And I met tons of other authors. First I met a number of my fellow Red Maple nominees. (They were all there, by the way – I just didn’t get to speak personally with all of them). In no particular order I met: Max Turner, Rene Schmidt, Philip Roy, Sharon McKay and Caroline Pignat (who, by the way, won the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award for her novel, Greener Grass … She also has a book out called Egghead which, based on the title alone, I want to read!).
I even met Kenneth Oppel! Yes, that Kenneth Oppel.
I also met other Tree nominees Julie Burtinshaw, Shelley Hrdlitschka and Marsha Skrypuch. I met the winner of the White Pine Award, Pam Bustin, when she very kindly pointed me in the direction of the washrooms!
I also ran into some old friends.
Robert Heidbreder, nominated for the Blue Spruce Award, was there. Now, not only is Robert an excellent writer, he is also a retired first grade teacher. He taught my son, and he was, without a doubt, the best teacher ever. And believe me, I’m not the only one who thinks so: He won the Prime Minister’s Award for teaching excellence. He is one of a kind, and I was so happy to see him again!
Arthur Slade, one of my favourite authors and also one of my favourite people. He was nominated for the Silver Birch Award. The very first author’s festival I was invited to (Winnipeg’s excellent Thin Air, in 2008) I shared a stage with Arthur. In spite of being a Governor General’s Literary Award winner, he was the nicest, funniest, kindest, most generous fellow. And, seeing him last week, I could see he hasn’t changed a bit!
And last but definitely not least, I got to see my heroine, Susan Juby. She was nominated for the White Pine Award, for her excellent novel, Getting the Girl. I owe a lot to Ms. Juby. She basically played a pivotal role in helping me get published. She’s the bomb.
Caroline Pignat, Susin Nielsen and Susan Juby
Looks like really good stuff.
You look like you had a lot of fun.
Keep up the great work.
Waiting for the next book.
Sandy