional characters, true stories, and a blending of both, writer and performer Joëlle Anthony explores women’s roles in baseball. From true-blue hardcore fans to scorekeepers, Little League moms, baseball wives, and the ladies who run the concession stand, women participate in a sport played by, run by, and announced by men. Why do women love something that excludes them so wholeheartedly from the actual game? And how could baseball function without them? These are some of the themes in Joëlle’s collection, Women in the Line-up.

George Bowering The Diamond Alphabet Book

George Bowering is fond of baseball, and he likes the alphabet. Having written a few baseball books and a few alphabet books over the years, he decided to write a baseball alphabet book. The Diamond Alphabet is made up of 130 between-innings takes, five for each letter. You probably expected “Mays”, but were you ready for “Uzbekistan”? Tall tales, memories, facts, and opinions are interwoven in this delightful collection of short takes on the gentleman’s game that demonstrates the full potential of the relationship between baseball and literature.

Note: Mingle! Wine Bar opens at 6:30 p.m. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. – sharp!