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Long ago Denise and I ran a reading series in Montreal that sought to bring together friends in the literary communities of the city, English, French, and allophone. It seems, this weekend, heading into yet another provincial election that hinges on linguistic issues, natural to link to this piece by Carolyn Souaid, our dear friend and one of the faithful Urban Wanderers, written last spring for her website Poetry Quebec. The series, which ran from 1993 to 1995 and predated the Blue Metropolis literary festival, raised funds for ReClaim, the adult literacy program, and produced one anthology, The Urban Wanderers Reader. There might be a few out there still…

Here’s a link to the audio of the CBC-sponsored panel called “Montreal’s X Factor” in which I participated, pimping Everything I Own at the Blue Metropolis literary festival in April.

Have been invited to present at the 2013 AGM of the Modern Languages Association, to be held in Boston, Jan. 3-6. More details to follow, including title of panel and fellow presenters.

I’ll be signing copies of Everything I Own on February 12, a Sunday, at Chapters Pointe-Claire, from 1 to 3 p.m. Call ahead to reserve a copy: (514) 428-5500.

This is in addition to a previously announced reading and signing at Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave. in Montreal, Saturday, Feb. 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. Phone number: (514) 845 5811.

See you in Montreal!

Trevor Cole, a Hamilton novelist whose most recent work of fiction, Practical Jean, got a great review in the New York Times in November, runs a website called Authors Aloud. It’s dedicated to an understanding of the oral nature of a writer’s work: the sound of sentences, the rhythm and beat of lines, the staying nature of images. He has interviewed hundreds of authors and posted audio of them reading short passages of their work and insights into the writing process.

You can find his most recent posting — moi — at www.authorsaloud.com. In it, I read a passage from the middle of the first chapter, Verse: Beaupré, in which the protagonist, Michel, 14 at the time, attends the 1976 national day concert on Mont-Royal, then deals with the consequences of staying out late when he returns home. The “insight” is me talking about the autobiographical elements of the novel for about a minute.

Enjoy!

Today, following the publication of Everything I Own, I joined a rather exclusive (because the numbers are so few!) club of Franco-American writers. Not that I would ever consider myself on par with Clark Blaise or David Plante or Robert Cormier, but it is neat to be in their company on the Franco-American Connection website run by Jacques L’Heureux in St. Louis, Missouri.

I’ll be reading from Everything I Own

January 21, at 4 p.m., at Bryan Prince Booksellers, 1060 King St. W. Hamilton. Telephone 905-528-4508 to reserve your copy!

and

February 11, at 2 p.m. at Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Avenue (corner of Sherbrooke Street) in Montreal. Telephone 514 845 5811 to reserve your copy!

The reading originally scheduled for Saturday, December 10, between 2 and 4 p.m. at Barnes and Noble near the Ingleside Mall has been moved to:

Holyoke Public Library, 335 Maple St., between Cabot and Essex streets in downtown Holyoke.

This is almost a historic event: This will be the last reading given in the library auditorium before the library is closed for renovations. The newly redone library will be celebrating its 110th anniversary next year.

See you on Saturday!

Comments by folks who’ve read Everything I Own can be viewed on this website under Books/Everything I Own/Comments

Here’s an unedited version of my interview with Hugh Reilly on Liquid Lunch, an Internet program on Thatchannel.com

You can toggle the little thingamabob at the bottom of the TV image to around the 1:02 mark for the beginning of the interview. Unless of course you’d like to hear about traditional Chinese medicine for a while!

http://blip.tv/thatchannel/liquid-lunch-2011-11n-15-hm-5740056