Words, Words, Words...

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that words are the skin of living ideas. We here at Foreword agree. We are fascinated by words: they look great, they’re dangerous, and they’re prettier than Paris Hilton. This is the first of a series of articles in Foreword that will be about the power of words and ideas - this one courtesy of VoicePrint.

Enjoy.
Jason

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Silly rabbit…Braille is for kids
By: Kim Mannix Vermette

All readers embrace the special joy that comes from opening a favorite book, taking in the words on a page and letting their imagination paint vivid pictures in the absence of visual images. Sometimes we’re so inspired by the power of words that we dream of penning our own stories or poems and sharing our creations with others.
For 17-year-old Carolyn Naylor, a Nova Scotia native with low-vision, that dream came early in life. At age 11, she began putting her ideas to the page. “I love writing stories,” says Carolyn. “It’s fun, it makes me happy and it’s probably my most favorite thing to do.”

Carolyn’s efforts to become fluent in Braille are on-going, but her commitment to learning it has brought reward. Last year Carolyn entered the Creative Writing and Braille Accuracy Competition, hosted each year by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), as part of its Braille Conference held in Toronto each October. She won top prize in her age category.

While the competition is a great way for blind and vision-impaired Canadians to show off their creativity, there’s a bigger purpose to the competition: to showcase the CNIB’s belief in the importance of Braille literacy. Shelagh Paterson, the director of advocacy, sales and marketing with the CNIB library in Toronto, explains that learning to read and write Braille is as important for persons who are blind or vision impaired as learning to read and write print is for sighted people. “Reading Braille is equivalent to reading print. Both ensure literacy, which we all need to have to function in society,” she says VoicePrint, a division of The National Broadcast Reading Service, shares CNIB’s belief in the importance of literacy and access to the written word for all people. This year VoicePrint will be participating in the annual Braille Conference in October by serving as host of a workshop that will investigate new programming ideas of specific interest to Braille users. VoicePrint listeners can look forward to unique programming focused on Braille, the Braille user, and the CNIB's annual children's short-story competition.

For more information about VoicePrint, to access a broadcast schedule and more details about its special Braille-related programming, visit www.voiceprintcanada.com

Looking for a great summer read?

Visit The Word On The Street's contest page for a chance to win an amazing summer reads prize pack courtesy of HarperCollinsCanada!

Summer Reading Rules!

When I was growing up, summers in the city were spent taking trips to the pool, going to camp and spending hours sitting in the back of the car on road trips that never seemed to end. Filling the time in between, I read. A lot. Though the occasional trip to the bookstore allowed me to start my own collection of books, the bulk of my reading material came from the local library. Afternoons would be spent with my mom and brothers browsing the shelves, stocking up on books, and then getting a popsicle from the neighbouring corner store (if we were lucky).

Recently I’ve noticed ads popping up on the TTC for the Toronto Public Library’s TD Summer Reading Club. I can remember participating in an earlier version of the program when I was a kid (a construction paper cut-out with my name up on the bulletin board in the children’s section seems to ring a bell). Browsing the program’s site (http://tdsrc.torontopubliclibrary.ca/) makes me realize how the internet has changed the way that kids across the city access the library’s services. The theme this summer is “Lost Worlds” and kids can submit the titles of the books they’ve read, and post reviews for ones they’ve loved or hated. Just a few days into summer vacation and there’s already quite a bit of action on the site—and 483 books read-to-date. It’s one big virtual bulletin board for kids across the city to share their picks for the summer. A little different than the summer reading club I remember, but still lots of fun. And if it gets kids reading, what could be better than that?

Kate Edwards

Debut novelist lands six-figure U.K. deal

The Quill & Quire reports that Toronto resident Sean Dixon's debut novel, "The Girls Who Saw Everything" has just been purchased by HarperCollins U.K. as part of a two-book, six-figure deal.

Oh. My. Allah. How awesome is that?

Sean is known mostly as an actor and a playwright, and I know him as a teacher (he taught at The National Theatre School of Canada). He dramaturged by friend Ryan Griffith's graduating production "Drift" and the resulting play was lovely and sad and full of heart. I'm currently in the process of writing a play called "K" about a young girl lost in a terrible, wonderful place, full of magic and knights and demons and all that jazz, and my dramaturg recommended I read Sean's play "The End of the World Romance" to get a sense of what a fairy tale for adults should sound like.

I read it. It was lovely.

I just wanted to use this space to congratulate Sean for making it happen! For writing what he wants and being rewarded for it.

He gives us young writers hope :).


Jason Maghanoy