Acton, Ontario, Canada

Sharon Berg

 

Community Building through Words and Webwork

 

Sharon Berg has a major focus on community building, whether it is in her daily work as an Elementary School Teacher, her Graduate Research about educational goals in the First Nations community, or her interest in creating Big Pond Rumour as a space where writers from across the globe can communicate and share their common interests. Perhaps this focus on community evolves out of her long experience with Phoenix: A Poet's Workshop in Toronto. The workshop members believed 'voice' was so important to the delivery of the poem that they founded The Axle Tree Coffee House, which itself became one of the longest running literary performance venues in Canada.

Sharon published her poetry in countless print periodicals across Canada, in the U.K., the USA, the Netherlands and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. She also released several books and audio tapes, and wrote book reviews for both Poetry Canada Review and event magazine. Yet, her writing went into a long hiatus as her focus turned toward academia. She collected her B.A. in Native Studies (1991, Laurentian); a B.Ed (1992, U of T) as well as a Certificate in Magazine Publication (1995, Ryerson). She followed with an M.Ed (1998, York) and finished her D. Ed. courses with Honours (2000, UBC) before encountering stonewalling in the search for a supervisor of her D.Ed Thesis. It was then that she turned her attention turned to teaching in the public schools system rather than the university setting. She plans to continue her Doctoral research at a later date.

However, the writer cannot be suppressed. Sharon turned her attention back to her own writing and began writing poetry book reviews again, this time for Eric Barstad's website, poetryreview.ca  In 2006, she founded Big Pond Rumour, a multifunctional domain. http://www.big-pond-rumour.com/ There is The Press area (Canadian poetry only) and The Zine area (an international zine featuring poetry, fiction and essay that is released twice a year, both online and a small print run). There is also an online Members Pool of international authors.

As an Elementary School Teacher, Sharon was proud to receive an Award of Distinction in 2006. It is important to know she was nominated by her teaching colleagues. They told her she received it for her tireless work to promote literacy among students, not only in her own classroom, but throughout the entire school.

Offer your response to Sharon Berg.

 

 

 

 

Tell her you saw this page at Big Pond Rumours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A member since July 2006.

 

All text © Brian Purdy.

All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced without written permission from Brian Purdy.

Forthcoming:

 

In the Beginning, There Was You. (2007, children’s verse, illustrations by author) Big Pond Rumour Press, Acton, Ontario, Canada.

 

Pineapple Cheese: Poems & Songs for Children. (2008, verse, illustrations by author) Big Pond Rumour Press, Acton, Ontario, Canada.

 

Most Recent:

 

Black Moths. (2006, Poetry Chapbook) Big Pond Rumour Press, Acton, Ontario, Canada.

 

Sharon Berg: the re-published audio recordings. (2006, Poet Voice CD) Big Pond Rumour Press, Acton, Ontario, Canada.

 

Audio Cassettes:

 

Tape 5. (1987, poetry) Twice Lightning, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

 

Black Moths. (1986, poetry) Scorched Earth, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

 

Books:

 

The Body Labyrinth. (1984, poetry) Coach House Press, Toronto, Canada. *long out of print

 

To A Young Horse. (1979, poetry) Borealis Press, Ottawa, Canada. *long out of print