It's been a busy week for writerly events. Last Thursday night we came with food to the Vallican Whole to welcome former Kootenay resident, Caroline Woodward, who is on a whirlwind tour of BC launching TWO new books. Penny Loves Wade, Wade Loves Penny, is an updated version of The Odyssey, with Ulysses reincarnated as Wade, a long-distance trucker, and his wife, Penny, who's keeping the home fires burning on their Peace River ranch. Here's a review from the Vancouver Sun. Singing Away the Dark is a simply beautiful children's story about a little girl who has to walk a fair distance to catch the bus to school and sings to keep from being afraid. My seven-year-old grandson, Kyran, read it and after he was done he looked up and said, "This is a really good book." No faint praise from that one; if he hadn't liked it he'd have said.
Dan and Rita came up with cookies that fit the occasion
Caroline and Ted catching up before she read. Look at all those books!
Caroline's old friend, Rita Moir, introduced her
The illustrations in the kids' book are by Julie Morstad. Go check out some of her work, it's just lovely. I'll wait til you get back!
Caroline signed lots of books
The next night she read to another appreciative home crowd, this time in Nelson at Oxygen Art Centre.
Here she is in front of a bunch of posters of writers who have come to Nelson to give readings and workshops under the auspices of the Nelson Kootenay School of Writing group (the ad hoc one that brings in writers who are funded through Canada Council as opposed to the Vancouver one, although they are related in that they both rose from the ashes of David Thompson University Centre that was shut down by the Socred government in 1984). Caroline and her husband, Jeff George, were both very involved with KSW when they lived here. The posters went up after her reading in preparation for yet another writerly event the following night.
Saturday night about two dozen local writers met to discuss the future of Nelson's KSW. A scrumptuous dinner was catered by Jesse Phillips.
Happy hungry writers
The upshot of the discussions was that KSW is indeed a welcome and integral part of the writing scene in Nelson. With a few new people on board to divvy up the tasks, we can expect to bring in more writers to enchant and inspire us. I won't be as directly involved any more. After 18 years (!) of sitting book tables, transporting writers, billeting, and doing a few posters, I'm taking a break. Maybe.
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