Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
On Saturday, May 29 at 4 pm, I will be moderating a panel on the writing life, with guests Roz Bound, Colin Frizzell, Sarah Selecky and Paul Vermeersch.
Books and Company, 289 Main Street, Picton, Ontario.
As a participant in last year’s festival, I can attest that it’s an intimate and inspiring occasion in one of the most beautiful parts of the province! Come for one event or better yet, come for them all!
For tickets or information, call: 613 476 3037
Tags: Appearances, Festivals
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Monday, May 25th, 2009
Thanks to the organizers and audience of the Prince Edward County Authors Festival, where I read on May 23rd in the distinguished company of Elizabeth Abbot (Sugar: A Bittersweet History) and Eric Siblin (The Cello Suites).
Sugar
A snippet from Elizabeth’s book: “…in the eighteenth century, an Englishwoman did something that transformed the world. I’ll call her Gladys Brown. She was a farm labourer’s wife with a hacking cough, three rheumy children and a daily ritual. When she could snatch a few minutes from the grinding round of her daily chores, Gladys would slouch onto the bench beside her cook-fire and imbibe a soothing cup of tea. That heady brew had already addicted aristocratic Europe. But when Gladys, a woman of modest means like millions of other Europeans, popped a chunk of sugar into her cuppa, she redrew the demographic, economic, environmental, political, cultural and moral map of the world.”
The Cello Suites
And from Eric’s: “Watching Laurence Lesser expertly play the suites, I was struck by the bulkiness of his instrument – in former times called the violoncello, of ‘cello for short – bringing to mind some lumbering peasant from a medieval string kingdom, rough-hewn and primitive, nowhere near sophisticated enough for the refined music it was playing. But on closer examination I could see the intricately carved wooden scroll and the curvacious sound holes, shaped like some exquisite baroque time signature. And what was coming out of those sound holes was music more earthy and ecstatic than anything I’d ever heard. I let my mind wander. What would the music have sounded like in 1720? It was easy to imagine the violoncello proving itself in aristocratic company and seducing the powdered wigs.”
Thanks to David Sweet and Marnie Woodrow and other organizers of the Festival, as well as to the engaged and enthusiastic audience.
Tags: Appearances, Creative Nonfiction, Festivals
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