Saturday, May 7, 2011

TO OTTAWA AND BACK

Spent a few wonderful days at the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival and I have to thank Artistic Director Sean Wilson, Founding Director Neil Wilson, Program Coordinator Kira Harris and everyone on the festival staff for making my time in Ottawa an absolute delight, both personally and professionally.   One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Mike Carey—author of Vertigo’s The Unwritten, as well as the Felix Castor novels—and his wife Lin (who, under the pseudonym A.J. Lake, has written a fantasy adventure series for young readers called The Darkest Age).  Mike and I did a Masterclass on comics and graphic novels that lasted about an hour but could have gone on for several more.  (The picture below was taken by photographer Jowan Gauthier during the class.  I love that backdrop.)  I also had the pleasure of doing talks—and Imaginalis readings—at two local schools:  When you’re a writer of kids’ fantasy fiction, you just can’t beat the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a couple of hundred nine and ten year olds.


As a guy who, perhaps, spends too much time alone in a room playing with his imaginary friends, it was a real treat to get out into the world and interact with the folks who read my work—as well as fellow authors and literary enthusiasts.  The Ottawa festival goes on twice a year, every year, and if you’re a lover of books—as I suspect most of you reading this are—I urge you to attend.

8 comments:

  1. I'll have to make some T-shirts and sell them here at Creation Point, David. "To Ottawa and Back" will sweep the world!

    Or maybe not.

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  2. I was actually talking about "Imagination is a Renewable Resource"!

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  3. And here I thought you were making an Ottawa joke!

    Yes, it's a fantastic slogan.

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  4. Really glad you had a great time, J.M.! Not surprised that it was a success. Who wouldn't want to hear you speak and read from your book? Hope you make it back to Canada again soon.

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  5. I don't know any Ottawa jokes. But I'll admit when you say "To Ottawa and Back," I can't help but picture a frozen wasteland. It's 92 degrees in my part of Texas today, so anything below 50 would qualify.

    BTW, THOR was really good. If you haven't seen it yet, it's well worth the time and money. Kenneth Branagh was a smart choice. I'd be curious to know what you think, since I've never been that tuned into Thor.

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  6. Haven't seen THOR yet, David, but I've heard very good things about it. I'm a big fan of Kenneth Branagh -- especially DEAD AGAIN and his film of HENRY V -- so I'm not surprised that he's done a great job.

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