Writers In Schools

The Canadian Authors Association has a Writers in Schools Program, where schools can apply to have a writer who is a member of the association (like me) come for a school visit.

I’d love to participate, so if you’re in the Calgary area, please share this information, and apply.

Applications must be in by the end of November, for visits from January to May, 2012.

http://www.canauthorsalberta.ca/wisp-for-schools

Maureen

Harold and Zop

Recent Reads

I came home from Banff with a long list of recommended books to read (some of them actual books in my bag, purchased from writers in Banff). Then I collected more titles from recent awards and recommendations from people I know. I’ve been (slowly) working my way through the lists, and while I’ve enjoyed many of them, a few have stood out.

These include Arthur Slade’s Tribes, a quirky and touching look at high school cliques (unusually for Art, it’s neither fantasy nor horror).

And Erin Bow’s Plain Kate, which recently won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. I had a little trouble getting into it, as I found the beginning pervasively dark and sad, but the story drew me back, and held me right to a late-night have-to-finish-before-I-go-to-sleep read. I’d particularly recommend this to the younger teen girls I meet looking for fantasy about girls (along with Tamora Pierce, my usual recommendation).

Maureen