Upcoming NYC Launch of Daniel Canty’s “Wigrum: An Inventory Novel,” a Typographical Treat

WigrumHey Canadians and other NYC friends-I’m going to be at Mellow Pages Library in Brooklyn tonight as local rep for Talonbooks of Vancouver, BC. Details:

Talonbooks invites you to the launch of Wigrum
a novel by Daniel Canty
translated by Oana Avasilichioaei
with illustrations by Estela López Solís
and graphic and editorial design by Daniel Canty and Feed

with guest readers Michael Ruby
American Songbook (Ugly Duckling Press, 2013)
and Brandon Downing
Mellow Actions (Fence Books, 2012)

Brooklyn
October 23, 2013
Doors open at 8:00 PM
Mellow Pages Library
56 Bogart Street
mellowpageslibrary.tumblr.com

Maple Leaf Decorated Pumpkin Pie to Mark Canadian Thanksgiving

Oct 13, 2014—Happy I can re-share this post for Canada Day 2014.

I’m sending out festive greetings to all my Canadian pals who have the good sense to celebrate Thanksgiving this day, instead of Columbus Day, which we’re observing here in the States. I have much personal gratitude for all the talented Canadian bands I’ve heard this past year, during my annual visit to Toronto for NXNE, when I loved hanging at Cameron House, and in NYC, listening to such acts as Ben Rough, Greg Ball, The Strumbellas, Shawn William Clark, Jill Barber; Elliott BROOD, and Elephant Stone; all the bold Canadian authors who’s books I’ve encountered, including Kathryn Kuitenbrower, Gill Deacon, Antonine Maillet, Howard Engel, and Jan Wong; and all the great Canadian friends I’ve met and re-met in Toronto and on CBC Radio 3’s keenly interactive daily blog. Until the next time we bump in to each other, here’s a pumpkin pie decorated with the maple leaf. Hope you’re having a celebratory day, and thanks for visiting Honourary Canadian!
Kyle's Pumpkin Pie


Oct 21, 2013

I rarely photograph food I’m about to eat but the pumpkin pie Kyle made this weekend, dotted with maple leafs made from her delicious and flaky crust, looked too special not to first make a visual record of it. It tasted as good as it looked, best I’ve ever eaten! As a belated observance of Canadian Thanksgiving last Monday, I’m glad I could share my photograph of the pie.

All Hail Alice Munro, 1st* Canadian Nobel Laureate!

 

 

Great news for all readers that Alice Munro was named this morning as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. As the tweets above chronicle, I’ve had a glancing professional acquaintanceship with Munro over the years. She is the first Canadian writer to win the Nobel,* and only the 13th women to receive it, among 110 total laureates. As a reader, I’ve also savored her work. Amid all the excited coverage this morning, I found this great quote in a Canadian Press article spoken by her some time ago:

I want to tell a story, in the old-fashioned way–what happens to somebody–but I want that ‘what happens’ to be delivered with quite a bit of interruption, turnarounds, and strangeness. I want the reader to feel something is astonishing–not the ‘what happens’ but the way everything happens. These long short story fictions do that best, for me.

Here are copies of two editions of Munro’s work from my own library. Munro photoRunawayCastle Rock

*I read a NY Times blog post by Adam Sternbergh later today reminding readers that Saul Bellow–Nobel Laureate in 1976–was born in Montreal, so he might qualify as the first Canadian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize. And yet, he grew up in Chicago and more strongly identified with the US, and was often described as “the Canadian-born American writer.” Sternbergh concludes, “With Munro, however, there are no…caveats. There is no need for any asterisk.”

Harry’s Sample Post

The Crowd Goes Wild The Crowd Goes Nuts The Crowd Kills the Umpire The Crowd Goes Quiet The Crowd Goes to Sleep