Save the Dates: Malarky Reading

My dear friend and colleague Anakana Schofield is launching her new novel called Malarky. It is a fascinating exploration of the inner life of an Irish woman who is fearlessly working to try to understand her son's past. If you are in Vancouver you can hear her read at the Vancouver Public Library on March 21. or you can attend the book launch at the most excellent Co-op Bookstore on April Fool's Day from 3-6 pm. If you are in Toronto, you can catch her on Wednesday May 16th, 2012 at the Northern District Library at 12:30pm or later that evening at the North York Central Library at 7:30pm.

Anakana is also one of my favorite bloggers and whenever there is a weather event like the wind storm we had in Vancouver this morning you can bet she will give her report!

Dandy and Bunty and all the Rest

I loved Michael Enright's interview with the Duchess of Devonshire, the only surviving Mitford sister. You can listen to it on podcast here in the third hour.

"Meet Her Grace Deborah Vivienne Cavendish, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, also known as Debbo, the last of the six amazing Mitford sisters. She'll talk about the private John F. Kennedy, the father who read only one book in his lifetime and what it was like to have tea with Hitler."

I am currently reading The Winter Ground by Catriona McPherson, a British mystery set in the 1920's. I love the names and the nicknames: Dandy the detective and Bunty the dog. The Duchess of Devonshire talked about the nicknames in her family--everyone had one and once you had one it tended to stick, whether you liked it or not. It's hard focusing on reading with all this class prep roiling around in my brain and seedlings begging to be transplanted already. Is it warm enough?