After 21 months, we are still swept up in a COVID-19 pandemic caused by a knobbly virus called SARS-CoV-2. SARS, for severe acute respiratory syndrome. COVID-19, for coronavirus disease of 2019. We’re no longer saying “It’s going to be ok,” because we don’t really know.
Yet we hope, as an anthology of hope and resilience tells us. The book has just been launched, a collection of more than 160 short stories, memoirs, haiku, poetry, photos, drawings and paintings by 110 different contributors, in English. Submissions came from both adults and children, from both new and established writers, from within the Eastern Townships and from around the world.

The 303-page book, entitled Hope and Resilience in the Time of COVID, is edited by Rebecca Welton, with the support of an editorial board of Eastern Townships writers.
The initiative is part of the Write Here Write Now project offering writing workshops in the Eastern Townships, mostly by Zoom. It was originally funded by Canadian Heritage, and is now sponsored by Bishop’s University Lifelong Learning Academy (BULLA).
“Capturing emotional turmoil through poignant, humorous, and hopeful pieces, the works in this anthology offer us a glimpse into the fortitude and resilience of the contributors,” wrote Welton. “No matter who we are, or how the pandemic has affected us, this book is a remarkable example of the unequivocal power of art to bring us together.”
I’d love to know how many Haut-Saint-Françiscans will be published in the anthology, but I’m not sure yet. I do know Maple Leaf is well represented. John Mackley has a long story in in the book. It’s equal parts distant history, recent history, and future fiction. Three short pieces of mine also appear in it.
The launch is past, but the book’s publication is to be celebrated again on Sunday, October 3, at 3 to 5 p.m. Five contributors will speak and read from their work, including Gillian Eastley, Lynette Enevoldsen, RA Garber, Corey Toohey, and Alexandra Welton. The event is hosted by Brome Lake Books, 45 Lakeside Road, Knowlton. It will also be live-streamed on Zoom. To zoom with us, contact bulla@ubishops.ca to obtain the link.
The Hope and Resilience book contains many images in colour, explained Welton, so the paperback version is not cheap, at $27. It will be available in Townships bookstores, such as Black Cat Books in Lennoxville and Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, and via Amazon. The ebook will be available for $4.99. For more information, email bulla@ubishops.ca.
Profits will help support the free workshops offered by Write Here Write Now, and a percentage will go to COVID-related charities, according to Welton.

LIVING WITH ADDICTION
Supporting Your Loved One Living with Addiction is the topic of a free virtual workshop offered in English by Mental Health Estrie. The speaker is Anthony Berger, Clinical Supervisor at Dunham House, a residential treatment centre in Dunham, Quebec, for individuals suffering from mental health and concurrent disorders, including addictions.
The workshop is on Wednesday, October 6, at 2 to 3:15 p.m., and is open to all. For information or to register, visit Mental Health Estrie’s Facebook or Instagram pages, email outreach@mentalhealthestrie.com, or call 819-565-2388.
GET A PLASTIC PASSPORT
Here’s how to obtain a wallet-sized, plasticized vaccination passport for just $1. Diane Grenier is offering this service at the East Angus office of the Centre d’action bénévole du Haut-Saint-François. Call Diane at 819-560-8540 (press 9 for English). If there’s no answer, leave a message and Diane will return your call to get the information needed (full name, date of birth, medicare number, mother’s maiden name, date of first vaccine, and whether the vaccination was Pfizer, Moderna, or Astra-Zenica.)
Diane is the CAB’s English-speaking volunteer coordinator, and her office is located at 288 Maple Street, East Angus.
SEE LE HAUT LANDSCAPES
A new exhibition at the Cookshire-Eaton Art Gallery features landscape paintings inspired by the Haut-Saint-François, aka the Forgotten Townships. Le Haut en tableaux (The Haut in Paintings) displays the works of three artists – Ginette Djinn Bertrand, Diane Dugal, and John Ward – each with a very distinct artistic voice. The show is on Sundays only, from 12 to 4 p.m., until November 7, at Victoria Hall, 125 Principale West, Cookshire.
Ginette Djinn Bertrand of Scotstown is a multidisciplinary artist and musician. Her undulating forms and dreamlike landscapes sing in gentle colours; landscape as music. Her varied works can be seen on her Facebook page and that of her Galerie-atelier de Djinn, 44 Albert Street, Scotstown.
Diane Dugal of the Sherbrooke area has been painting for some time, but she completed a certificate in visual arts at the Université de Sherbrooke in 2020. She works in acrylics and other media, and plays with texture and colour in a space between abstraction and realism. It’s landscape as meditation. Examples of her work are on her Facebook page, dianedugalartistepeintre.
Since the 1980s, John Ward of Lingwick has been painting in oils, watercolours, ink, and mixed-media. He has focused on a variety of subjects, primarily expressionistic. It’s landscape as emotion. Some of his work can be seen at graphalba.com/jward/.
CHURCHES
Baptist. In-person Sunday services are with Covid-19 protocols in place (distancing; masks can be removed when sitting down; wear masks when singing, etc.). The service is in French at 9 a.m., and in English at 11 a.m. Persons with flu symptoms are asked not to attend services. The pastor’s message is also available on YouTube: For the link, contact Pastor Michel Houle at 819-239-8818.
Anglican. Bishop Bruce Myers continues to offer Home Prayers at 4 p.m., Sundays, on Facebook, and at quebec.anglican.ca (Worship Videos). Info: 819-887-6802, or quebec.anglican.ca.
United. Sunday services: For information about services in October, please contact: 819-452-3685; spiresta@hotmail.com; or United Eaton Valley Pastoral Charge (Facebook).
Do you have news to share? Call 819-300-2374 or email rawrites@gmail.com by October 4 for publication in October 13, or by October 18 for October 27.