March 29, 2007

Attended the Winterset readings this afternoon in that most delightful of venues, the Masonic Temple (that requires another post). Many previous winners and finalists in the audience including Lisa Moore, Bernice Morgan (who has a new book coming out this fall - yeh!), Joel Hynes (now I'm screwing myself by only mentioning a few - you'll find me hanging from the trees in the Anglican Cathedral cemetary across the road).

This year's finalists comprised three accomplished writers of very different styles and genres. I was transfixed by Russell Wangersky's reading of a short story - part of his debut collection. Go figure, this is a newspaper guy - he's the editor of the province's main daily newspaper. Who'd thunk he could write such mesmerizing prose. Actually anyone who reads his long and deliciously drifting editorials would not be surprised. Expect lots of positive reviews of this book.