Canada Reads entries now live!

CBC.ca has posted my entries for Canada Reads 2008. You can read them here!

To those new here, welcome! Kick back and relax.

Canada Reads 2008

The folks at CBC approached me some time back to ask if there was any interest in me taking on a little mission, an entry for each of the finalists for Canada Reads 2008 (CBC Radio One.) My reply? "Hella, I was gonna do it, anyhow." Together, through fields of daisies, we skipped, picking up stray trash along the way, and next week, Monday to Friday, you can read the findings on the official site for Canada Reads, found here.

Congratulations to the finalists and bonne chance to the defenders!

(Some of) the votes are in!

Thanks to all who voted!

Stay tuned for the results for
Best Blogosphere Citizen...

Seen Reading on Quirky Nomads

Perfect timing!

Seen Reading gets the Quirky Nomads treatment. Five vignettes performed by a lovely voice actor. My words with a British accent. Hullo!

P.S. Saw one half of The Young Lovers this morning. He's lost the baby fat over summer. And his curly locks are almost past his shoulders.

But where is she?

Shout out...

...to the Library Technicians and Assistants Interest Group (LTAIG) in British Columbia. Thanks for the mention in your May newsletter. Made me very happy!

What you didn't hear on "Q".

When I did the recording for yesterday's spot on CBC's Q I was asked to read an entry, as is often the case. It didn't make the final edit which opened up the time constraints to allow for a more easy ramble. I think it worked. Regardless, I have a fond association with the entry because it's rare that I write something to a person in my life and this is one hardworking, creative and inspired individual. So, I decided to repost it for posterity and for those new readers. (And how! Welcome!)

P.S. BIG NEWS to report shortly. I'm very excited! I think you will be, too...

Bloor Line, shoulder into the pole, rocking.

East Indian woman, early 30s, wearing a black wool coat with purple knit cap and large hoop earrings. Her mouth sits open and relaxed, her brow furrowed.

The Memoirs of a Survivor, Doris Lessing (Bantam Books)

Page 66:

I scrubbed down the ceiling and walls with sugar soap, with hot water, with detergents. Layer after layer of white paint went on, first dull and flat, then increasingly fine, until the last one covered everything with a clear softly shining enamel, white as new snow or fine china. It was like standing inside a cleaned-out eggshell; I felt that accretions of grime had been taken off which has been preventing a living thing from breathing.

She breaks, wipes her brow and rubs her shoulders. She puts the brush down and hangs her head. She holds on for the night. She feels the fingers, the thumb tunneling along her spine, an invitation to fall first into a soft bed, the baby freshness of clean sheets, her waist falling limp into a strange mattress. The sun sets, the parks empty, a jogger passes by, the ridges of daily dress socks plumping out. Something rumbles on the stove. Something sweet rims a bowl. And there's music, a lonely trumpet trying to escape.

Seen Reading on CBC's "Q".

This afternoon, CBC's new arts and culture show, "Q", ran a short bit on this here project. It runs like a monologue and I quite like it. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, I believe they rebroadcast again this evening at 10:00 pm, EST.

More information here.

See ya!

Maisonneuve at a bookstore near you!

I haven't seen it yet in Toronto, but look out for the spring issue of Maisonneuve, "Controversy". Apparently, it's on stands in other cities. My short story "Fading" appears.

(And it makes me go, Weeeeeee!)

Guelph radio, DST, fall back to 5pm

Hey Kids.

Due to DST, yer gonna want to listen to the 5pm time slot from the archives, not 6pm as reported. There you will find me rambling and rambling and *big breath* rambling some more. Which is to say, it's good times! I'm a rambling 'man.

archives.

Tonight's the night, Guelph radio

What: Wireless Account
Where: CFRU, 93.3 FM
What: Me!
Why: Why? Why?! Git. Go on, git!...Why...Pshaw.

You can also listen to it in the archives.

I'm gonna tell you right now. I was a ramblin' fool. Here's to hoping it makes for good radio!

Shortlisted for Post of the Week

Sweet! This entry on The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens (House of Anansi Press) has been shortlisted for Post of the Week. Stay tuned until Sunday to learn if it's...erm...the Post of the Week!

This is a great concept. Introducing blogs via a strong individual post. Because we all know what it feels like when we get hooked on that certain something that makes us a fan, coming back for more, lovin' it. Very cool.

Thank you Post of the Week!

Radio interview - CFRU 93.3 FM

In twenty minutes I'll be prerecording a phone interview for "Wireless Account" a biweekly show on CFRU 93.3 FM, Campus and Community Radio in Guelph. I'm looking forward to it. The advance list of questions were thoughtful and on the mark, so it should be a nice, casual chat!

When I know the deets, the 411, the scivvy, the "when it will be aired", I'll post again. Until then, I'm trying hard not to eat cheese. It messes with my voice. Makes me schmecky.

The Ottawa Citizen taking note and making them, too.

Thank you to The Ottawa Citizen and reporter Kate Heartfield for listing Seen Reading as inspiration for this great piece on literary exploration.

I went Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally when I read this:

Book-reading on buses is not a sign of a society addicted to convenience and distraction. On the contrary: It is inconvenient to carry a book around all day. It takes effort and decision.

Seriously, in my head I was pounding pastrami off the table. (That didn't sound quite right...)

It's fun, eh, Kate?

National Post article

Thanks to the National Post and Kristine Owram for her article on Seen Reading. Another vote for the Non-Creepy camp! Score!

And the year ain't even over yet!

Maisonneuve Magazine will be publishing one of my short stories in their next issue. I'm tickled, thrilled, joyous, buzzed, hyped up and wheeeeeeeeeeed.

Freestylin'

Just a reminder, if you're so inclined. Tune in to Freestyle tomorrow when I'll be riffing on this here literary exploration and reading another entry.

Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Newfoundland & Labrador
Weekdays, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Toronto Region
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Canada
Weekdays, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Manitoba
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Calgary Region
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Edmonton Region

I'm on at the beginning of the second hour of the show.

Gotta love a podcast

Thank you to CBC for including my Here and Now appearance as part of this week's Toronto This Week podcast. You can hear it by going here and scrolling down to Toronto This Week where you can subscribe.

Going national, y'all

Where do we go from here, you ask? Well, I'll tell ya. National, baby! Tune in to Freestyle, Tuesday November 28, to hear me speak once more about this here venture, Seen Reading.

When lunch is over and the end of the workday is still a speck on the horizon, you need a little pick-me-up. Tune in to Freestyle for a healthy dose of the best contemporary music ever made, as well as amusing and fascinating topics and people from all over the country and around the world.

Weekdays at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. in Winnipeg, 2:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Radio One.

If I'm correct, Toronto doesn't get the second hour, but you can hear it from CBC's site. Considering I once thought Halifax was the capital of Vancouver, I thought it best to rip the times from the show's page:

Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Newfoundland & Labrador
Weekdays, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Toronto Region
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Canada
Weekdays, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Manitoba
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Calgary Region
Weekdays, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Edmonton Region

Or visit CBC's site for additional instructions. I'll be on at the beginning of the second hour of the show.

Good luck!

File under "W" for Wee!

Today I'm being interviewed for CBC's Here and Now with Matt Galloway. What an amazing few weeks this has been. Truly, a treat. I'll post again when I know the air date.

***And, we're back. It was live. I don't know why I suddenly thought these things weren't, but there we are. Somehow I never imagined they'd let a newbie wander in off the streets and pull up a chair to the puffy mic. But they did, and ohmigod, what a thrill! What an honest-to-goodness thrill. The Nation's voice, y'all! [High fives dead air.]

Down underground

I met David Waldman this morning for the photo shoot for the upcoming article in Eye Weekly. We stayed put on the subway platform working with a few ideas and I'm quite thrilled with the outcome. David's approach is simple and organic, much like mine. There's no point in trying to work overtime to get to the starting line if you don't know where it is. And, heck, if you're already there, just run with it. Thanks, David!