Read, read, read
Originally published, Sunday, November 15, 2009
Since my last post I’ve been reading my head off, at two book clubs, at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival, at the Vertigo Reading Series in Regina, at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon, at a creative writing class at Vancouver Island University — and on 16 November at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library.
All these recent events were satisfying in different ways. In Regina I read with Myrna Kostash, who has a great new book out, The Frog Lake Reader, about a massacre that was part of the Riel rebellion, and with Elizabeth Philips, a fine poet. All of us brought our own audience to the reading, so it was lively. Saskatoon and McNally Robinson Books made a total contrast. If not for a book club brought along by the sister of a good friend, my partner and our hostess in Saskatoon would have been the sole listeners! All turned out well, though. We all sat in a circle, I read, and we went on talking over tea and desserts for a long time after that.
At the VIWF not only was there a fine moderator (Shaena Lambert) and chair (Paul Grant) of the sessions I was in, but also the smooth administration of the Festival was impressive. Seating, lights, guides to venues, safekeeping of bags, sales of books, set-up for book signing — all so well done. At one panel there was a problem with a microphone. Someone called out, “Technical!” Within seconds the deity (female) leapt on to the stage and did her magic.
The visit to VIU made possible a pleasant reunion with my pal Keith Harrison, for whose class I did a reading and talk, and a meeting for the first time with Liza Potvin, who besides being a fine writer is another veteran of The Boarding School experience. As usual in these CrWr classes, the students were at first slow with questions, but as the hour advanced they asked more and more and more. . . . . It’s exciting to perceive, in the calibre of a question, the mind of a writer at work. Very young, but the real thing! And then the bell rang.
After my VPL reading — a great audience — I feel as if I’ve graduated. Something like that. These past 6 months since The English Stories appeared have been just full of activity for/with/about the book, and now there’s a lull. I’ll be glad to go back to my desk to be with various short stories, some in draft, some brand new, that have been calling to me. As well, this book has brought me a lot of fan mail. What a pleasure!
