About Us and NEWS
March 20, 2010: Gwen Southin will also be a guest reader at the Cadboro Bay Book Company's monthly brunch at the University Club at the University of Victoria. Check with the Cadboro Bay Book Company for time and directions.
June 2009: Thirteen years after the launch of the first edition of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits: A History of the Sunshine Coast, local authors Betty Keller and Rosella Leslie have a produced a second up-dated edition of this well-documented but easy-to-read history. Augmented by more than fifty historic photographs, it tells the stories of the entrepreneurs who came to this coast to log, fish, farm or establish tourist resorts in the days gone by, stories that reflect the hardships they endured and the ingenuity-and humour-with which they faced the challenges. The first edition, which was published by Horsdal and Schubart in 1996, won third prize in that year's BC Historical Federation Writing Competition. Now the authors have revised and updated it to include even more stories from the past, such as the history of the Merry Island lighthouse, and stories from the near-present, such as the establishment of the Sechelt Community Forest and independent power projects.
On Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 2 pm the two authors shared some of their Sunshine Coast stories and talked about their research with the public at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives. A week later on Saturday, October 17, they shared the stage at the Community Meeting Room in Sechelt's Library/Municipal building for a joint launch of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits with the Sechelt Community Archives' brand new website of historic photographs and documents.
Watch for:
Rosella Leslie's second novel: The Drift Child, to be published by NeWest Press in late spring 2010.
Betty Keller's new creative fiction work, A Thoroughly Wicked Woman, will be published by Caitlin Press in October 2010.
Maureen Foss's third novel, Scribes, is the story of four would-be writers who meet weekly to critique each other's manuscripts but become inexorably involved in each other's lives.
June 2009: Thirteen years after the launch of the first edition of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits: A History of the Sunshine Coast, local authors Betty Keller and Rosella Leslie have a produced a second up-dated edition of this well-documented but easy-to-read history. Augmented by more than fifty historic photographs, it tells the stories of the entrepreneurs who came to this coast to log, fish, farm or establish tourist resorts in the days gone by, stories that reflect the hardships they endured and the ingenuity-and humour-with which they faced the challenges. The first edition, which was published by Horsdal and Schubart in 1996, won third prize in that year's BC Historical Federation Writing Competition. Now the authors have revised and updated it to include even more stories from the past, such as the history of the Merry Island lighthouse, and stories from the near-present, such as the establishment of the Sechelt Community Forest and independent power projects.
On Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 2 pm the two authors shared some of their Sunshine Coast stories and talked about their research with the public at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives. A week later on Saturday, October 17, they shared the stage at the Community Meeting Room in Sechelt's Library/Municipal building for a joint launch of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits with the Sechelt Community Archives' brand new website of historic photographs and documents.
Watch for:
Rosella Leslie's second novel: The Drift Child, to be published by NeWest Press in late spring 2010.
Betty Keller's new creative fiction work, A Thoroughly Wicked Woman, will be published by Caitlin Press in October 2010.
Maureen Foss's third novel, Scribes, is the story of four would-be writers who meet weekly to critique each other's manuscripts but become inexorably involved in each other's lives.
The Group
All of the Quintessential members were involved in the production of the Festival of the Written Arts' The Great Canadian Literary Cookbook, with Betty Keller and Gwen Southin acting as its editors.
Three books were published by group members in the fall of the year 2000: The Rat Trap Murders by Maureen Foss, Pender Harbour Cowboy: The Many Lives of Bertrand Sinclair by Betty Keller, and Death in a Family Way by Gwen Southin.
Two more appeared in the spring of 2001: The Sunshine Coast: A Place to Be by Rosella M. Leslie and Better the Devil You Know by Betty Keller.
New in 2002: In the Shadow of Death: A Margaret Spencer Mystery by Gwendolyn Southin, and Skookum Tugs: British Columbia's Working Tugboats co-authored by Betty Keller.
New in 2004, A Stain Upon the Sea: West Coast Salmon Farming with contributions by Rosella Leslie and Betty Keller.
New in 2006, The Goat Lady's Daughter by Rosella Leslie
New in 2008, Death on a Short Leash by Gwen Southin
New in 2009, the Revised Edition of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits: A History of the Sunshine Coast by Rosella Leslie and Betty Keller
New in 2010: Death as a Last Resort by Gwen Southin, The Drift Child by Rosella Leslie and A Thoroughly Wicked Woman by Betty Keller.
Look for them at your favourite bookstore or ORDER ONLINE Safely now.
Three books were published by group members in the fall of the year 2000: The Rat Trap Murders by Maureen Foss, Pender Harbour Cowboy: The Many Lives of Bertrand Sinclair by Betty Keller, and Death in a Family Way by Gwen Southin.
Two more appeared in the spring of 2001: The Sunshine Coast: A Place to Be by Rosella M. Leslie and Better the Devil You Know by Betty Keller.
New in 2002: In the Shadow of Death: A Margaret Spencer Mystery by Gwendolyn Southin, and Skookum Tugs: British Columbia's Working Tugboats co-authored by Betty Keller.
New in 2004, A Stain Upon the Sea: West Coast Salmon Farming with contributions by Rosella Leslie and Betty Keller.
New in 2006, The Goat Lady's Daughter by Rosella Leslie
New in 2008, Death on a Short Leash by Gwen Southin
New in 2009, the Revised Edition of Bright Seas, Pioneer Spirits: A History of the Sunshine Coast by Rosella Leslie and Betty Keller
New in 2010: Death as a Last Resort by Gwen Southin, The Drift Child by Rosella Leslie and A Thoroughly Wicked Woman by Betty Keller.
Look for them at your favourite bookstore or ORDER ONLINE Safely now.
Please follow the MENU links for more information on individual members
and their work.
and their work.
Signings, New Books Out and Soon to Come:
February 12, 2010: Gwen Southin read from her fourth Margaret Spencer Mystery, DEATH AS A LAST RESORT, (Touchwood Editions) at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt.
February 12, 2010: Gwen Southin read from her fourth Margaret Spencer Mystery, DEATH AS A LAST RESORT, (Touchwood Editions) at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt.
- Gwen Southin signs a copy of Death as a Last Resort for fan Bula Hess.-