journey and destination are one and the same
November 2020 The long nights are back. Ice is forming on the brook. We’ve had snow, and expect more tonight. The brown, white and black world comes round again. Three seasons have passed since New Brunswick declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus and we went into lockdown. Since then, I’ve had Read More …
Here’s how it was for us. I can’t remember how I first heard about the virus. It was, somehow, a vague worry that got stronger day by day, but Peter and I had to go to a funeral in Maine at the end of February, and so we continued on to Connecticut. During the first Read More …
“Picking Blueberries with the Syrians” (Mik’maq translation) Beth’s essay, published by Ancrages: revue Acadienne de création littéraire Click here to read it in Mik’maq, English and French on Ancrages.ca PDF Versions: Mawi Muwisultiek Syriansik Picking Blueberries with the Syrians Je ceuille des bluets avec les Syriennes
I last wrote after the busy, busy year of 2015, when my last novel, A Measure of Light, was published. Now it is August, 2017. For awhile, in the dry summer, there were no night sounds. Now, after rain, the crickets are throbbing, there is a warm, moist wind, and the blueberries have plumped. It’s Read More …
Permission to reprint from: The Canadian Quaker History Journal no. 79, (2014): pp 73-77 I grew up as a Quaker. My mother had the good sense not to allow me to go to Meeting until I was eight years old; she and my older brother went, while my father and I stayed home and made Sunday Read More …
From: Canadian Writers Abroad Posted by D. Martens, Dec. 15, 2015 I met Beth Powning at a literary lunch at the Canadian High Commission, which was held on the top floor, with fantastic views of Trafalgar Square and environs. Before the renovation of Canada House, this room was used for storage. Now the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Read More …
In these grey November days, I want to start this newsletter by remembering the summer just past. Those early, generous flowers, dandelions: we made crowns, loved the burst of colour and the tender green, after our fierce winter. Foxes raised kits under one of our barns.One morning, when they thought no one was looking, Read More …
A Creative Book Launch It all starts with SLICE (Sussex Literary Initiatives and Cultural Events). We are a group of about 30 people in Sussex, New Brunswick, a small town surrounded by hills and rivers, not far from the Bay of Fundy. We’ve done lots of events: brought in authors, held a day dedicated Read More …
A Measure of Light Knopf Canada, 2015 Here are the books and websites I used to research “A Measure of Light”: Re Mary Dyer: Manuscript biography of Mary Dyer by Johan Winsser, unpublished Mary Dyer, Ruth Talbot Plimpton, Brandon Publishing, 1994 Mary Dyer of Rhode Island, Horatio Rogers, General Books, compiled, original pub. Read More …
Home – Chronicle of a North Country Life I heard the first two sentences of this book in my mind: The coyotes are newcomers. Several years ago, they moved into the forests above our farm. When I wrote them down, I felt that I had finally found my voice. This book, my first, came after a Read More …