And here’s what she’ll look like — a proud Canadian! And yes, although the maple leaf had not yet been chosen as our flag in 1928, a maple leaf did indeed adorn the shirts of the Canadian athletes at those Olympic Games. (Note: Girl Runner isn’t quite yet available in Sweden; I’ll keep you posted on the upcoming pub dates there and elsewhere. The book is newly available in the US and the UK & Australia — and looks super-pretty in both those places too; click on the link to see all the different book covers.)
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If you’re in Waterloo, please note that I’ll be reading at Conrad Grebel College as part of the Mennonite Writers’ Series on March 4, and at Wilfrid Laurier University on March 5. Both events (and others upcoming) can be found on the Events page on this web site.
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Sorry to be so business-like today. My mind is bustling with ideas and I’m scarce on time, but I really wanted to share that lovely book cover. Thanks for checking in.
xo, Carrie
PS One last thing: a link to a story about Mavis Gallant, the Canadian writer known for her short stories, who died last spring in Paris. I’ve read and re-read her work as often as Alice Munro’s; so that’s a lot. I was lucky enough to take a grad course on Munro and Gallant, just the two of them, many years ago. Lucky because I got to read their stories for eight months straight. Mavis Gallant died penniless in Paris at the age of 91. She’d made a living as a writer for the better part of her life. A story that interests me particularly about her is how she tried and failed to write a novel on a particular subject, not for years, but for decades. She tried for decades to write this novel, and failed. You could say that was a tragedy, and you could say too that dying penniless was a tragedy; but you could also say that she appears to have lived her life quite as she wanted to, and that she remains an enormously admired writer. I would have wished for her greater financial success during her lifetime, mostly because it would have eased her life, especially in old age. But I’m glad she stuck to her chosen course, and drank good wine sometimes, and had good friends, and wrote such stories. They’re such stories. Read her, if you haven’t. “The Ice-Wagon Going Down the Street” is a story that’s stayed with me over the years, and “When We Were Nearly Young,” but if you’re starting from scratch try her Linnet Muir stories, which are loosely autobiographical.
Wow. that class you took sounds amazing.
I will have to check that author out. Thanks for the recommendation. I would love to try and get out to one of those events to hear you read and speak.
Hi Kerry, if you’re in the Waterloo area, both events next week are free and open to the public.
Brilliant cover!
Totally agree about Mavis Gallant, by the way. I actually like her writing even more than Alice Munro’s (assuming you can make that sort of comparison). And I do remember thinking, when I heard about her death and how destitute she was by the end of her life, that there was something very unjust about it all…
Thanks, Trilby. I love this cover too!
I keep coming back to the thought of this writer, whose work has given me such pleasure and so freely, really, living in poverty. Of course, I’ve bought her books over the years and recommended her to others often, but what I received from her writing is so much greater than those few purchases. And I don’t know how to rectify that imbalance, nor did I even when she was alive. I think we’d like for those who are deserving to be justly rewarded, but that doesn’t seem to be the way it works at all. Virtually anywhere. In any field.