for including Republic of Dirt on the longlist for Leacock Prize! This is my third nomination and it’s a great honour each time. I’d like to chastise the other nominees for having written very funny and worthwhile books, thereby reducing the chances for the rest of us. Nice going, talented writers.
The shortlist will be announced May 6.
Also, I have an announcement for anyone who loves independent bookstores. And seriously, who doesn’t love the indies? Only the sort of person who doesn’t care for koala bears, mini donkeys, Star Wars or things that are delicious wouldn’t like independent bookstores. Actually, now that I think of it, there are a couple of people running to be the Republican nominee for president who might not like indies, mini-donkeys, Star Wars, koala bears or things that are delicious. Oh dear.
Anyway, for all the rest of us who have hearts and souls and love what is good and right, April 30 is Canada’s Authors for Indies Day. I’ll be helping out at Munro’s Books in Victoria, BC, from 12:00 – 2:00. I will be there with several of the other nominees for the BC Book Prizes. The gala for those awards is taking place that same night. (We may pause between recommending books to thumb wrestle each other. )
I will also be taking over the CBC Books Twitter feed (@cbcbooks) from 11:00 – 5:00, PST. I hereby issue a general apology in advance to the entire Twitter-verse.