January 24, 2011
On Literary Blogs: A Passion for Reading
One of the most wonderful things that ever happened to me was being asked to speak about literary blogs on a panel for an “Arts Matters” forum, hosted by Their Excellencies, Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Jean-Daniel Lafond in December 2008. I traveled to Ottawa by train, arriving in an incredible snowstorm, and in spite of the weather, a good crowd turned out to the forum at the Ottawa Public Library. My adoration for my fell0w panelists was solidified on the trip back to Rideau Hall, and the group of us spent the next day and a half as the Governor General’s guests there, attending the Governor General’s Literary Awards the following evening. It was a magical experience, unreal to fathom now. Even more so now that we have a new Governor General and the old website has come down, my address on literary blogs along with it.
So I’ve reposted it on my own site, for posterity. You can read it here.
January 16, 2011
Upcoming Pivot
It’s not easy to convince me to leave the house (because I love my house. It’s warm, it has my husband and my slanket), but the all-star line-up for the upcoming Pivot at the Press Club is calling my name. Not only does it feature Zoe Whittall, who was our interview subject not long ago, and Catherine Graham, who is a lovely person of my acquaintance whose new book will soon be mine, but the trio is topped off by Larissa Andrusyshyn whose Mammoth was one of my favourite books of 2010. Plus, there will be beer there. I absolutely cannot wait.
December 13, 2010
Advent Book Blog recommendations
The Advent Book Blog has been going on for the last two weeks, its second season as proving to be as effective as its first. As in, what happens when wonderful people recommend the books they’ve best loved lately? And what happens is something along the lines of got, need, need, got, need, need, got, got, need, need. etc.
My “needs” have been as follows: Reality Hunger by David Shields recommended by Sean Cranbury, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson recommended by Natalie St. Pierre, The Death of Donna Whalen by Michael Winter recommended by Samuel Thomas Martin, A Village Life by Louise Glück recommended by Beth Follett, What It Is by Lynda Barry recommended by Sarah Selecky.
A lot of my “gots” are there too, and you’d probably be well served to get them for yourself.
December 1, 2010
Anvil Press Launch: December 8
Though there is nowhere I’d rather be than inside my house when it’s dark outside, next Wednesday I’ll be breaking with tradition and attending the Anvil Press Spectacular 5 Author Showcase. In particular, to see Kerry Ryan (remember her Pickle Me This Author Interview from earlier this year?) who will be (Toronto) launching her second book Vs.,which chronicles the foray of a bookish woman into the world of boxing. Poems which, according to Jeannette Lynes, “come at you like quick jabs of light – the writing is taut, worked over, sinewy, spare, and lean – but never mean. A delightful collection. What else can be said? These poems pack a punch.” I am looking forward to it.
November 23, 2010
The Empire Within takes the QWF First Book Prize
Congratulations to Sean Mills for winning the Quebec Writers’ Federation First Book Prize for The Empire Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism in Sixties Montreal (and thanks to McGill-Queens University Press for livetweeting the QWF Awards— next best thing to being there). Mills’ book was one of the biggest surprises of the 25 books I read in the running for the award– I had no connection at all to the subject matter, or the author, and I was initially intimidated by it being an academic book, am wary of theoretical constructs and non-fiction certainly isn’t my first bookish love.
But my lack of connection to the subject matter meant that the book was altogether absorbing– how could I ever have thought I knew anything about Quebec in the ‘sixties when my understanding of its history began and ended with the October Crisis? How could I ever have had an opinion on French/English relations in Quebec and Canada having never understood the disparity that had existed between the French and English up until the mid-twentieth century? Mills deftly weaves civil rights, women’s rights and French language/cultural rights together, and frames his ideas in post-colonial theory which (get this, it’s unbelievable) actually enhances our understanding of the subject matter rather than needlessly obscuring it for reasons of academic discourse. He also makes illuminating connections between activism in Montreal, and better-known movements in Paris, post-colonial Africa, and in the United States, complicated by the fact that the Quebec French were colonizers as well as colonized.
I learned so much from this book, and so enjoyed reading it, and vividly remember the sunny afternoon in which I finished it, on the second last day of July… Unlikely summer reading, I know, but the bookish life is full of surprises. Anyway, well done to Sean Mills and all the other prize winners, and many thanks to the QWF for asking me to be a juror.
(Click here for a free podcast of Sean Mills’ walking tour of 1960s’ activist Montreal).
November 11, 2010
Black, White, and Read All Over
I had the privilege of attending Black White and Read All Over event last night in support of Literature for Life. Keynote speaker was Terry O’Reilly, who talked to us about the power of storytelling. Underlining his message were presentations by three women who have participated in Literature for Life’s reading circles, and read us their poetry and spoke about their experiences as young mothers who were positively liberated by the power of reading and given direction in their lives. The whole evening was so inspiring, and it was thrilling to see such support for this wonderful organization.
Over the next few months, I’m going to be administering the Literature for Life blog, which has an interim home here while we set up the new website. Check out this post in particular to for a remarkable testimonial from a former participant. I’m also going to be working with CreateMeThis in the next few weeks to get the new website redesigned and up and going, and we’re very excited about what lies ahead.
November 10, 2010
Rare Giller Treat
Look what Harriet found this morning! I look forward to reading it. If judges think it’s even better than Light Lifting, we’re really in for something brilliant.
November 2, 2010
Literature for Life Fundraiser
Literature for Life invites you to our premiere fundraising event…
Black White and Read All Over
RBC Plaza South Tower, 40th Floor. 200 Bay St. Toronto
November 10, 2010 @ 7pm
In the past ten years Literature for Life has touched 1700 young women and their children and given them 20,000 books.
Join keynote speaker Terry O’Reilly host of CBC’s Age of Persuasion, CTV Newscaster Andria Case and Noelle Richardson, Chief Diversity Officer for the Ontario Public Service to commemorate this milestone.
Food and Beverage will be provided and sponsored by RBC.
Tickets cost $100 and will are available for sale on our site below. Order yours today from the Literature for Life website (scroll down for order form).
Tax receipts will be issued.
November 1, 2010
November bits and bobs
CBC Books’ Monthly Book Report Podcast is now online, and at about 8:40 you can here a panel discussion with me, Jen Knoch of the KIRBC, Ron Nurwisah from The Afterword (moderated by Erin Balser) about what’s going down with Canada Reads 2011. Admittedly, I was feeling a bit more optimistic about the Top 40 that day than I was last Friday, but you’ll be happy to know that I’ve come around a bit. That it might be the journey and not the destination that matters– if what I love best about Canada Reads is obscure recommendations, then here is a list of 20 books I haven’t read yet, and why not pursue those avenues? What if the authors pushing their books are not so much saying, “Win me a prize!”, but “Read me, read me, read me!” Which is the kind of plea I tend to listen to. You know, it was never so much Canada Reads itself and the panel discussions I cared about as much as the reading that led up it (and the conversations online with other readers), and perhaps this changed format is just going to extend that whole experience.
That said, have you voted for Sean Dixon’s The Girls Who Saw Everything yet? If I’ve got to have a reread in the final five, might as well be the one that I brought to the table.
Anyway, I’ve officially decided to bring on Canada Reads Independently 2011, because it was a great deal of fun last year, and complemented the actual Canada Reads in all kinds of interesting ways. And also because it was the Canada Reads subject to my whims, and how brilliant is that? I’m already a-thinking about panellists, and I think we can come up with something amazing. Watch this space.
Watch also for news of my work appearing in all kinds of interesting places– I’ve got essays and reviews coming out this month that I’m very excited about, and though I still have to keep my mouth shut about them, I look forward to soon when I no longer have to. I’ve finally got started on a blog for Literature for Life, and am going to visit their new digs tomorrow to get an update on where we are at. I will also be giving a guest lecture at Ryerson later this month about “Bringing Children’s Books to Life” and I’m wholly enjoying the preparation, looking forward to the delivery, but there’s still plenty of work to be done in the meantime, and so onward.
October 24, 2010
My Secret Summer Reading Project (which is no longer a secret)
It’s all out in the open now, what I spent my summer reading (in addition to everything I’ve already told you about). This summer my own rereading project was waylaid because at the beginning of June, I began my duties as one of three jurors for the Quebec Writer’s Federation First Book Prize. I had twenty-five books to get through, a stack that did seem quite daunting, but also exciting to consider– some of the books were so incredibly beautiful, others looked fun, and others fascinating.
And their diversity is the first thing I want to talk about– what it was like to evaluate novels, short story collections, memoirs, current-event nonfiction, history books and poetry against one another. Every book had been written with its own singular intention, and it was my place to deem how successfully these intentions had been realized. It had me considering the works far more broadly than I would have otherwise. And what joy it was to read so many of these, breaking me out of my own stiff reading habits. A pleasure indeed (and an honour too).
What was even more a pleasure, however, was to spend my summer visiting Montreal. Which, of course, I only did through the books I encountered, but it was enough. Amazing. I’ve actually spent very little time in Montreal myself, and have always known it best through books (like I do most places), but these books had me so steeped this summer in the city’s culture, history, and geography that I feel I know it almost well now. And from where I sit, it’s one of the most vibrant, beautiful cities in the world, and I do look forward to visiting again.
Anyway, I had a marvelous time. Too bad you weren’t there! And congratulations to the stellar shortlist.
