Gail
participated in A
Total Write-Off, a fast-paced
and fun television series where two teams of writers
match wits in a writing showdown as they compete to create
short stories based on spontaneous audience suggestions.
With comedian Barbara North as host and ringmaster, it's
a hip Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets Just
for Laughs for both wordsmiths and
fans of the written word.
Wednesdays at 9:00 pm MST
starting February 14th on ACCESS The Education Station
or Fridays at EST starting March 16 on Book Television.
Writers
are divided into two teams. With Barbara interacting with
the audience and the writers in their "pit," these
impromptu literary masterpieces unfold on display screens
before our eyes, based on plot parameters tossed out with
wild abandon by audience members.
After "pencils down," the
completed short stories are read aloud by the writers -
while simultaneously acted out by the comical A Total Write-Off
Mime/Dancers!
The object? To win what all writers desperately
crave - the thumbs up from an adoring public!
© Panacea Entertainment
www.panaceaentertainment.com
A
Glass Darkly, the third in the Ingamald series
was launched from Great Plains Publications on October
26, 2006, Laurie Greenwood’s Volume II Books, 7 pm,
12433 - 102 Avenue, Edmonton, AB
The
Book Of Mary was
launched May 26th at 7 pm at Laurie Greenwood's Volume
II
From Sumach Press (http://www.sumachpress.com/mary.htm):
What the critics say about Mary…
"The image of Mary depicted by Sobat is not the virginal,
devoted, passive creature that has been upheld by Christian
society as the universal mother figure in the Madonna-Whore
dichotomy. Rather, this Mary is both mother and whore; this
Mary is a sexually passionate, doubtful, active feminist
who faces issues from STDs to cross-dressing.... [The
Book of Mary] contains progressive ideas and basic information
about the Gospel without the built-in patriarchal narrative,
which has served only to undermine women for far too long." The
Globe and Mail
"What [Sobat] has done here is really mix very good
historical record... with sort of a contemporary voice....A
very, very enjoyable, wonderful look, an imagined life of
Mary." Laurie Greenwood from CBC's RadioActive Review
"From the first pages of the novel, the
reader is introduced to a Mary who defies the traditional
Christian portrayal of the Virgin Mary as a symbol of piety.
Mary is 14 when she pens her first journal entry onto scrolls
received as a birthday gift. She reveals typical modern-day
concerns of young women her age despondency, sexuality and
body image in a blunt, modern-day vernacular coupled with
historical references....Sobat's The
Book of Mary is a subversive
and irreverent feminist rendition of the life of Mary of
Nazareth. While the premise is outrageous and certain to
offend some, the book should not be read as a religious attack....Sobat
offers us her version as an alternative to the status quo." FFWD
Weekly
"The Book of Mary reminds us
of the vastly different worlds that exist beyond our own.
By placing a character who closely resembles your average
Western teenage girl, in a culture that may not be familiar
to her readers, the author effectively closes the potential
distance between subject and audience." Lucid Forge
"Sobat's prose is concise and poetic,
at times sexy, and always quite human. And it is Mary's humanization
that stands as the book's strongest point. Close second is
Sobat's capacity to explain away the mystical elements of
Christianity and Christ and portray a Mary who is full of
aspirations and limited by social codes of acceptability....
[The
Book of Mary is] a story of longings for freedom, of
ingenuity in the face of adversity, of the strength of community,
and of how an individual's contribution can change the world
- for better or for worse." Blackfly Magazine
Gail will be going on a cross-country tour
to promote The Book of Mary November 2007 and will visit
the following cities:
- Victoria, BC
- Vancouver, BC
- Winnipeg, MB where she'll also promote A
Glass Darkly
- Toronto, ON where she'll also promote A Glass
Darkly
In January 2007, Gail was awriter-in-residence
for two weeks at St. Matthews Elementary School in Edmonton.
She had a terrific time working with students and staff discovering
the power of wordplay!
Gail presented at the Celebration of Authors/Illustrators,
January 31, 2007 at the St. Peter Teacher Centre, Edmonton.
THIS
JUST IN!!! In the
Graveyard, the much
awaited picture book with text by Gail and illustrations
by Spyder Yardley Jones, will be published by Orca books
in 2007! To reserve your copy of this macabre All Soul’s
Night frolicking tale, please contact Gail at sobina@telusplanet.net at
your earliest convenience.
