BookLust

Pirates and Penguins – Oh My!

Stop the presses!

Wait a minute – what the hell am I saying? Don't stop the presses. But stop what you're doing and take a boo at this! Here's the cover for my upcoming book, The Pirate and the Penguin. Yup – you can now pre-order this beauty at Amazon!

You'll notice that the only name on the cover is moi, because this is my first foray into authorship as well as illustratorship (Is that a word? Not bloody likely. And this gal calls herself an author? Sheesh).

You'll have to wait for the fall for the book to be available, but I just had to share the cover of my baby. It's been almost 2 years that I've been working on this gem, so it is an indescribable feeling to know that it's almost here. (Let's face it – 2 years is a darn long gestation period!)

So what is the story about? Well, I'll just say this for now...think The Prince and the Pauper, only with a pirate and a penguin, and what do you get?

Random Readings 24

There is always the easy way out, although I am loath to use it. I have no children. I do not watch television and I do not believe in God – all paths taken by mortals to make their lives easier. Children help us to defer the painful task of confronting ourselves, and grandchildren take over from them. Television distracts us from the onerous necessity of finding projects to construct in the vacuity of our frivolous lives: by beguiling our eyes, television releases our mind from the great work of making meaning. Finally, God appeases our animal fears and the unbearable prospect that someday all our pleasures will cease. Thus, as I have neither future nor progeny nor pixels to deaden the cosmic awareness of absurdity, and in the certainty of the end and the anticipation of the void, I believe I can affirm that I have not chosen the easy path.

– from The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Random Readings 23

Heller observes "a relatively new and very unhealthy phenomenon" arising, perhaps, from "Oprahfication of fiction writing or book clubs: This demand for characters you can root for, inspirational fiction, where you feel like you'd like to climb into the book and be there. There's something slightly infantile about all of that. It clearly doesn't win me any friends to say this, but I feel [like saying] a lot of the time, when I'm answering questions in bookstores, ‘Oh, grow up!'

– from Saturday, March 07, 2009 edition of The National Post

UPDATE: Steven W. Beattie, review editor at Quill & Quire and blogger extraordinaire of That Shakespeherian Rag fame has delved much deeper into the issue of "this demand for uplift and sympathetic characters in fiction". He often expresses so well what I think, but can never quite put into words with such eloquence. That is why he is the embattled literary critic, and I, um, draw goofy cartoons.

Banned Books and Beautiful Bookmarks

So late in posting this stuff – it's crunch time with some deadlines, and it feels like I haven't a moment to breathe, think, let alone blog. But in between working I did manage to attend some wonderful events at the end of February.

On the 24th of February I attended one of the events during Freedom To Read Week, called Banned Together: Canada's finest read the censors' favourites:

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Freedom to Read Week, acclaimed Canadian authors, editors, and publishers gathered in Toronto to read outrageously entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking books for young readers. Books that tell the truth! Books that make kids think! Books that make adults squirm!

Great fun. Tim Wynne-Jones read from Charlotte's Web, Russell Smith read from Lolita, Kenneth Oppel read from The Lorax and Dennis Lee read from his own book, Lizzy's Lion, to name but a few. An important event, and of course, a great opportunity for me to meet up with friends and colleagues that I don't see nearly often enough.

Half-way through the evening they held a raffle. I had my ticket in my hand, and glumly thought to myself, "I never win a damn thing". And wouldn't you know it – I won! And what a prize – a copy of Charlotte's Web, along with a copy of Writing Life: Celebrated Canadians and International Authors on Writing and Life, edited by Constance Rooke. But that wasn't all! I also won a $75.00(!) gift certificate to Ben McNally Books, and finally, I got me a Freedom To Read Week poster, with signatures from all the authors who took part in the evening's event. It's now in our computer room, and I'm looking at it right now:

Look closely: See? Dennis Lee's signature! Oh joy!

But the fun didn't stop that week – the next evening was the awards ceremony for Toronto Public Library's Design-A-Bookmark Contest. The winning designs have all been posted on the TPL web site now, and I urge you to look through all of them and be amazed. You may recall that I was asked to be one of the judges for this wonderful contest, and boy was it hard picking the top 16 – so many of the entries were fantastic.

The event took place at the auditorium in the North York Public Library, and all the kids who won along with their families came to attend this very special night. Cheryl Skovronek, Chair for TPL's Children's Services Committe was the MC, and Okeima Lawrence, one of TPL's Library Board Members also said a few words before the awards took place. Then Tamsin Plant, a professional artist, who also just happened to be a Design-a-Bookmark winner from years ago spoke to the audience, talking about her career, and inspiring the kids to continue to draw and follow their dreams. And last but not least, I got up and did my cartoon schtick for the kids and their families. (Note the goofy cartoon I did of your stereotypical shushing librarian. Heh).

And then finally, all the winners were introduced one-by-one, and given wonderful prizes of some beautiful books as well as copies of all the printed winning bookmarks. Afterwards I had a chance to talk to quite a few of the young artists as well as their very proud parents. Such a great feeling, seeing these young kids interested in art, looking for direction and inspiration. And just the other day, I got an email from one of the young bookmark designers. She wrote:

It was a pleasure to meet you on February 25 at the wonderful celebration for the bookmark contest. I have already been to your website, and it's awesome! I'll be sure to tell my friends about it! When I grow up, I hope I'll create a website with artwork like yours. I will continue drawing and writing, and I hope I'll learn from you.

Oy! I'm all verklempt! I can't write anymore. Tawk amongst yourselves.