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About Us |
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Durham Region is alive with all kinds of wonderful celebrations,
festivals and events. While music, children and ethnic culture are
popular themes, Stella Ducker noticed there was no to event
celebrate the best of Durham Region's poets, authors, writers,
readers, story tellers, filmmakers and songwriters.
Stella brought up the subject with
Garth
Riley, who agreed there was a need for such an event and
the duo started to lay the groundwork for a festival a few years
ago. Although it wasn’t meant to be at that time and the plans never
progressed beyond the initial stages, Stella was ever hopeful and
determined to meet someone who would help her with her vision.
In September 2006, while working on another event, Stella began
sharing her goal of one day establishing a literary festival in
Durham Region. Listening to her that night were her husband, Graham,
and two close friends, Winnie Chapman and John Duarte. The three
looked at each other. Looking back to Stella, John said, “Let’s do
it,” and Graham and Winnie agreed.
The trio began laying the foundation for the new event and the
inaugural Stellar Literary Festival was presented in the fall of
2007 in the beautiful setting of the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens
in downtown Oshawa.
Stella,
Graham, Winnie and John were encouraged by the reception of the
first Stellar Literary Festival and set about planning the 2008
event.
The rest, as
they say, is history…in the making.
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| VOLUNTEER / MARKETING |
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Winnie Chapman
Winnie brings years of valuable experience
in organizing and staging events. She is, without a doubt, the best
volunteer co-ordinator in the region and has put her talent to work
on such events as the Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival and the Oshawa
Celtic Festival. She is an active member of the Oshawa Valley
Botanical Gardens Task Force. Winnie’s work has appeared in several
publications and she is currently working on a series of children
stories which she hopes to start publishing in the near future.
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| MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS |
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John Duarte
John is a talented writer with over 20
years of experience in the newspaper industry, both as a reporter
and an editor. He formed his own company in 2001 and, through Duarte
Communications, has expanded his field of expertise to include
promotion and public relations work and graphic design. He has
helped organize and produce events such as the Oshawa Jazz and Blues
Festival and Toronto's People's Comedy Festival. John defines his
first novel as "a work in progress", while he continues to regularly
contribute to publications like East of the City and Durham Trade
and Commerce magazines.
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| LOGISTICS / TREASURER |
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Graham Ducker
Graham is a retired teacher and principal,
a published author and poet, speaker, instructor and an artist. One
of his paintings was used as the cover for his poetry book.
In February 2005, Graham was honoured as the Featured Poet of the
Canadian Federation of Poets and was invited by the association’s
president to judge its rhyming poetry contest. He was named the
Ontario Poetry Society Member of the Year for 2006 and presented
with the award by society founder Bunny Iskov. Graham is currently
the Oshawa branch manager of the Ontario Poetry Society and leads
monthly poetry meetings. In 2006, he was also the winner of the
Lichen Arts & Letters Preview Epistolary Fiction Contest. |
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Graham operates his own business, J. Graham Publishing, and has
co-founded the literary Stellar Showcase Journal for poets and
writers, both online and in print.
He is a member of FAMEd.ca (Film, Arts, Media, Entertainment of
Durham), the Writers' Circle of Durham Region, the Durham Folklore
Society, the Canadian Federation of Poets, the Canada Cuba Literary
Alliance, the Canadian Authors Association and Toastmasters
International.
Graham has volunteered at Rogers Community Television a camera
operator and dabbled as an actor in the St. Marks Players production
of Mike Kashmanian’s ‘Where’s the Minister?’
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TALENT / MARKETING /
WEBMASTER |
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Stella Ducker
Stella has devoted herself to
promoting Durham Region & Canada's musical talent through the
Stellar Showcase, which she founded in 1998. She recently expanded
Stellar Showcase to include authors, writers and poets saying “if
musicians need promoting, so do writers.”
She operates and broadcast on an internet
radio to promote talented musicians and poets.
Stella is a founding board member of FAMEd.ca (Film Arts Media
Entertainment of Durham) and has been involved in film production
and background acting for local and international film. Stella is
involved in various aspects of local television broadcasting and has
directed province-wide shows. |
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Stella has volunteered at Rogers
Community Television for the past 10 years, where she worked as a
camera operator, in audio and mobile production, as floor director
and production director. She was named Rogers Volunteer of the Year
in 2001 and received the Ontario Volunteer Award in 2001 and 2004.
Stella was a nominee at the Durham Region 2003 Women of Distinction
Awards.
Stella was active member of Oshawa's
Downtown Action Committee (communications sub-committee) and
has been a volunteer for the Oshawa Jazz &
Blues Festival since its inception and worked on the Oshawa Celtic
Festival. She's a member of the Writers' Circle of Durham Region
(volunteered on the Chapbook committee), the Canada Cuba Literary
Alliance (volunteer as Photo Editor), the Ontario Poetry Society,
the Canadian Poetry Association and was appointed as chairperson for
the Durham Region chapter
of the Canadian Federation of Poets.
Stella was involved with the St. Marks Players production of
‘Where's The Minister?’ and kept everyone 'on book' and assisted in
the sound engineer (thanks to her Rogers TV training).
Stella is a Co-founder and the Editor for the Stellar Showcase
Journal, which is published quarterly online and in print and
receives submissions and has subscribers around the world. |
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