A few months ago, (which seems like a lifetime ago now) fellow writer Dean Jobb asked me if I’d be willing to give a talk at the University of King’s College in Halifax titled: Why I Write. I happily accepted the invitation and looked forward to spending a Sunday afternoon in June with the students and faculty of the King’s Creative Non-Fiction MFA Residency to discuss the ins and outs of the writing life. Of course we all know what happened next. But rather than cancel the lecture, we carried on virtually—the students and faculty from their respective homes, and …
Tag: Ross Creek Centre for the Arts
So, the news is out—the process to adapt The Birth House into a television series has begun! (If you missed the official press release, there’s a link to it at the end of this post.) Because so many of you have been along with me on the novel’s journey from the start, (can you believe it’s been 13 years?) I thought I’d share a few behind-the-scenes glimpses into this new chapter in the book’s life. A few weeks ago, two members of the AMAZING team behind this project—Kerri MacDonald (Frontier, Little Dog, Republic of Doyle) and Elizabeth Schofield, (Director of …
You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen. My garden has been shrouded in fog the last couple of days – nature acting as a beguiling muse as I compose incidental music for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As I enter into my fourth week of rehearsals with the talented crew and company of players at Two Planks and a Passion Theatre, I feel profoundly blessed to be a part of their 2017 summer season. The words, characters and melodies that have lived in my …
We’re about to start week three of rehearsals for “Nothing Less!” so I thought I’d share another behind-the-scenes post about the history that has informed and inspired the play. This time, I’m tackling the anti-suffrage movement and how it found its way into homes across Canada, the US and the UK. Postcards were extremely popular in the early 1900’s. People were keen to send, collect, and display them in their homes. Political cartoons were also wildly popular and often found their way from the newspapers in which they were printed, into the scrapbooks of middle-class families. Illustrations depicting anti-suffrage sentiments …
99 years ago today… On May 24, 1918, female Canadian citizens (not included under racial or Indigenous exclusions) aged 21 and over were awarded the right to vote in Federal elections. A hard-won victory, yes, but there was still much work to be done. We often abbreviate history into a series of sound bites, tantalizing lists, and anniversary dates. We see them flit through our social media feeds on a daily basis. We assign them appropriate emoticons, and move on. I couldn’t let this date go by without writing a few words that I hope will illuminate the history of women’s suffrage in Canada in my own small …
Writing a novel can take years. The Witches of New York took five. Along the way, I learned a lot of things about the world and those around me, and above all, myself. One of the biggest revelations that came to me while writing this novel was the realization that magic is everywhere. And the more you’re open to it, the more it will present itself to you in ways large and small. In August, I was given the wonderful opportunity to share a night of storytelling at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. I was supposed to meet …