As part of Canada’s national Culture Days, Laurentian University’s LUminaries Reading Series and Your Scrivener Press are proud to present the launch of Jennifer Rouse Barbeau’s novel, Swampy Jo.
Anorexia, suicide, a brave imagination and an absurd world: Swampy Jo brings a wry smile to Young Adult fiction.
How do you find the truth when the adults in your life are crazy? This is the dilemma of fourteen-year-old Sarah Joanne Bradley – alias Swampy Jo. Swampy Jo is a heroic tale of a young girl setting aside her personal need to disappear, in order to save the life of a brooding love interest – because she is the only one aware that he needs saving. Puberty and love aren’t easy when you’re navigating a minefield of secrets in your divorced, formerly upper-middle class family, while the adults in your life hinge their hopes on religious superstitions and palm reading.
Jennifer Rouse Barbeau is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, and is now a professor of Advertising--Creative Media at Canadore College in North Bay. She lives in Sturgeon Falls. Barbeau has published a number of short stories, including "Grumble" in the 2006 YSP anthology Bluffs: Northeastern Ontario Stories from the Edge. She illustrated La Laineuse by Rachel Desaulniers (Le Centre FORA, 2006). She has been also been a panelist and guest speaker at Sudbury’s Words in the Wilderness Literary Festival, sharing from her experience as a writer. Swampy Jo is her first novel.
Doors will open at Fromagerie Elgin, 5 Cedar Street, on Friday, September 24 at 5:30 P.M. with readings from the author beginning at 6:00 P.M. The launch will be followed by book sales and signing, along with an open mic for local writers to share their work. Readings will be limited, so please register at the door. Admission is free of charge.
This event is organized by Laurentian University’s LUminaries Reading Series, Your Scrivener Press and Miriam H. Harrison (Sudbury Hypergraphic Society; The Ontario Poetry Society; Sudbury Writers’ Guild). Culture Days is a collaborative national movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in their local arts communities.
This event also follows the release of Mark Dunn’s new book, Ghost Music (Buschek Books) on Thursday, September 23, 7 – 9:30 at the Main Branch Library, 74 Mackenzie Street, as part of a two-day celebration of local talent.
For more information, please contact Miriam H. Harrison at
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For more information on Jennifer Rouse Barbeau please visit her site at http://www.jenniferrousebarbeau.com/Home_Page.html |
