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Pleasant Memories of Book Week
A few people caught me out with my “Home Sweet Home” post last week. I wasn’t really home yet; I followed up my Book Week tour with a visit with friends in B.C. But I really am home now, and I’m busy with Book Week follow up, writing reports and so on. Here’s the “mini report” that may also…
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10 More Days Till…
And the Wild City Roses and I are cooking up something that promises to be quite special. If you’re in the area, hope to see you there!
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Read by the Sea
What a great way to kick off summer — with a Nova Scotia literary festival! Quite apart from the fun of reading The Man with the Violin accompanied by The Wild City Roses on fiddle, guitar, and accordion was the fun of seeing old friends like Sheree Fitch, Norene Smiley, and Trudy Carey. It was also great getting to know…
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Writing by the Sea Again
It won’t be long now before I’m writing by the sea again, in the fish house that inspired me last year to set up my “fish house” in the furnace room back home in Ontario. I wonder which of the writers attending our Seaside Workshop/Retreat this year will find the magic that can happen when…
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Authors Support Indies Day
Saturday, May 2 is Authors Support Indies Day. It’s a great chance for readers to meet and chat with some of their favourite authors, who will be hanging out as “guest booksellers” in their local independent bookstores. Says one of Canada’s best known authors, Ann-Marie MacDonald, “Independent bookstores enrich our communities. They provide gathering places…
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First Book Canada
Many of the kids in this pic took home their first ever “mine for keeps” books yesterday thanks to First Book Canada. Owning a book is a new concept for some of them. When I handed one boy his copy of The Man with the Violin he asked me, “Do I bring it back tomorrow?”…
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Storywalk with The Man with the Violin
Storywalk® is an innovative way to get people of all ages to take a stroll while reading children’s picture books. Pages of a book are transformed into wind-and-rain-proof signs that are then placed on a playground, at a fair or music festival. The project originated in Vermont and Storywalks have now taken place in every…
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A Busy Fall Ahead
Writer Sarah Ellis once gave a talk in which she distinguished between “writing” and “being a writer.” I may be busier “being a writer” in the coming months than I’ll be busy “writing.” Fortunately, I have a new picture book that’s finished which Annick has scheduled for publication in the spring of 2017. (More on…
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So You Want to Write a Picture Book
This may be NaNoWriMo but two of my three current writing projects happen to be picture books and that’s where I’m focusing most of my attention this month. I’ll also, in the coming days, be offering practical guidance and (I hope) inspiration to others writing picture books. Tomorrow evening I’m offering a presentation on “Writing…
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World Premiere – The Man with the Violin
The exciting news I shared last June — about the musical adaptation of The Man with the Violin in the works — is about to become a living thing. The man with the violin, Joshua Bell himself, will play the part of the solo violinist who was ignored by thousands when he played in a…
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