Saltwater Joys is set in Ireland’s Eye, a ghost town located on the edge of Newfoundland and Labrador—one of hundreds of fishing outports forced to resettle during the province’s confederation with Canada. The grave consequences of resettlement for the people and culture of Newfoundland and Labrador are illuminated in this intimate tale of one family’s experience across two generations. In the fall of 1965, John Lee, a young fisherman, makes a tragic decision that changes the course of his life, pushing him to a self-imposed exile and to the brink of insanity. Twenty years later, John must face the demons of his past when a young woman ventures to the rocky shores of Newfoundland in search of her roots. This work of literary fiction explores themes of love, suffering, survival and redemption through two parallel love stories—love for a woman and love for a province. The reader will come to know Newfoundland and Labrador and all it has to offer in its vast natural beauty, poetic language, close-knit communities, bountiful hospitality, ghost stories, folklore and colourful culture. Saltwater Joys is a mournful and haunting story that will surely captivate and call you home.
My Story
With the help of an English degree, a curious eye, and a love of words, I have written my first novel. I am currently completing the sequel.
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I write Literary Fiction that thrills. I love ghost towns. Especially those in my birthplace, Newfoundland.
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Bio
Dianna has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Calgary, and is currently a student at St. Mary’s University in Calgary to obtain her Bachelor of Education degree. She has also completed an Intensive Style and Grammar clinic offered through the University of Calgary, and has taken Advanced Fiction Writing courses through the University of Athabasca.
She was born in Gander, and raised in Kelligrews, Newfoundland. She currently resides in Calgary with her husband and two sons. She worked for the Calgary Catholic School District, in which she took part in a writing program for junior high students. She created her own small business along with a website, Modern Betty, and had an article published in the magazine, Mompreneur. She also wrote a blog, www.owensstoryleukemia.blogspot.com for her son, Owen, who was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) in 2011.
She loves volunteer, and has recently volunteered to research and write an assignment for Her Honour's 2018 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Poetry Contest, to which she's been invited to be a judge in the spring of 2018. She also took part in the Calgary Youth Writing Conference in April, 2018, and plans to be involved with event in the coming years. She loves to play the piano, to write poetry, and to read and write fiction. She’s is working on the sequel to Saltwater Joys, and is working on another literary fiction novel situated in the farthest remote community of the Canadian Artic. She is also working on a non-fiction book with her sister, Crystal, to help families who have a child with cancer, in hopes of sharing their family’s experience to inspire and help others.
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Education
B.A English (University of Calgary)
B.A Education (St. Mary’s University) - present
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Associations
Current Member – Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador
Current Member – Alberta Writers’ Guild
Achievements
Publication of Poem in Anthology, On Wings of an Eagle (1999)
Mompreneur Magazine Publication - article (2010)
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IN THE PRESS
