A Month in Photos (Yes, I’m a Bad Blogger)

I’ve been waiting for the right time to write in great length about my amazing trip to Vancouver, describe my time at The Vancouver Writers’ Fest, which was as unforgettable and dreamy as I had hoped. I wanted to write about the panels and how well they went, the parties and late nights at the hospitality suite with my new talented friends (Saleema Nawaz, Theodora Armstrong, Angie Abdou, Shaena Lambert) and my dear old friends (Nancy Jo Cullen, Naz Hozar), the inspiring events that made me want to go home and write, write, write, how Thomson Highway renamed my book The Best Place to Nurse, and how my baby was made the official festival baby (apparently there’s one every year) and even Margaret Atwood said hi when we passed her in the hotel’s hallway. And how, on the very last day, I went to take a photo of The Best Place on Earth at the festival’s bookstore and found out it SOLD OUT! Which was so much better than a picture!

I also wanted to write about Place Identity, the reading slash Vancouver launch of The Best Place on Earth slash Cwila fundraiser, where I read with the amazing Renée Saklikar and Anakana Schofield, and shared the stage with host extraordinaire Elee Kraljii Gardiner and Cwila founder Gillian Jerome. It was an intimate and warm event and truly felt like a homecoming. I even got to hang out with my dear friends Janet Hong and Gurjinder Basran.

But before I had to chance to recap my two weeks on the coast (luckily, I covered my time in the Victoria Writers’ Festival in this post!) I was back in Ontario and spending a weekend in Waterloo, at the Wild Writers Festival. And there was so much to say about that, too, more inspiring panels, hanging out with old friends and making new friends. And then, a few days later I read as a part of The Eh List author series at the Toronto Library alongside Lily Poritz Miller, and it was a fabulous, well-attended event, and if was a better blogger I would have told you all about that too.

Now, we’re on our way to Israel. We’re leaving in two weeks. I hope to do some actual writing (!) while I’m away and it is beginning to feel like I’ll never find the time to blog about any of this, so I think I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves.