Tom Wayman · Author

New Poems for the New Year

Harbour Publishing has released the cover for my forthcoming collection of poems, Out of the Ordinary. This is the collection accepted in November of 2022. Publication date will be March 4, 2025.

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Ending 2024 on a High Note

I was very pleased that the Vancouver Sun’s BC book reviewer, Tom Sandborn, a tireless supporter of Canadian literature, published a very positive review of my 2024 titles in the newspaper’s Dec. 21 issue. The review felt like a very nice way to end the year.

Here’s what he said:

“B.C.-based poet, novelist and essayist Tom Wayman is an underappreciated national treasure. If there were any doubt about the important contribution Wayman has made to our national literature, his 2024 doubleheader, a collection of poetry and a memoir of life in the Slocan Valley, settles the issue. This guy is the real deal, and more Canadians should be reading his books. …”

Read the full review here.

Taking part in the 40th Annual Vancouver Jewish Book Festival

I will be presenting The Road to Appledore on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 at 2 pm as part of the annual Cherie Smith Jewish Book Festival at Vancouver’s Jewish Community Centre, 950 West 41st Ave. I’ll be in a session also featuring Detroit attorney Eli Greenbaum’s new Hell, No, We Didn’t Go! Firsthand Accounts of Vietnam War Protest and Resistance, from the University Press of Kansas.

The next day at 6 pm, I’m moderating a festival session spotlighting new novels from two writers I know.

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Here We Go Again: Ross Klatte & I read at The Langham in Kaslo, Nov. 20

On Wednesday, November 20, Ross Klatte and I will be reprising our Slocan reading at The Langham Cultural Centre, located at 447 A Ave (Highway 31 at 5th St) in Kaslo, BC. The reading begins at 7 pm, and is free, although donations to support The Langham are welcome.

Finding Home - poster - NOV. 2024
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Wayman, Dog Man, Grisham…

just down the aisle from brown eggs and ham

at Save-On-Foods, Kelowna BC (image by Matt Rader)

“FINDING HOME” Reading in Slocan BC, Sept. 18

Finding Home - poster - Sept. 2024

The Slocan Community Library has asked me to read from The Road to Appledore on Wednesday September 18 at 7 pm. Because the library is an all-volunteer venture with limited hours, the reading will be in the Slocan branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, 502 Harold St. The event is free (by donation).

I’m pleased that I’ll be reading with Ross Klatte, a local author I’ve known since 1980; he worked in the library of Nelson’s David Thompson University Centre when I taught there. Ross will be reading from his new novel, Waiting for the Revolution, which is about 1960s-era young people coming to the West Kootenay in search of an alternative way of living. Given the subject matter of both books, we’re calling the reading “Finding Home”.

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Two more BC Coast Readings in November

This fall, I will be reading from my new books in Victoria and on Pender Island.

On Friday November 8, I’ll be reading at 7:30 pm at Russell Books, #100, 747 Fort St., Victoria, part of the Planet Earth Poetry series. I’ll be reading from How Can You Live Here? and also from my 2020 collection Watching a Man Break a Dog’s Back: Poems for a Dark Time.

Diana Hayes, Salt Spring Island poet, editor, photographer, founder of Raven Chapbooks, and year-round ocean swimmer, will also be reading. There will be an open mic session and admission is free.

Then, on Saturday November 9, I’ll be on Pender Island for a reading at 2:30 pm at Bridgemans Bistro, 4605 Oak Road. I will be reading from The Road to Appledore as well as How Can You Live Here?, joined by four fellow former members of the work-writing circle, the Vancouver Industrial Writers’ Union (1979 to 1993). Giving brief readings will be authors Kate Braid, Zoë Landale and Sandy Shreve—now on Pender—and Kirsten Emmott, now in Comox. Admission is free.

West Kootenay Launch Readings

Positive Responses to
THE ROAD TO APPLEDORE

The Road To Appledore – cover

My account of moving to the Slocan Valley in 1989 and my life here in the decades since, The Road to Appledore, had its official release in early May. I’ve been gratified by the responses—at least, the initial ones!

The Vancouver Sun gave the book an entire page (A7) on May 9, with an interview with me by Dana Gee: B.C. author chronicles 30-year journey from city dweller to rural resident.

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Slocan Valley Reading for National Poetry Month

On Saturday, April 13th, I’m going to take part in a group reading with other Slocan Valley poets at Silverton Memorial Hall, 203 Lake Ave. (Highway 6), Silverton, BC.

The free event starts at 8 pm. The evening in honour of National Poetry Month was organized by Keith Liggett of Silverton, who formerly was an East Kootenay literary entrepreneur extraordinaire, putting together literary programming for years in Fernie and at the St. Eugene Resort north of Cranbrook.

Keith will also be reading on April 13, as will Barbara Curry Mulcahy, Art Joyce, and musician Kate Smyles.

Twenty per cent of book sales at the event will go to the Slocan Lake Arts Council’s gallery revitalization fund.

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BC Coast Launch Readings for 2 NEW BOOKS, May 23 & May 22

On May 23 and 22, I’ll be doing launch readings at the VANCOUVER and GIBSONS Public Libraries, respectively, to promote my two new titles: a prose memoir about coming to the Slocan Valley in 1989 and my adventures and misadventures since, and a new collection of my poems, mainly set in the same locale. Both The Road to Appledore or How I Went Back to the Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place from Harbour Publishing and How Can You Live Here? from Frontenac House were published in March.

The VANCOUVER event, “The Music Our Stories Make” will be held Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 pm at the Grand Staircase on Level 8 of the downtown (Central) branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The evening will feature a concert by the Vancouver-based folk/roots trio FRASER UNION, brief readings from the new books, and an on-stage conversation between Roger and myself entitled “Why Make Art in a Dreadful Time?”

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West Kootenay Launch Readings for 2 NEW BOOKS, May 29 & May 30

I’m excited to be giving two readings of my new books at public libraries in my home region of the West Kootenay. Both The Road to Appledore or How I Went Back to the Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place from Harbour Publishing, and How Can You Live Here? from Frontenac House describe life in this area, at least as I’ve experienced it.

On Wednesday, May 29 at 7 pm, I’ll be reading at the Nelson Public Library, 602 Stanley St. This will be the hometown launch, speaking to people very familiar with the landscapes, and probably with some of the incidents, described in both new volumes. So potentially a tough audience! The reading is free, by donation.

On Thursday, May 30 at 7 pm, I’ll be reading at the Nakusp Public Library, 92 – 6th Ave. NW. This reading is also free and, as with the Nelson reading, all are welcome.

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