snapshot of the past two weeks

Things have been busy here. I think over the past two weeks, I've written five blog posts...in my head.

I did a bunch of syndication interviews on CBC radio. This means (I think) that all the stations around the country are informed in the morning that you'll be sitting in the booth for a certain amount of time and they can call in to speak to you and tape a segment or put you on live on one of their shows. So I got to hang out at CBC for four hours and ended up speaking to people in 12 different locations around Canada (Charlottetown, Whitehorse, Kelowna, Winnipeg and many more). I always find it nerve-wracking doing radio segments when you're not in the same studio as the interviewer. It's like talking on the phone....and I'm not much of a phone person. But they were all more fun when they were happening than I would have expected.

And while trying to prepare for those syndication interviews at CBC Radio I found this interview in Maisonneuve magazine I did in 2013 with the brilliant Melissa Bull, who made me laugh a lot. I had so much fun in this conversation, and I really liked the way she approached the novel. I always meant to share it here and never did. So voila!

Then I went back to CBC a few days later and taped segments for the Canada Reads broadcast. I think this was the deciding straw in whether or not I will listen to the show when it airs --- because as apprehensive as I might be about listening to people debate the merits of my book, I'm twice as afraid of tuning in and hearing my own voice!

But one very fun thing I got to do as part of all this was put together a playlist for the novel. This is something I've been meaning to do since before the novel came out...at first just for fun, as I thought I'd blog it, then possibly for other blogs/sites who asked me (unfortunately, I never got around to it...doh), but I'm sort of glad I ended up not getting my act together until now because I have some distance and clearer thoughts about it PLUS I think it means that some of songs will be played on CBC radio as I recorded some intros and throws. I'll share the playlist here if it ends up on the web, too.

Sitting in a CBC studio with all my cold remedies.

And if that wasn't enough, I've been pushing myself like mad to finish a rough draft of a large project that I've been aiming to complete by February. I pretty much finished on Friday, though I'm going to take Monday to fix the last, rapidly hammered out parts. Thank you, Leap Year!

Even though I didn't intend to, I crossed the 100, 000 word 

threshold on my current draft. The software, in case you're wondering,

is Scrivener. (Highly recommended!)

This week my friend K stopped by Montreal on her way to Ottawa with her mom and her very sweet one-month old baby. While we were killing time waiting for the restaurant to open, we stopped by Indigo to scope out the Canada Reads display and K took some photos.

Yay, Canada Reads! Just look at the amazing company Bone and Bread is in!

I am one of those people who buys a lot of non-book items at Indigo.

They do such a good job with their displays. Look at those bunnies back there!! 

I think I am going to go back and get one for a certain little someone.

And speaking of that little someone, of course, she has been keeping me busy, too.

Mixing prints: not just for fashion bloggers!

She is getting cuter every day and understands so much more than she can vocalize. Starting about a month ago, she became obsessed with books beyond just pulling them off the shelves and chewing on the spines. Now she is demanding them all. the. time. Even while she's eating. And we usually give in. It might not be cultivating good manners, but it's hard not to be indulgent when it comes to babies and books.

She moves so fast now, almost all my photos are blurry!

And a couple of slightly older photos because now I'm in baby-share mode:

Trying to get her to take a step in the snow (no go).

Attack of the cute!!! Wearing her little hat

from D in Newfoundland. 

There have been lots of other fun things going on, too: choir, scotch club, Pixelles events, knitting. 

Behind the scenes of Canada Reads 2016!

Okay, I think everyone I know knows this by now (along with a lot of people I don't know!), but
Bone and Bread was selected to be part of Canada Reads 2016!

You can click the image to go to the Canada Reads CBC page.

Cue massive, ongoing celebration!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My last post was about my love of book clubs, and Canada Reads is about as close as we get to a national one.

It has been a little over a week since my whirlwind trip to Toronto for the day it was announced, and although I think I have responded to everyone who sent me kind messages of congratulations, I want to say thank you again!! It makes it even more exciting to know that people are excited right along with me.

So here's the Canada Reads scoop. I found out a little bit ahead of the announcement that Bone and Bread was on the shortlist, and a little bit after that that Farah Mohamed was going to be defending it. I arrived in Toronto late on the night Jan. 19th. Just before midnight, I received an email letting me know who the other writers and defenders were going to be. I was extra curious because the smarties over at the Goodreads CBC Books group had been speculating for a few days about who the panelists might be, based on all the clues that had been dropped. (They actually got a bunch of them right!) If I had gone to bed early, the way I knew I should have, I wouldn't have read the email and stayed up for another hour Googling everyone! Really, the night before a photo shoot, one's only homework is probably getting a good night's sleep. Oh well. I guess that's what makeup and coffee is for.

The first of the other writers I saw after arriving at CBC were Michael Winter and Anita Rau Badami -- the two I already know! After hair and makeup, while we were waiting for the others to arrive, I was excited and suggested we take a photo in front of the lunch table:

With the lovely Michael Winter and Anita Rau Badami. 

(My expression here: nervous-face.)

Smiling! With two brilliant writers: Michael Winter and Anita Rau Badami.

Fun fact re: Anita Rau Badami -- we met a dinner party in Montreal!

Fun fact re: Michael Winter -- well, I kind of feel like every fact about Michael Winter is a fun one, but I have been a fan of his writing long before I started running into him at events and festivals in the context of being a writer myself. His novel The Architects Are Here is one of many books I read (and loved) while working on Bone and Bread, but he has such a powerful voice that there is a short passage present in the novel where I had put down his book and felt the spirit of Michael's inimitable style upon me. Of course, only Michael Winter sounds like himself and I'm sure this part is only detectable to me, but there are a few sentences in my novel that wouldn't be there, quite in the form they are, if it wasn't for him. So thank you, Michael!

Finally, everyone was there and it was time to take photos.

With Michael Winter, Anita Rau Badami, Lawrence Hill and Tracey Lindberg

Photo (along with most of the others here) by Laura Meyer of Anansi

I think it was Lawrence Hill (a former Canada Reads winner and therefore already a pro) who explained the right way to cradle your book for the photo -- so you don't cover up your name. Top tip! The professional photos are being rolled out by CBC in their various promotional materials for Canada Reads, which I will repost here as they become available.

At the photo shoot, I got to meet Farah Mohamed:

Thank you, Farah. You are amazing and 

I'm so happy you liked my novel!

Farah Mohamed is the founder and CEO of G(irls)20, an organization that empowers girls and young women around the world to create a new generation of female leaders. Having read about the organization as well as her many other professional accomplishments, I was more than a little intimidated to meet her, but she immediately put me at ease as she is incredibly warm and approachable and fun. She also seems like a fierce debater!

After the photos, we all had lunch. Later, we shot some individual videos (which I dread watching...quippy I am not. Also at that point, after touch-ups, I had so much makeup on that my face felt weird. I think I might end up looking scary in HD...)

I had a chance to meet the other defenders (Clara Hughes, Vinay Virmani, Bruce Poon Tip, and Adam "Edge" Copeland), who were all as lovely as you might imagine. I would say more, but it probably isn't my place at this point! But honestly, I am so impressed by the accomplishments of the five panelists, and (thanks mostly to Google) by what I know of their level of engagement with social and cultural issues, across their widely different fields. I was really interested to learn about their projects, and I'm happy that the show will shine a light on them, too. It seems as though CBC has put together a group of people with real character to participate in Canada Reads 2016. (Hopefully I won't be insecure enough to feel differently if any of them turn out to hate my novel! But probably I just won't listen...)

The defenders said a few times over the course of the day that they all got along so well that they were going to have a hard time fighting it out, and I can easily believe it. (And so I say: why fight? Just let there be a five-way tie this year!)

At one point over lunch, Tracey Lindberg and I agreed that amid all the other things to be happy about with Canada Reads, we were both extra excited about the free books:

I know other Canada Reads fans will be jealous of this sweet stack.

No library holds for me! Another awesome bonus.

All in all, an exhausting but wonderful trip to Toronto. It was so nice to meet everyone at CBC, and House of Anansi publicist extraordinaire Laura Meyer took such good care of me...even helping me make it to the Turner exhibit at the AGO before my afternoon flight home.  

So I will probably share a few more Canada Reads-related things over the next few weeks before the show happens in March. I beg your indulgence ahead of time! I will try to mix it up with a few other things, so it doesn't get too tedious.

Home again, wearing my CBC fangirl shirt.

Do I look as ecstatically happy as I feel? I think so!

Canada Reads 2015

I haven't mentioned it here yet, but Bone & Bread is on the longlist for Canada Reads 2015!

The list was announced in December, right at a moment when I was on the point of bursting into tears after a very hard night with a four-week old baby, trying to recover from dehydration, having not slept for over 24 hours and expecting a house guest to arrive within the hour --- to a very messy apartment I had not yet managed to tidy up. It is definitely no exaggeration to say that regardless of what happens next, the appearance of my novel on the longlist felt like a gift that arrived at the perfect moment. It made me think of what Sara Crewe says in A Little Princess: "The worst thing never QUITE comes." ***

But now there are only a few days left before CBC announces the final five books, which means there are only a few days in which to savour the possibility that Bone & Bread might be selected. So this is me, savouring:

Ahhhhhhh.  Mmmmmmm.

For years I've had daydreams of a book of mine being discussed on this show. Ideally, defended by some well-read indie rock musician... have you noticed that the musicians' picks often win?

I'm cherishing this fantasy even more this week because my mother has just discovered CBC Radio and thinks it's the greatest thing ever. Yesterday, she was telling me about something she was listening to about Twitter and reading 50 books in a year that she thought I would be interested in!

I know there are lots of thoughts among writers, not all positive, around the notion of the themes that have been used in the program over the past few years, or the public voting that happened, or pitting fiction against non-fiction, or against the very concept of one book winning at all...but I don't think these issues are all that serious. Of course we all agree that Canada should read more than one book, but the producers are doing their best to make a lively show that will engage listeners. Another thing I've been hearing lately is a call to include poetry. And I do think it would be amazing to have an all-poetry edition. Maybe with poets as the panelists... although I suppose that might, ahem, undermine the celebrity aspect somewhat. (Well, for people outside of the literary community, anyway.) On the other hand, how else are we going to turn our poets into national celebrities?! This show should definitely happen. I want to live in a country that idolizes its poets. Hmm, but maybe this just illustrates how writers think differently than radio producers.

So can a book really change Canada, or break barriers? I think...yes. reader by reader, absolutely. Why couldn't it? I have to admit that when the theme of "breaking barriers" was announced ("books that can change perspectives, challenge stereotypes, and illuminate issues"), I did think of my novel because I believe that Bone & Bread does just that, in more than a few ways. But then we already know that all writing that put you into another person's perspective builds empathy and compassion just by taking us outside ourselves. Really, I think reading as a basic act is transformative and illuminating, so any of these books could fit the bill. And though of course I'm gunning for my own, I think can imagine great discussions emerging around all these titles. I'm especially rooting for Eden Robinson's wonderful Monkey Beach to make it through to the shortlist.

If you want to vote for your picks (just for fun...I'm pretty sure this doesn't affects the selection of the books, which is up to the mystery panelists) or just see what's in the running, you can do so on the CBC site here.

*** I'm not so naive that I actually believe Sara's notion. I do know that in many instances the worst thing does happen, but sometimes I can't help but see the world through the lenses of my favourite books.

Mother Superior goes on vacation

A professor in my department went on vacation last week and sent me some photos of my first book relaxing in St. Lucia.  I got a big kick out of them!

 A photo of my first book, Mother Superior, in St. Lucia, soaking up the sun.

On the subject of my first book, it is getting a little bit of a new lease on life thanks to Bone & Bread. I’m really grateful to Jay Miller for this review of Mother Superior on the fantastic Literatured.com.

Some of my favourite phrases from this review include “morally piebald” and “the damaging innocence of adults.”  I really like the last sentence, too: “Nawaz’s emphasis on the importance of mothering raises the question of how vulnerable children truly are, as well as the adults they become.” I’ve never described the collection that way (but I find talking about my own writing, especially in a summarizing or thematic sense, very difficult), but this strikes me as very accurate. It really is more about the vulnerability of children than it is about bad or indifferent mothers. Jay, I will probably be quoting you on this for the indefinite future, if that’s okay.

Itty bitty radio studio at CBC

In other writing-related news, I was so happy to be invited in to CBC Radio to take the 5 à 6 Culture Quiz as part of the show's 2013 round-up. I’m kind of a disaster at thinking on my feet when it comes to these things (What’s your favourite boutique? Uhhh…I blanked. Most intriguing artwork you’ve seen this year? Uh, art? What’s that?!?), but I’m hoping the magic of editing will remove some of my ridiculousness on that front. The lesson learned from this is that spontaneity is not my friend (which I already knew). In spite of feeling like no amount of coffee could make my brain work properly, it was really fun to go in and do the taping in a teeny tiny little studio and meet the lovely Tanya Birkbeck and Jeanette Kelly. From what I understand, it will air on the show tomorrow. 

 Jeanette Kelly and I at CBC!

A writer to watch!

It made my Canada Day to be named one of CBC Books' 2013 Writers to Watch!  Along with a lot of writers whose books are in my TBR pile.

You can click through the full list here. 

For another amazing list, check out Amanda Leduc's Up-and-Comers on her (lovely!) blog . This is a update on a group of writers she profiled a year ago...although if you are a writer be warned: it may make you feel insecure and unproductive or (better yet) inspired to to work harder.

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I started this post over three weeks ago now. Travel and vacation has kept me away from the internet a little more than I'd like. 

To celebrate our anniversary, D and I went on a weekend trip to Franconia Notch State Park, where we saw bears (in the backyard of our B&B!), hiked a gorge, had some amazing pizza (jalapeno-cream-cheese-stuffed crust....YUM), backed some plastic duckies in the town Lions' Club annual duck race fundraiser, caught the 4th of July "Home Day" parade, swam in the lake, visited Frost Place on Frost Day, and fulfilled a long-time yearning (er, of mine) to go to a drive-in movie, something I haven't done in almost twenty years. I am going to suggest you peruse the snack bar menu of the Northern Nights Drive-In because it is American thing of beauty. We took full advantage with chocolate milkshakes, cheeseburgers, chicken fingers...and even a meatball sub. When in New Hampshire... 

Pickup trucks are de rigeur at the drive-in

Small town drive-in

The Frost Place, one of Robert Frost's former homes

Walking the trails behind the Frost Place

Hilarious scrambling at the end of the duck race

We topped it off with an amazing meal at Manoir Hovey in North Hatley on way home. It was the kind of meal I can barely describe because it was so delicious and delightfully detailed on the menu.  Fine dining menus are a complex conceptual/literary/culinary art form, don't you think? Basically (in a prosaic, incomplete summary that does little justice to the meal), I had asparagus soup, halibut, cheese risotto, a bunch of amazing chanterelles (pilfered from D), and notably, as a pre-dessert, some apple-tarragon sorbet. Notable not only for the delicate and (at least to me) surprising combination of flavours, but also just for the concept of a pre-dessert, which strikes me as a useful one that might have almost as much mileage in it as second breakfast.  

A week after our return, we came back out to the country for a working vacation which has included lots of swimming (initially, during the heat wave), reading, writing, and napping. Just a few days left, but I hope to try and squeeze in the time to finish a second story...

CBC Books' Summer Reading List for 2013

It's true that I'm sharing this list because Bone & Bread is on it (hurrah!), but I really do think it is a wonderful bunch of books that won't steer you wrong:  

       CBC Books' Summer Reading List for 2013

They call Bone and Bread a "dazzling debut" (!!!).

In terms of the rest of the list, I read Where'd You Go, Bernadette? in a couple of days last week and really loved it.  It's hilarious and memorable and unique. Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman is also funny and brilliant and big-hearted.  

I already have had Life After Life and The Hungry Ghosts and Caught in my to-read pile...though these are now all waiting to get de-smokified (along with at least two dozen other books I am anxious to read).   I'm also really looking forward to fellow Anansi-writer Iain Reid's The Truth About Luck, and earlier this week I had to talk myself down at the bookstore from buying The Interestings in hardcover, even though I'm dying to read it, especially after reading Kerry's review of it on Pickle Me This. 

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The days are passing in a blur of laundry and lightning-fast research and decisions about our new place... looking around for furniture and (maybe this is just me...?) wondering why everything is ugly and overpriced.  (Or why everything I like somehow turns out to be $7,000?!) Even IKEA is looking expensive after all the costs associated with the fire and the renovations.  Now we're trying to decide what can wait and what needs to be right now.  Beds are a must, but tables and chairs can wait...?  Couches?  Patio furniture seems like a luxury that should go to the bottom of the list, but given the time of year, we'd also like to get it right away.  I'd love to take my time and find the perfect things for our new home, but I know that when it comes down to it, it might be nice to have somewhere to sit, eat, sleep. 

Bone and Bread on The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers!

I'm really thrilled to say that Bone & Bread is going to be featured on The Next Chapter!

This interview was one of the first publicity things I did for the novel (two months ago now), and I was so, so nervous.  There's something about a radio interview done remotely (I was in the studio in Montreal, and Shelagh was in B.C., I think) that puts me out of my comfort zone.  It's like talking on the phone...and I am not a phone person.  But Shelagh is truly lovely, as is everyone I encountered who works for the show, and I have no doubt they have managed to make me sound less nervously incoherent than I sometimes felt.

I've been told the segment will be on the episode that airs Monday, May 6 (today!) between 1 and 2 p.m. and then again Saturday, May 10 between 4 and 5 p.m.  I'll also post an online link once it becomes available.  (That's how I'll be listening, so that I can stop it if I start cringing!) 

A few weeks after that taping, I was invited to be on Sonali Karnick's great CBC show All in a Weekend, and though I felt a little stressed about getting down to the studio for 7:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I felt totally comfortable and at ease and had so much fun.  It's amazing what a few weeks of practice will do, not to mention talking to somebody face to face.  (Or maybe I was just too sleepy to be able to get really nervous..?)

This is a photo Sonali snapped on her phone before the taping:

7:45 on a Sunday: no coffee, no makeup

You can read a summary or listen to it here on the CBC Books page. 

Rest and refuge in Ottawa at the Writersfest

I woke up bright and early this morning to catch a train to Ottawa. Got here in time to catch a great noon event at Knox Presbyterian Church --- John Metcalf, Nancy Jo Cullen and Tamas Dobozy talking about the art of the short story.  A nugget of wisdom from Tamas: the end is also the beginning, as it recasts the whole story in light of it.  Nancy Jo Cullen said she thinks of endings as a "breath" in the story...before it goes on without us. I like both ideas.

As soon as I arrived in Ottawa, I felt relaxed and welcomed.  Things at the Writersfest run like clockwork thanks to all the wonderful volunteers and organizers. 

This afternoon, I was initially supposed to go to a tea at the U.S. Embassy along with the other invited writers, an event I was excited about, but I was also invited to do a reading for All in a Day with (the very lovely!) Alan Neal.  And who can resist the call of the CBC?  

Then I got back to my hotel, finished and practiced my speech for the Walrus Talks event tomorrow that has been wreaking havoc with my nerves for weeks --- and promptly had a long, deep nap in this amazing bed.  

Just ignore the monkey pyjamas.

I'm sad to be missing the event right before mine, but I'm so grateful for the chance to recharge and de-stress a little.  Now to iron my dress, put on some makeup, and get ready for my event later.  Looking forward to meeting some great writers and catching up with old friends.  

Still life with iron and lint brush

See you in a bit, Ottawa?

Boston bound!

I should already be on the road to Boston right now, but we're running a little late.  Just late enough to squeeze in a blog post!  We're going to visit family and attend the AWP Conference, which I only just heard about for the first time this year and I'm excited it happened to be in Boston, where we can go and check it out.  The AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, an American organization, and the conference is three full days of writing-related panels.  It's actually staggering to me how many panels there are.  The United States is a big place with a lot of writers!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of going to CBC to tape a radio interview about Bone and Bread.  I won't name the show (just in case everything I said was terrible and ultimately unusable!), but in spite of my qualms, it was a really special experience to have a conversation with someone who is a generous and thoughtful reader.  I hope and expect to write more books, but there are no guarantees in life (sorry, blogging seems to draw out every profound platitude I've ever heard), and I want to remember these opportunities for the gifts that they really are.

Projected logo on the floor of the mothership, I mean, the CBC

Being interesting and charming on command, though....oooof.  I have more to say about this, I think...the difficulty of trying to be eloquent (or let's face it, coherent) when talking about one's one work...but I think all I can say right now is that I wish it came easier to me.  I know lots of writers who are wonderful storytellers in person as well as on paper, but I am afraid I am not one of them.  I need preparation and practice, always. 

The weekend was mostly quiet, except for the reading I gave at Nuit Blanche (which was short, but I think went well, in spite of my cold and general exhaustion).  I also finished my first hat (third project), which was the major triumph of the weekend. 

I finished my first hat! The pattern is Rosebud by Jared Flood.

Okay, departure is now imminent.  My bag is packed. I'm ready to go.  Boston, here we come!  If you're going to be at the AWP Conference, let me know which are the not-to-be-missed panels, or come and say hi if you see me.  I only know a couple of writers in the U.S. of A.

I'll be the girl in the yellow boots.

nostalgia lane: CBC's The Challengers

Does anyone remember the CBC tv-movie The Challengers?  It first aired in 1990.   It’s the story of 11-year-old Mackie, who moves to a new town with her mother after the death of her father.

To be fair, to like this movie, it probably helps if you were also an 11-year-old Canadian girl when it came out. 

To fit in with a group of boys, Mackie pretends to be a boy.   The boys are in a club called the Challengers where they wear studded denim vests and wristbands and ride around on BMX bikes and are also in a band.  Mackie (played by Gemma Zamprogna, who went on to play Felicity on Road to Avonlea), tucks her hair under a cap, calls herself Mac, and joins the Challengers and plays keyboards.   She also has a friend named Jenny with whom she does fun “girl” things like make up a dance routine to perform.  However, her dual-gendered identity presents some problems, both scheduling-wise and for Mackie’s mother….and for everybody else when they find out during a Challengers performance. 

It was on The Movie Network the other night, and we caught the end of it.  My husband kept trying to guess where it was filmed (“It looks like it’s somewhere out west…”) while I kept insisting it had to be filmed near Toronto because…I don’t know…I just assumed everything ever made before a certain date was filmed near Toronto, which now that I think about it is a pretty baseless assumption.  Anyway, it turns out it was filmed in Stonewall, Manitoba!  I’ve never been there, but it’s about 25 km north of Winnipeg.  I can only imagine the double amazingness if you were an 11-year-old girl from Stonewall when this movie came out.

There is a sad lack of stills available online from this movie.  I want to show you some moments from the montage at the end, set to the Challengers performance of a song I remember thinking was really awesome, where Mackie AND her girl-best-friend Jenny are both Challengers along with the boys.  They both play and sing in the band, ride everywhere on their spray-painted bikes, and eat French fries with chopsticks at a diner.  God, is it any wonder I wanted to be a Challenger, too?  

Oh wait, YouTube!  Here you go:

The awesome song I remember at the end of the movie is actually by Vangelis.  Though the sound quality had warped and flattened on the version they were airing on TMN and sounded truly awful.  I had a moment where I wondered whether my taped-off-of-TV version, which, yes, I'm afraid I still have somewhere, might actually be better (Dear TMN, please find the enclosed, hand-labelled VHS)…until I remembered it still has all the commercials in it.)   

Does anyone else remember this movie?