Category: News stories

World Read-Aloud Day

It was a fun day celebrating World Read Aloud Day with seven schools and multiple classes within those schools. Many thanks to librarians and educators who scrambled amidst family emergencies, covid quarantines, and snow storms to still make the sessions happen. Mostly, I read the opening pages of my newest novel, Traitors Among Us, but Sara Lema of Allendale Michigan asked if I could read Chapter 16, The Blue Room, because she had been reading the book aloud to her class and that’s where they were! It was such fun for me to read in the middle of my book like that!Here’s a pic from Knowlton School in NJ and Weiner Elementary in AZ.

Support your local independent bookstore

Authors LOVE independent booksellers. Why? Because independent bookstores are owned and run by people who are as passionate about books as the people who write them are. Bookstore folk are reading omnivores. If you don’t know what you want to read, drop into an independent bookstore and ask someone who works there (or owns the store) what they might recommend. You’ll have a great conversation and will expand your mind!

Mom

Mom died a little over a year ago and today is her birthday. I think of her everyday with much love and gratitude. She encouraged me to follow my passions and interests and to not worry about what others thought. She was an avid reader and was thrilled when I became a writer. For as long as she could, Mom was my go-to person to hunt out my dyslexic typos. Mom, your memory is a blessing.

Lost Liberties exhibit at Canadian Museum of History

I would have loved to go to the opening of this exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History which explores the three times the War Measures Act has been used in Canada. My grandfather was interned in WWI as an enemy alien the first time it was used and his story is featured in the exhibit. I was invited, but with covid, I opted not to go.

Ryan Boyko did go, and he took these pics. Thank you, Ryan! If you want to know more about WWI internment, I’ve written three books set during that time: Prisoners in the Promised Land, Silver Threads and Dance of the Banished. Or you can watch Ryan’s documentary, That Never Happened.