"Alice" by Jennifer Kenneally
Spring is bringing a warm buzz to my writing activities, with Blue Denim Press agreeing to publish We All Become Stories (WABS). Shane Joseph and I are in the usual stage of heavy discussions about the last minute changes as we approach a finalized text (revisions completed thank goodness!).
In spite of knee surgery in March, Jennifer Kenneally has almost finished her beautiful illustrations of each of the people featured in the book that will open each chapter, and will also form a collage on the book cover. Jennifer is an independent artist as well as the business owner of 4Cats on Queen Street East in The Beaches. I really couldn’t have asked for a better collaboration.
I am greatly honored to have received a wonderful preface by Dr. Ellen Ryan, and endorsements from Gianna Patriarca, Max Layton, Olive Senior and Linda Stitt. The positive response from professionals in social work and gerontology has also been a great source of inspiration. Look for an article about WABS in the September Newsletter of the Sheridan Elder Research Centre for Creative Aging (SERCCA).
As we work towards an official launch in October, Margaret Lam is helping me prepare for a bit of fundraising and early buzz around WABS. We are having a marvelous time discussing the promotion of the book, all of which has me excited about the interesting people I’m going to meet along the way. I have already lined up a reading of WABS in Coburg on June 6th, and at the Riverdale Library on September 18th (organized by Susan Pilon).
Some of the readings will be co-presented with storyteller Ellen Jaffe, who co-wrote an article with Ellen Ryan on the importance of telling the stories of old people. You can catch her at the Portobello Cafe this Saturday afternoon on April 6th at 1:30pm.
Other collaborations will be a little more interdisciplinary, such as a music-literary performance and art show with singer and instrumentalist Katherine Hill, and artist Holly Briesmaster. This will be held on October 27th, at the unusual venue of Essentia, a mattress store on Queen Street East, whose amazing expanse of walls thrilled Holly. THe cosy bay-window elcove is a perfect stage for an intimate performance and reading. Other collaborative gigs are in the planning stage with Margaret Lam (pianist), Peggy Mahon (Singer/Actress Extraordinaire) and with Pam Mordecai some time in November—if she can take the Canadian cold that long before retreating to the Caribbean. Others to come.
I cannot close without heartfelt thanks for the generous and loving support of family and friends throughout a long and nasty virus. Hopefully on its way out with winter. Hillary Salter has stocked my freezer and I would have never made any appointments, medical and otherwise, without Marilyn Luciano.
They have all made life possible.