MEET AND GREET
So… I'm now officially installed as Writer in Residence and am really looking forward to my two months with you.
Saturday afternoon, I was at the North York Public Library for a Meet and Greet. Greg, Elsa and some of the friendliest librarians I've ever met had laid out a table of cheese, fruit and sweets. About forty people showed up from age ten to seventy. After a short reading from CHANDA'S SECRETS, I fielded questions, then all of us mingled.
I particularly remember talking to a young woman in grade nine and a young man who, at a guess, might be in grade six. It brought me back to my youth in London, Ontario. In grade nine, I auditioned for James Reaney — Canada's greatest playwright and one of its greatest poets. He cast me in the first production of his play LISTEN TO THE WIND. After that experience, I joined his "Listener's Workshop" at Alpha Centre, an arts centre he founded where he workshopped scenes from his plays-in-progress, like COLOURS IN THE DARK; produced puppet shows, like NAMES AND NICKNAMES; and published his hand-typeset literary magazine Alphabet.
Jamie read my plays, encouraged me, lent me Alpha Centre to produce a couple of them, and published one of them — THE RUSTING HEART — when I was in grade twelve. That led to my first paid professional production: Norman Newton, a CBC producer in Vancouver read it in Alphabet and asked me to adapt it for radio.
I don't edit a magazine or run a workshop space, but I'd like to provide young writers (new writers of any age, actually) the kind of advice, support and encouragement that Jamie provided me. In addition to my public events at the library, I'll be reading writing submissions and meeting one-on-one with as many applicants as I can. (Submission guidelines and deadline are elsewhere on this site.) This is the part of the job I'm most looking forward to.
I'll be at the Writer's Table at the Young Voices Writers conference on October 16; I'll also be fielding questions about writing fact-based fiction and my personal travels and research in subSaharan Africa at 7:00 p.m. on October 28: both events to be held at the North York Public Library.
But starting today, I'll be reading your work and getting back to you on a time for us to meet and discuss it in person. Don't be a stranger!
Cheers,
Allan
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