A Summer of Hot Events Starts at Books & Co, Cafe Voltaire and ArtSpace!

Happy First Day of Summer everybody and Happy National Aboriginal Day tomorrow!  At least all the rain has been good for the gardens – my peas and radishes and carrots and kohlrabi are all growing vigorously despite their late start.  There are some wonderful things happening in the city right now, The Two Rivers Gallery is putting on the 10^th Artists in the Garden Tour soon, it’s almost Pride Week and the Huble Homestead has great events to celebrate their 100^th Anniversary all summer long.  Even though June is coming to an end and despite a rainy spring, we here at Books & Co, Café Voltaire and ArtSpace anticipate a hot summer full of hot events!

Are you an insane and slightly masochistic individual who occasionally dallies in the written word? Then the 3 Day Novel Support Group wants you! If you’re planning on attempting the 3 Day Novel Contest this year and want to meet other PG writers just as crazy, we’re the place to be.  For more information email Kayli at pyschopencils@hotmail.com.  There will be meetings throughout the summer up until the big weekend in September!

You’ve still got a couple of chances to hear The PG Idol Preliminary Rounds!  TONIGHT, June 20 and TOMORROW June 21, we’ve got the best in Prince George’s undiscovered talent so come in for a great night of fantastic music! The list of performers is up on the Dawn Boudreau Music website (http://www.dawnboudreau.com/node/6995), so come out and cheer for your PG Idol! Tickets available at the door!

We’ve also got our regular Friday Night Mics at 8:00 pm in Café Voltaire on Friday, June 22!  This week we’ve got the fantastic song stylings of PG favorite Dawn Boudreau!  Dawn’s back in town for a few days and we can’t wait to hear her sing again! As always, this event is free!

Hey Moms and Dads, did you know every Saturday morning at 10:00 am we’ve got a fantastic storytime?  Come in and browse (or have a coffee and a chat) while our booksters delight and amuse with Star Wars books and crafts!

Tickets for Sweet Serenade – Summer Edition (Saturday, June 23 at 7:30 in ArtSpace) brought to you by Dawn Boudreau Music are still available!  This amazing night of musical excellence features Olivia Johnson, Victoria Gabriel & Alyssa Gould with special guests Lorna Jane Simmons, Mackenzie Clarke & Sophia Egan.  Tickets are only $10!

Scrabble Addicts Unite! Do you know all of the 2 letter words for Q, X and Z (qi, ax, ex, xi, xu and za)?  Are you always playing Scrabble on your phone or Facebook? Do you do a little dance when you get a Bingo? Then we want you! Books & Co is starting a Scrabble Club (because a lot of us here are spending a lot of time playing Scrabble online and we want some human contact).  Come out on Tuesday, June 26 at 6:30 pm and meet other word addicts.  Bring your own board (if you’ve got one).  Scrabble club will meet on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of every month!

And every Tuesday, members of the Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance will be in Café Voltaire from 7:00 to 8:30 pm to help people put together their Joint Review Panel presentations.  If you’ve registered to make an oral presentation and want some help polishing your thoughts and keeping to the time limits, they are the people to see!

ArtSpace has a great concert on Thursday, June 28! Doug Koyama, the fabulous singer and improviser will be in with special guest Benedict Beattie! Come out and experience a night of unique music! Tickets will be sold at the door on a sliding scale of $5 – $10 (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)! Doors open at 6:30 pm and the fun starts at 7:00 pm!

And in honour of Pride Week (which runs from July 4^nd to 8^th with events all over the city) ArtSpace is excited to be the venue for a Pre-Pride Open Mic/Literary Karaoke! Come out for a fantastic night of readings and music.  Things kick off at 7:00 pm on Saturday, June 30 and tickets are by donation at the door.

And Books & Co has tickets to the fabulously, fantastic Phoenix Pride Week Events! Drop in and pick up your tickets to Pride Bowling Night on July 4 (only $12), the How Rude Drag Show on July 6 (on $15), the giant Pride Celebration Party on July 7 ($20) and the Pride Brunch on July 8 ($20) or you can get tickets to everything for $60! Details and a complete list of all of the Pride events are available on the PG Pride website:  www.pgpride.com

Books & Co, Café Voltaire and ArtSpace are CLOSED on Sunday, July 1^st for Canada Day so you’ve got a chance to go to the Huble Homestead’s Dominion Day Celebrations! Celebrate Canada the old fashioned way with contests, prizes and cake! Events run from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and a family admission is only $10! (We like to give the Huble Homestead a shout out once in a while, their office is just off ArtSpace and they’re great neighbours) Don’t forget the fantastic children’s book Mr. Huble Builds a House (illustrated by another ArtSpace neighbour, June Swanky Parker) is available at Books & Co NOW!

Monday, July 2 is the latest installment of the Prince George Correspondents’ Club (that letter writing thing we do).  Come in and write a letter to whomever you want (seriously, it can be anybody) and we’ll give you a coffee or tea and stamps.  We’ll even mail your letters at the end of the night! So, whether you’re a regular writer or want to start writing, come and visit us! We encourage all kinds of correspondence, personal, professional, recreational, everything! The PGCC meets on the 1^st and 3^rd Mondays of every month!

Books & Co also has tickets to some of BC’s best music festivals! Hurry in for your ticket to the Robson Valley Music Festival (August 17 – 19 in Dunster) if you buy your tickets in advance they’re only $85 for all three days of spectacular music! For a complete list of the acts visit: http://www.robsonvalleymusicfestivalbc.com  And, we’ve also got tickets to the spectacular Music On the Mountain (MoM) Festival (August 24-26 in Ft. St. James).  Early bird tickets (you’ve got until July 31) are only $60 and your weekend pass includes camping! For a list of performers and activities visit: http://momfestival.com

That’s it for this week folks, for more information about upcoming events or just the cool things that happen here, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter and did you know we’ve got a blog?  Well we do, find out our thoughts on all things books related atbooksandcompany.wordpress.com

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas – Books & Co News for the Holidays

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Decorations are up all over town, big fluffy snowflakes have been seen floating through the air and there’s been a distinctive increase in the number of sleigh bells heard around downtown.  Café Voltaire, ArtSpace and Books & Co are in the Christmas spirit too with a number of holiday related events and specials! We want you to love the holidays as much as we do so come in for a festive eggnog latte and a stress free holiday shopping session.  Let our fantastic booksters suggest titles for all the readers (even the reluctant readers) on your list and finish off your trip with a Café Voltaire Holiday Goodies Tray that will make your office party or holiday family gathering that much more festive.

The Café Voltaire Holiday Goodies Trays are filled with fresh baked holiday treats certain to warm the heart.  They’re as fast and easy as a Costco tray, but they look and taste so much better! These freshly baked plates of holiday cheer are perfect for office parties and family get-togethers.  The trays come in a variety of sizes to suit any office or family event.  They are sure to bring a smile to even the grinchest Grinch! Drop in and pick up a menu right away!

And Books & Co, Café Voltaire and ArtSpace have got a whole host of events leading up to the holiday season.

Tickets are still available (but going fast so call or drop by soon) for our very first Books & Company Breakfast with Santa! On Sunday, December 11 at 8:00 am, Santa has fit us into his busy schedule for the first time this year and we want to make sure that all of the good little girls and boys who love stories get a chance to meet him! There will be a fantastic breakfast featuring French toast with berries and whipped cream, bacon and fruit salad and a Christmas story time and craft!  Santa’s excited and so are we! Tickets are only $10!

Tonight, (Wednesday, November 30) November Fränzi Ng is coming in to Café Voltaire to present How to Succeed in Any Economy: Overcoming the 17 Classic Business Performance Blocks, a business performance workshop based on the best-selling book Straight-Up Leadership by Dusan Djukich.    This workshop powerfully addresses the 17 classic business performance issues that are costing entrepreneurs and business owners a fortune in lost revenue, opportunity, time, energy, sleep, relationships, and happiness.  This is the perfect book for the entrepreneur on your list!

And to celebrate the end of Movember (and the return of the naked upper lip) today Café Voltaire and Books & Co staff will all be wearing mustaches (even the women will be sticking on some below the nose hair) and donating any tips received to the deserving cause of Prostate Cancer Research.  So, drop in for a coffee, muffin, soup, sandwich and a laugh!  But don’t forget to tip your hirsute server!

On Friday, December 2 at 8:00 we’ve got a special treat for our Friday Night Mics series in Cafe Voltaire!  Dawn Boudreau is bringing in PG’s premiere glee club the Wannaglees! This toe tapping good time is not to be missed and will be free, as always! Come in and unwind after a busy pre-Christmas week.

Or, if you need to be convinced about the existence of Santa (we don’t he’s coming to Books & Co for Breakfast on December 11) you can drop by The 18^th Annual Great Santa Claus Debate at the Canfor Theatre at UNBC at 7:00 pm on Friday, December 2.  There are many questions that academics try to answer, but at this time of the year, probably none is more pressing than “Is there a Santa Claus?” Once again, two teams of scholars from various disciplines will take a hilarious look at the serious scholarly question of whether or not we should believe. Join in the fun and cast your vote for the existence of the man in red.  The Pro-Santa side is represented by Heather Smith (INTS), Dana Wessell Lightfoot (HIST), and Charles Scott (Comm) and The Evil-doers are Matthew Church (UNBC Student), Matias Margulis (INTS), and Sascha Auerbach (HIST).  The Debate will be judged by CBC Radio Personality, the Right Honourable Wil Fundal and admission is free.

Saturday, December 3 is a big day for Books & Co!  We start out the day with a signing of Zachary’s Gold by Quesnel author Stan Krumm at 11:00 am. Zachary’s Gold is a ripping yarn of old time Barkerville and the wild west conditions found in the goldfields of the 1860s.  This is a great book for the history lover, the historical fiction lover or the thriller lover on your list this Christmas.

Then at 2:00 pm Jo Selkirk is coming in to launch her wonderful new memoir Journeys with Jo Selkirk.  In her nearly 100 years, Jo has travelled the world and seen it change in a myriad of ways.  This is the book everyone says they’ll write one day, but Jo finally did.  Come in and help her celebrate this achievement and her amazing life.  There will be readings from the book by her friends and family and Jo will sign copies for you! This is a wonderful gift for the world traveler or biography lover in your life.

Saturday, December 3 is capped off with a wonderful concert in ArtSpace! The voice students of Lyn Vernon, including our illustrious boss Jim Brinkman, are presenting their Christmas recital concert at 7:00 pm.  Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children and available at the door.  Jim says it’s well worth the price of admission!

Then on Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 pm, Susan Smith-Josephy will be in to talk about her new book Lillian Alling: The Journey Home.  This is a fascinating tale of a very determined woman who turned her home sickness into an amazing journey.  In 1926, Lillian Alling got sick of New York and decided to go home and for her that meant walking from New York to Dawson City in the Yukon and then sailing, alone, down the Yukon River all the way to the Bering Sea in order to get back to her beloved Russia.  This is an amazing book for the history lover, the biography lover and the women’s literature lover on your list this year.

Monday, December 5 at 7:00 pm Literary Karaoke is BACK! This month’s theme is Winter Holidays, but as always you don’t have to read to the theme.  You can pick anything that you really want to share, that you feel needs to see the light of day and that will capture your audience’s attention! You’ve got 3 minutes, a mic and an audience to entertain.  What will you read?

Then on Wednesday, December 7 at 7:00 pm we’ve got the hilarious Bob Robertson (one half of the Canadian comedy duo Double Exposure) talking about his new and fantastic book Mayan Horror: How to Survive the End of the World in 2012.  If you believe some people, this is our last Christmas season but Bob Robertson’s new book gives you a rough guide to surviving the coming apocalypse.  He’ll answer questions like: Who are the Mayans? Is Maya Angelou one of them? Are oven mitts useful against the earth’s molten core? Is there a team of disaster DJs and news-readers ready to swing into action on the Emergency Alert System and do they take requests? Will the Diefenbunker protect you against landslides, unlike the one that crushed the Diefenbaker? Should you start collecting pairs of animals? Mayan Horror: How to Survive the End of the World in 2012 is the handbook you’ll want to have in your pocket when the Mayan Calendar ticks down and all hell breaks loose.

And on Saturday, December 10 at 11:00 am we’ve got 2 local children’s book authors signing copies of their charming work.  Margaret Pascuzzo will be in to sign copies of her delightful Anton Series as well as A Sad Day in the Desert and Joey’s First Christmas.  And Coral Chen will also be in signing copies of her beautifully illustrated translated Chinese fables The Old Man Who Lost His Horse and When Winter Fades Away.  These are both excellent books for young readers on your list!

On Saturday, December 10th, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at ArtSpace, you are invited by Amnesty International members in Prince George to celebrate International Human Rights Day and be part of the largest global human rights event of the year by commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  You will have the chance to support people whose human rights are being violated around the world by writing letters to those abusing folks and/or by signing greeting cards to folks being abused through Write for Rights.  We will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International with an anniversary cake.  Entertainment provided.  Please join us for a positive event! Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Have you been putting off your Christmas Cards? Then maybe you should join the new Prince George Correspondents’ Club! The first meeting is scheduled for December 12 at 6:30 pm in Café Voltaire.  Come in and write to whomever you want about whatever you want and help us revive the lost art of letter writing.  Bring stationary (extra if you want to share or trade) and just write.  We’ll supply coffee for letter writers and stamps for letters to be mailed within Canada.  And it’s December so we suggest you write Christmas letters or bring in the kids to write Letters to Santa.

And remember, if you’ve got a club, group or organization that needs a place to meet, Café Voltaire has the perfect atmosphere!

That’s it for this week, folks!  Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook (we love your feedback), Twitter (140 characters or less), our blog and on our fantastic homepage!

Up Coming Events at Books & Co

Happy November everyone!  Even though the nights are getting cold, we’ve got hot events and concerts all month at Books & Co, ArtSpace and Café Voltaire!

Wine Aficionado and celebrated Children’s Author Troy Towsin will be coming in to Books & Co to sign copies of A Moose in A Maple Tree, Canadian Jingle Bells and The Night Before a Canadian Christmas, on Thursday, November 3 at 4:00 pm.  I know it’s early, but these are the perfect Christmas books for the young readers on Santa’s Nice List (or even the readers on his Naughty List).

Friday Night Mics this Friday, November 4 at 8:00 pm in Café Voltaire is pleased to announce a concert by Cliff Raphael. Come in for a spiritually uplifting night of guitar and song.  As always this event is free!

On Saturday, November 5 at 11:00 am, local author Whisper Demoss is in to sign copies of her thrilling new book Escape from Manhattan.  Drop by and learn about this death defying tale of mystery, adventure and one family’s travels from New York to Alberta after the towers fell on 9-11.

Starting on November 5 at 2:00 pm in ArtSpace (and continuing on every Saturday in November) Quesnel author and writing instructor Ed Zaruk is offering a series of writing workshops!  Workshops are $15 each or $50 for all four ($10 each for students).  Drop in for one or all!  Topics include: Show Don’t Tell, How to Write Dialogue, Developing Characters with Emotion and Mistakes I’ve Made Along the Way.  For more information please contact Nicole at booksandcompanyevents@gmail.com

It’s BACK!  Literary Karaoke makes its triumphant return to Café Voltaire at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 7.  Come in for you chance to shine in 3 minutes at the microphone!  Your reading can be a particularly stirring, funny, or maudlin passage from a novel, play, short story or poetry collection by an author who has international renown or is almost unknown. You’ve got 3 minutes, a mic and an audience to entertain! What Will You READ! This month’s theme is Winter Nights, but remember, you don’t have to read on the theme, you can read whatever you want!

AND Monday, November 7 at 7:00 pm in ArtSpace, we’ve got a great concert with Peter Katz, winner of the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, Grand prize winner of Toronto’s IndieWeek, and nominated as the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.  The new live CD/DVD entitled “Peter Katz and Friends: Live at the Music Gallery” offers an incredibly intimate snapshot of Peter doing what he does best.  Peter is joined by a host of remarkable performers for a magical evening at the Music Gallery in Toronto, captured beautifully on this album and accompanying DVD.  From aching sadness to intense joy, viewers and listeners alike will be guided through a range of human experiences. In addition to the concert footage, the bonus DVD also contains several special features including video tutorials on how to play Peter’s songs and two short documentaries.

Poetry in the afternoon! Join us on Saturday, November 12 at 2:00 pm in Café Voltaire for an afternoon to warm the soul.  What could be better than a cup of something warm and a reading by Okanagan poets Jake Kennedy and Kevin McPherson-Eckhoff? I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday.   

And we’ve got tickets for Joanna Chapman-Smith, the Canadian Songstress that CBC’s Q called “The slinky-voiced Canadian whose arch acoustic musings and fondness for the accordion come laced with a hint of Parisian cafes and East European Klezmer music.”  Tickets for her November 12 show in ArtSpace ($12 in advance, $15 at the door) are available NOW!

Bring in your little ones for a special storytime with BC Author Sheilagh Foster on Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 pm in Café Voltaire!  Sheilagh’s new children’s book Mr. Coyote Visits the Robson Valley is a delightful tale adapted from the old song The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night.  Mr. Coyote’s attempt to outwit Farmer John Jack and feed his hungry family through cunning will delight your kids and the beautiful water colour illustrations evoke the natural beauty of our wonderful province.

And who could forget: Alex Cuba (seriously, Alex Cuba)!  He’s going to be in ArtSpace on November 18^th.  Tickets are available NOW!  Come in and pick them up so you don’t miss out on one of the most fantastic concerts of the fall!

Breaking News! Just Announced! Stop the Presses!  Jill Barber is coming to ArtSpace on Sunday, November 27!  Tickets are on sale now for this magnificent and intimate concert with one of the best voices in Canadian music!  Come by early, ‘cause you don’t want to miss out!

And remember, if you’ve got a club, group or organization that needs a place to meet, Café Voltaire has the perfect atmosphere!

That’s it for this week, folks!  Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook (we love your feedback), Twitter (140 characters or less), our blog and on our fantastic homepage!

Upcoming Books & Co Events for October 26th

There’s a definite nip in the air and it’s snowing like crazy…in Mackenzie, but that doesn’t mean hot things aren’t happening at Books & Co in the next couple of weeks!  We’ve got authors and parties and music and more!

TOMORROW: Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 pm we’ve got Bonita Forsyth, the fantastic children’s and young adult author who wrote the classic Snowboarding Bunny.  Bonita will be reading from her wonderful new fantasy novel Fire, the sequel to her marvelous Ice. 

Friday Night Mics is super psyched to present Folksinger Denis Straussfogel at 8:00 pm in Café Voltaire this Friday, October 28.  Come out for a fantastic night of classic covers of fabulous folk music!  As always this event is FREE.

Tickets are still available (but going fast) for the Navaz & Los Gringos show in Art Space on October 29 at 8:00 pm. All the way from Argentina to Iran, this show will blow you away with fantastic global music!  Tickets are only $15 ($10 for students) and available at Books & Co right now!

If that’s not enough, Books & Co is having a Howling Halloween Party on October 30 at 2:00 pm in ArtSpace.  There will be a special storytime, games, crafts and prizes for kids who come in costume!

But wait, that’s not all!  Come on out for the special Warm-Up to Coldsnap Party on October 30^th at 8:00 pm in ArtSpace.  The entire Coldsnap 2012 Lineup will be announced and blues legend Colin Linden will provide a taste of the wonderful concerts coming up in the new year!  Tickets are still available at Books & Co, but don’t wait to get them at the door or you might miss out on a fantastic night!

And if politics is your purview, Books & Co and Café Voltaire are hosting an all Candidates Forum focused on issues near and dear to our hearts: Arts Funding and Downtown Business Development on Wednesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm.  Come in to find out each candidate’s ideas about how to keep the arts vital in Prince George and how to encourage people to shop, eat and just spend time downtown!  There will be time for questions and a chance to talk to the candidates!

On Saturday, November 5 at 11:00 am, local author Whisper Demoss is in to sign copies of her thrilling new book Escape from Manhattan.  Drop by and learn about this death defying tale of mystery, adventure and one family’s travels from New York to Alberta after the towers fell on 9-11.

Starting on November 5 at 2:00 pm in ArtSpace (and continuing on every Saturday in November) Quesnel author and writing instructor Ed Zaruk is offering a series of writing workshops!  Workshops are $15 each or $50 for all four ($10 each for students).  Drop in for one or all!  Topics include: Show Don’t Tell, How to Write Dialogue, Developing Characters with Emotion and Mistakes I’ve Made Along the Way.  For more information please contact Nicole at booksandcompanyevents@gmail.com

November 7 is a bit night in Café Voltaire and ArtSpace! Not only dies it see the return of Literary Karaoke at 7:00 pm, but Peter Katz will be upstairs for the Prince George leg of his “Live at the Music Gallery” CD/DVD release tour!

And we’ve got tickets for Joanna Chapman-Smith, the Canadian Songstress that CBC’s Q called “The slinky-voiced Canadian whose arch acoustic musings and fondness for the accordion come laced with a hint of Parisian cafes and East European Klezmer music.”  Tickets for her November 12 show in ArtSpace ($12 in advance, $15 at the door) are available NOW!

And who could forget: Alex Cuba (seriously, Alex Cuba)!  He’s going to be in ArtSpace on November 18^th.  Tickets are available NOW!  Come in and pick them up so you don’t miss out on one of the most fantastic concerts of the fall!

And remember, if you’ve got a club, group or organization that needs a place to meet, Café Voltaire has the perfect atmosphere!

That’s it for this week, folks!  Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook (we love your feedback), Twitter (140 characters or less), our blog and on our fantastic homepage!

Literary Karaoke TONIGHT!

Tonight, tonight there’s a party on the roof on the top of the world, well actually it’s in Cafe Voltaire!  We’ve got our very first, and possibly Canada’s very first, LITERARY KARAOKE tonight at 7:00 pm.  It’s all the fun of karaoke with none of the off key singing.  Come in, read from the work of someone you admire and impress the crowd.  Or if a stage is not your thing, come in and listen to dynamic readings from someone else’s favorite author.

This month’s theme is debut works, so if you’re stuck with too many choices pick the passage from the author’s first novel, or poetry collection or play.

See you there!

September 28th Up Coming Events Email

GOOD MORNING PRINCE GEORGE!

So, things are humming at Books & Co, Café Voltaire and Artspace!

This evening, (Wednesday, September 28 at 7:00 pm), historian and storyteller Lloyd Jeck will be in to talk about his new book British Columbia Trails Heading North, which tells the tales of BC pioneers who traveled from across the globe to settle throughout the north.  Come in for the personal details that bring our history to life.

Friday, September 30 is a big one!  Andrew Nikiforuk and Charlotte Gill are going to be in Artspace at 7:30 pm to talk about their books Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests and Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe and give us some insight into what happening in the forests around BC.  If you want to know what happened to all of the pine and spruce and why the bark beetles ran rampant through our forests, you will not want to miss this event!

Remember Nitty-Gritty Non-Fiction Book Clubbers: This month’s pick is Empire of the Beetle and we’ll be meeting an hour before the event starts to discuss the book and then head on up to Artspace to listen to Andrew Nikiforuk talk about the ideas we’ll have just been discussing!

And at 8:00 pm, in Café Voltaire, our Friday night just keeps getting better!  Raghu Lokanathan is back with his particular brand of musical genius!  Come in for a concert by a certified Prince George musical celebrity and enjoy his gritty, achingly beautiful songs.

Saturday, October 1^st we’ve got another musical treat!  Kate Reid will be in Artspace at 8:00 pm for the CD Launch of Doing It For The Chicks.  Her often funny, sometimes tragic folk-roots music has earned her accolades from across the country and we’re excited she’s stopping by Artspace to share the launch of her fantastic new album with US!  You’ve still got time to pick up advance tickets for $12, and as always tickets will be available at the door ($15).

Monday, October 3 (at 7:00 pm) is the beginning of Prince George’s New Favorite Evening: Three Minutes and a Microphone: Literary Karaoke at Café Voltaire!  For the Café Voltaire debut of literary karaoke – a fantastic idea borrowed from the amazing Word Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY –  Books & Company and Café Voltaire invite you to share a portion of your favorite debut work!  It can be a particularly stirring passage from a novel, play, short story or poetry collection by an author who has international renown or is almost unknown. You’ve got 3 minutes, a mic and an audience to entertain! What Will You READ! For more information please contact Nicole at booksandcompanyevents@gmail.com or 250-653-6637

And last but certainly not least, Barbara Stewart¸ will be in Cafe Voltaire on Tuesday, October 4 at 7:00 pm, to read from and sign copies of her book, Campie.  What’s it like to be the lowest rung on the big oil ladder?  A view from the bottom of the oil barrel into work-camp culture, Campie is an entertaining, compelling account of how an ordinary person survives when things fall apart and there’s no “eat pray love” holiday to put them back together.

Stay tuned here for event info on events with Stan Chung (Global Citizen), and Wayne Johnston (A World Elsewhere, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams)!

Also, tickets are currently available for concerts with Valdy & Gary Fjellgaard (October 13) and Roy Forbes (October 21^st)

That’s it for this week, folks!  Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook (we love your feedback), Twitter (140 characters or less), our blog and on our fantastic homepage!