Trillium Book Awards Author Reading 2015

last entry

Submitted by dellis on March 31, 2008 - 4:37pm
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This will be my last entry for the Writer in Residence blog. It's been a good experience and I'm very lucky to have had this forum. Thanks to all who read the entries, and to all who support books and literature.

I spent the day in Waterloo and New Hamburg, at schools. Great kids, as usual. Really intelligent, thoughtful questions about the world, how it works, what their role in it can be. The teachers and principal do a lot to encourage such thinking and searching among their students.

Time to go. Thanks again.

The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book: Toronto.

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Date
Tue December 1, 2015

Eighty feet without a net - Conversations with John Irving

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Submitted by Kevin Hardcastle on December 1, 2015 - 2:10am

Eighty feet without a net - Conversations with John Irving

About a year ago I got an email that I had to read about twelve times over before it really settled in. That email was from Janet Turnbull Irving, the wife and agent of one of the most famous literary fiction writers in the world, John Irving. At the suggestion of Nick Mount (fiction editor at The Walrus, University of Toronto English Lit professor, and general champion) they asked me if I’d be interested in interviewing for a position as Irving’s assistant. Long story short, that assistantship ended up going to a far better person for the job, but I got along well with John and Janet, and talked a long while with them about a range of things from writing to wrestling to mixed martial arts to Georgian Bay.

Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis is the acclaimed author of over 18 books and the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Vicky Metcalfe Award for a body of work, the Governor General’s Award, the Africana Book Award, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Honour, and the Red Cedar Award. She has traveled the world to meet with and hear the stories of children marginalized by war, illness, and poverty, and has recorded their stories for others to read and learn from.

Go to Deborah Ellis’s Author Page