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floatandscurry

BORN, a novel, coming Spring 2025 from Coach House Books.

1. “Elegy plus comedy, she says, is the only wa

1.

“Elegy plus comedy, she says, is the only way to express how we live now. And just because something isn’t funny in real life doesn’t mean it can’t be written about as if it were. Funny might even be the best way to write about it.”

– Sigrid Nunez, The Vulnerables

Thank you Ontario Arts Council and book*hug press for supporting my poem-writing. (Trying for funny. Sitting with the sad and the true.)

2.

I really dig this pen. I don’t actually drive in real life. But I love that this pen is called the Dr!ver!

I did a reading in beautiful Halifax and took no p

I did a reading in beautiful Halifax and took no photos of the event itself, which is how I know it was a good one. Such a warm and human gathering at the Trident cafe (@tridentbouldwr) , organized by Kings Co-op Books (@kingscoopbookstore). Jaime Forsythe (@jaimemforsythe) and Nanci Lee were excellent co-readers and pre-reading pub companions – and Lachie too!

Also present during this – my first east coast outing! – was my eldest, who has decided Dal is the place for her! Here's us happily playing tourist.

Ho ho Halifax, you ain't seen the last of us!

1. Citadel Hill – Clock Tower

2. Here.

3. Born! Spotted at Bookmark Books

4. Henry Hicks Building, Dalhousie – Lego

5. Henry Hicks Building, Dalhousie – IRL

6. Art Gallery of Nova Scotia – exterior

7. Maqtukwek (Humber River) 2019, Applique beadwork of Mi’kmaqplace names on commercially tanned and dyed rabbit fur by Meagan Musseau

8. Untitled (Portrait) c. 1920s by Mollie Bell McKay

9. Maud Lewis' Painted House, continuous process, 1940s-1960s

10. Halifax Waterfront Clocktower

11. H and M

12. Word.

#halifaxhappy
#proudmumtolerantdaughter
#halifaxbookstores
#dalhousie
#artgalleryofnovascotia

Trying my best to celebrate art and abundance when

Trying my best to celebrate art and abundance when it comes my way despite the world’s fuckery. In the last few days I have donned a live chinchilla hat and a snecklace, had some beautiful conversations with students and fellow educators, switched from boots to sneakers, attended a book launch that included Bridget Jones (!) courtesy Kerry Clare, and marveled – as ever – at the genius of Ronnie Burkett and his bawdy, mesmerizing, tender-hearted marionettes.

#listentoyoungpeople
#listentoanimals
#listentopuppets
#supportartists
#makeartnotwar

Thank you Public Lending Right and Canada Council

Thank you Public Lending Right and Canada Council for the Arts for recognizing libraries as the magical portals they are and for compensating the writers whose books people these portals!

#publiclendingright
#bringingtheartstolife
#torontopubliclibrary
#ilovelibraries❤️
#canadacouncilforthearts

I call this: Middle Aged Lady Counters Unravelling

I call this: Middle Aged Lady Counters Unravelling of World Order, Grey Skies, and Persistent Fatigue with Fuzzy Orange and Pink Get Up.

Available for styling consults. Will work for coffee and SSRIs.

Mailbox with snowy hat; Snow Day Poem from Float a

Mailbox with snowy hat; Snow Day Poem from Float and Scurry; purple books I have loved; dog and human in the weather.

What does it mean to think alone and to sing along? Loved Maggie's Nelson's wonderfully small book for making me muse about Taylor Swift and Sylvia Plath and then Robbie Burns and Danez Smith and Leonard Cohen and Renee Good...

(Thank you @kerryreads for pointing me towards The Slicks! What a sweet service!)

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Born A Novel by Heather Birrell

Born

Float and Scurry

Float And Scurry

Mad Hope

Mad Hope

iknow-200

I know you are but what am I?