Ontario Writers' Conference 2014

Just a note to thank the good folk at the Ontario Writers' Conference for having me out to teach on Saturday. A well-run con full of interesting teachers and great students -- if I get to go again I'll find a way to find a way to stay all day. I was very sorry to have to come only for the afternoon.

Plus: swany venue, guys! As I novelist I mostly hang out in community centres and high school gymansiums, so it's a bit of a shock to go the world's fanciest golf course for anything. I drive an nine-year-old Hyundai and a $75 bike. But after the conference I was sitting on the front step, reading The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. A golfer coming into the clubhouse paused -- one of those people who, unlike me, go around looking like a grown-up without appearing to try. He had $500 shoes and a slight Tamil accent. "That is such a good book," he exclaimed. "Have you read it before?"

"No," I said. "But it's wonderful so far!"

"I've read it three times. You are in for such a treat."

Reading is so wonderful.

And the golfer was right.