Thursday, June 16, 2011

Public Lending Right. 25th Anniversary.

http://www.writersunion.ca/plr.asp

Check out this link at the Writers Union for comments on the public lending right. TWUC celebrated the 25th anniversary of this momentous support of writers'work at the AGM in Toronto this spring. The booklet contains the comments of many Canadian writers (including those of yours truly). And also included is a photgraph of the cover of my novel, published in 2010.

THE WRITER'S LIFE. Ancestors.

These two people are my ancestors. Actually they are my great grandparents on my mother's side. The woman is directly descended from Louis Hebert, the first French settler in Canada. Therefore, so am I. The man is of Irish descent. I understand it was a turbulent marriage!

I was pondering photographs as I finished working on a piece of fiction. Looking for ideas, perhaps. 

Sunday, June 12, 2011

WHAT AN EVENING! Moosemeat Writing Group Chapbook Launch.

At the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto on Friday, June 10th, the writers of the Moosemeat Writing Group held the 8th annual launch of a chapbook of flash fiction by our writers. The evening was hosted ably and humourously by Isabel Matawawana and Jerry Schaefer.  The room was full and there was appreciative applause for each reader. Lots of fun and laughter as well as prizes, mainly of books donated by publishers of some of the writers in the group, including my publisher, Inanna, and Heather Wood's publisher Tightrope.

Sam Agro provided the illustration and Kurt Zabatiuk put the chapbook together. 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Fine Day in Montreal. June 2011

 I love Montreal. When it's time to leave, I'm never ready to go. This time the weather moved from cold to hot to cool again, but there was no rain. A colossal wind storm on Saturday when one ducked into doorways or a small coffee shop so as not to be blown away. Branches down. Went to a small dance studio to see (and dance a bit) some superb West Coast swing.


The photos were taken on the edge of Square St. Louis, a favourite haunt of mine. The Bixi bicycles were back at the edge of the park and I saw them being delivered at spots further north.

Went to convocation at McGill for Health Sciences, large crowd under the white tent. Impressive to see the diversity of the graduates of the 2011 classes.





Now in Toronto again where the grass was high (cut this morning) and the clematis had bloomed and wished me good morning today!