Electric Mermaid Live Reads Featuring: Atma Frans + David Kipling + Kathleen Vance @Char's

Date:

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Venue:

Char's Landing

4815 Argyle Street, Port Alberni

Contact:

[email protected]

Electric Mermaid Live Reads Featuring:

Atma Frans + David Kipling + Kathleen Vance @Char's

Wednesday April 29th 2026 doors 5:30pm open mic 6-8pm

LIVE YOUTUBE VIDEO => https://youtu.be/VYY93kBOcns

Atma Frans, David Kipling and Kathleen Vance are the featured readers on Electric Mermaid on April 29. What do these writers of poetry, fiction and memoir from Gibsons, B.C. have in common? They are united in their growing love of the Alberni Valley and its writers through the Electric Mermaid and are very happy to be appearing live at Electric Mermaid Reads.

A wild swimmer, Atma Frans writes poetry and short fiction that explores joy, resilience and love in the face of trauma and loss. Her work is published widely in literary magazines in Canada, the UK, the US, and Europe, has been awarded first prizes in contests and is nominated for Best of the Net 2026.

The announcer for the Sunshine Coast Drag Races, David Kipling recreates the characters he encountered growing up on a farm in England and working various jobs from installing railway signals in France to carpet cleaning and teaching in Canada. David first published in the British national magazine Autocar in 1965. His short story "Now is the Time" was published in the online magazine Entropy.

Kathleen Vance writes memoirs that expose her checkered childhood, such as "Still Life" in Don't Tell: Family Secrets, edited by Sharkey and Paré, as well as fictional adventure stories that feature kids with freer and more promising childhoods.

David's and Kathleen's stories are published in Alberniology:The Alberni Anthology, edited by Jacqueline Carmichael and Derek Hanebury, who is also the MC for Electric Mermaid Live Reads.

BIO Atma Frans is an award-winning poet and storyteller. Her writing was nominated for Best of the Net 2026 and has been published widely in literary magazines in Canada, UK, US and Europe, including in The New Quarterly, Arc Poetry Magazine, Contemporary Verse 2, FreeFall, Prairie Fire Magazine, The Ampersand Review, Obsessed with Pipework, Lighthouse Literary Journal, and The Brussels Review. Originally from Belgium, she now lives in Gibsons, BC, Canada where she writes, hikes and wild swims. For more info see: https://spacestobe.org/

BIO David Kipling When this ex-farmboy is not announcing at the Sechelt drag races and taking racing car tuition, he is busy writing and then reading his short stories.

BIO Kathleen Vance of Gibsons, BC, has published nonfiction in Don’t Tell: Family Secrets (Sharkey & Paré, eds., Demeter Press, 2023) and Hard Jobbin’ (Collins-West, ed., Ride the Wind, 2001). She received First Prize for Nonfiction from the North Shore Writers’ Association Annual Writing Contest in 2024 for “Still Life with New Washing Machine.” Her story “Queen of the Railroad Bridge” appears in Beyond Boundaries: Dave Williamson National Short Story Compilation, Vol 2, Manitoba Writers’ Guild, 2024. She contributed two stories to Alberniology: The Alberni Anthology (Hanebury and Carmichael, eds., RCN Media, 2021). Kathleen, who has a PhD in German Literature, is co-author with Dale Fitzpatrick of the textbook Writing for Success (Pearson ERPI, 1998). Her piece, “The Dress,” appeared in the Arts & Words Festival Anthology (SCWES, 2025) and received, paired with Cate Baldwin and her painting Sand Beneath My Feet, the People’s Choice Award at the festival. Her latest pieces, “Still Life in a Haunted House” and “Sill Life in Gibsons, B.C.” appeared in Not An Island, Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 respectively.

APRIL 29th READERS' LIST

READER 01 Lesli Omohundro-Bronczkowski 5min Via Zoom (Germany)

READER 02 Herb Bryce 5min Via zoom (Maple Ridge B.C.

Feature 01 Atma Frans 15 min in person 10 min Q&A (Gibsons B.C)

READER 03 Stephen Novik 5 min in person (Port Alberni B.C)

READER 04 Jennifer Wenn 5 min Via zoom (London Ont )

Fearture 02 David Kippling 15min + 10 min Q&A in Person (Gibsons B.C)

READER 05 Janet Miller 5 min Via zoom Port Alberni B.C

READER 06 Misha Monroe 5 min in Person (Port Alberni B.C)

READER 07 Linda Thompson 5min In person (Port Alberni B.C)

READER 08 Vicki Drybrough 5 min in Person Port Albern BC)

READER 09 Mark Wonneck 5 min in Person Qulicum