New Year, New Beginning

2018 was a year of major change for me. July 12 the police came to tell me that my husband was found dead. As anyone who has read my work knows, his mental health and addiction issues made him too dangerous to be around, but we were still married. No one deserves to die alone, addicted, broken, and confused as he did. Too many do.

Sadly, the RCMP did not find my brother, William Harris, alive last fall. His funeral was November 9.

So, while I did write, I didn’t send my work out.  The only big writing news I had last year was being published in Waiting, an Anthology of Essays (University of Alberta Press). More about that in another post.

This year, I intend to make the most of every day. That means getting through these massive piles of novel notes, poems, and essays I wrote last year and sending out them out into the world. I made good progress this weekend on the novel. A few magazine queries are brewing in my head, too.

I hope you are also planning to make your 2019 productive, too. Live now. The train of life is rushing toward the station.

LitFest

Jane Harris will be at LitFest October 15, moderating and in conversation with Teva Harrison, author of In-Between Days, a memoir about living with Cancer.

Date: Oct 15 at 2:00PM, Location: CN Theatre, MacEwan University, Event title: In-Between Days: Living with Cancer.

Jane Harris is the winner of a 2016 Alberta Literary Award, the James H. Gray Award for Short Non-Fiction, and was a finalist in the 2016 Alberta Magazine Publishers’ Association Showcase Awards for her essay, “The Unheard Patient.” Her memoir, Finding Home in the Promised Land, now out in E-Book Format through Signature Editions, is the second book by Jane Harris to be published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing. The first, Eugenics and the Firewall: Canada’s Nasty Little Secret was published in 2010. Jane has also contributed to two Canadian anthologies. Her articles about business, personal finance, history, faith, politics and social issues have appeared in more than a dozen publications including Write, Alberta Views, Winnipeg Free Press, Canadian Capital, Alberta Venture, Lethbridge Herald, and The Anglican Journal.

Announcement:

July 7, 2016 — Finding Home in the Promised Land, a personal history of homelessness and social exile will soon be available worldwide in e-book format through Signature Editions. Stay tuned for details in next few weeks.

Alberta Literary Award Win:

Jane Harris (Harris-Zsovan) has won a 2016 Alberta Literary Award. She received the James H. Gray Award for short non-fiction at the  Alberta Literary Awards Gala June 4th in Calgary, Alberta. Jane’s essay, “The Unheard Patient,” published in Alberta Views November 2015 issue was also short-listed for a 2016 Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Showcase Award (essay category.)

Jane is also the author of Finding Home in the Promised Land, a personal history of homelessness and social exile (J. Gordon Shillingford, 2015) and Eugenics and the Firewall (J. Gordon Shillingford, 2010).

Here’s the news release: https://lnkd.in/bNa2kz2

May 13, 2016 Reading Event

Jane will be sharing insights and reading from Finding Home in the Promised Land, a personal history of homelessness at the Lethbridge Public Library, May 13, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

 

Jane Harris, author of Finding Home in the Promised Land, a personal history of homelessness and social exile (J. Gordon Shillingford, 2015) will be facilitating a one day workshop, “Is My Writing Good Enough?” at CASA Lethbridge, June 12, 2016. Registrations are now open: http://www.casalethbridge.ca/classes-registration/1058

Media Reviews about Finding Home in the Promised Land

“Harris delivers the information in a way that’s both intriguing and easy to understand. Connecting the systematic bureaucratic problems of homlessness in Canada to her own real life experiences makes Harris an effective and convincing storyteller. By the end of the book, readers might find themselves questioning whether they’re part of the societal problem, too. “- EMILY RIVAS, This Magazine, January/February 2016. 

“Harris … uses excerpts taken from notes she made at the time throughout the book to help illustrate her journey back from despair. These glimpses into her life at its lowest point add a personal touch to the more factual information she includes about Canada’s poor, and make the book more accessible.” ANDREA GEARY, Winnipeg Free Press, December 26, 2015.

Podcast Interview with Jane Harris about Canada’s Poverty Industry

My podcast interview with Aaron Roth is up. Join us as we chat about my book, Finding Home in the Promised Land, and how social exiles find home in Canada, despite the poverty industry. Have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrWielnm-t0

First Reader Comments about Finding Home in the Promised Land

I read Finding Home in the Promised Land on the plane today. Bravo! It’s a great weaving of history, memoir and cultural analysis. Thank you for so much food for thought! Barb Howard, Author Western Taxidermy, Notes for Monday,The Dewpoint Show, Whipstock . Calgary, AB, Canada

“Jane’s memoir is more than her own story — she has an important statement to make on the value of a civilized society….Along the way,you will admire her courage and her upbeat style.” Goodreads Review Excerpt, Gordon Tolton, Author, Healy’s West, The Cowboy Cavalry, Prairie Warships, Rocky Mountain Rangers, Coaldale, Alberta, Canada.

Finished reading your book, Jane– a courageous report of the journey from anonymity to triumph.  A great deal for me to think about and reconsider.  I loved the link between ancestral past and renewed determination.  The courage and internal resources you discovered in yourself and the idea to write a book out of such experience is inspiring.  There are still stories within the story for the reader to guess and think about further.   You and your book deserve deep attention.  — Ruth Hart Budd, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Learning a lot from your book. As well as enjoying it, I really like your blend of history and personal journey.  I hope you will not mind my saying that your writing style has matured a good deal, over the years.  Denyse O’Leary, Journalist, Author, The Spiritual Brain, Faith@Science, By Design or Chance, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Finding Home in the Promised Land provided authentic insight into poverty and homelessness. The author has woven her own story with the story of her ancestors and the historical context of how the poor have become social exiles in Canada. Jane Harris has done an excellent job researching this book. I hope it will challenge those who read it to reconsider the assumptions we have made in providing solutions to a social issue that shamefully continues in our country. Jan Hardstaff, Edmonton. 

I just thought the book was fantastic. Thank you. Jan H., Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

Thank you, Edmonton

Thanks, Audrey’s Books, Public Interest Alberta, the Parkland Institute, and everyone in the provincial capital. Finding Home in the Promised Land is on the Edmonton Journal’s best seller list this week. It’s just a start….