I went to see the Alumni Theatre production of Perfect Pie, directed by Paul Hardy. Judith Thompson has won two Governor General’s Awards for her plays, plus a handful of other writing prizes for stage and radio. As we were being seated, Andy Fraser who plays Patsy, made a pie on stage. Her careful gestures […]
Judith Thompson — Perfect Pie Read More »
Currently reading: Freedom Rising: Life Under Apartheid Through the Eyes of an American on a Four-Year Clandestine Journey Through Southern Africa, James North Living Under Apartheid, David M. Smith ed. The Portable MFA in Creative Writing, The New York Writers Workshop I doubt I will be reviewing these books. I’m researching the Black Sash movement
South Africa & MFA Read More »
Robin Maharaj gave an excellent talk on writing short stories yesterday. For those near Toronto, he is accepting manuscripts for evaluation until the end of November. Writers of adult fiction and novel exerpts can send him 25 pages. Aspiring writers spend half an hour with the acclaimed writer-in-residence to receive feedback. Check with the Toronto
Robin Maharaj on the Short Story Read More »
This is a picture of Evelyn Lau as an adult. She is currently making her living as a writer so this story has a happy ending. Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid was Evelyn Lau’s first book, based on diaries written after she ran away from home. It is fascinating but also very depressing. Her
Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid Read More »
I answered a call for directors for the New Ideas Festival at the Alumni Theatre in Toronto. There are three weeks of one-act plays plus longer “Saturday Experiments.” The process is intense. Playwrights send their plays or works-in-progress to the Alum. Once the best are chosen, the theatre holds a ‘meet and greet,’ where playwrights
Alumni Theatre — New Ideas & Why I love Rabelais Read More »
My son got his hockey picture taken before his game today. This meant a lot of sitting around waiting and reading Scooby Doo. He’s in his second year of French Immersion so he brings home Scooby Doo books in French. I end up reading them to him in both languages, one chunk at a time.
Yer typical Canadian Hockey teams. Read More »
Canada’s investigative journalism magazine, W5, did a recent expose on Canadian climate change skeptics. Of these, many are paid by the oil and gas industry, many have not published recently in peer-reviewed scientific journals and some are linked to the same American publicity firm that tobacco companies hired to question evidence linking smoking with health
Tim Flannery — Making waves about weather Read More »
I was delighted when, in reference to my previous post about flash fiction, anocturne said: “i have seen this in circulation on the blogworld – a bunch of folks i visit have something called the “friday fifty-five” and one is supposed to post a 55 word piece every friday. it’s a good idea – maybe
Survey, Carbon Dioxide and a Street Writer Read More »
Rabindranath Maharaj’s, A Perfect Pledge, was short listed for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the 2006 Rogers Fiction Prize. Many post-colonial works have been written in fashionable, magic realistic styles. This novel avoids postmodern cliche. The story is by turns realistic, sensitive and satirical. In the 1960’s, life is hard in rural Trinidad. The novel
Rabindranath Maharaj – A Perfect Pledge Read More »
Bruce Holland Rogers has a unique subscription service. He writes short short stories and sends them to his subscribers worldwide. His stories vary from fables in far off lands to slices of contemporary life. He has won awards and keeps an interesting blog about his travels. He is currently living in England. Because the subscription
Bruce Holland Rogers Read More »