My short story, Robin Hood of the Prairies, has been chosen for Poetry in Transit, a new project by Poet Laureate, Sheri-D Wilson, launched October 1, 2020. The City of Calgary is displaying excerpts of poetry and short stories on city transit buses and C-train cars. So if you are riding city transit this fall, keep an eye out – there are 10 poets/authors in total whose work will be featured. So thrilled to be a part of this initiative of public art in our city!!
My short non-fiction story, Robin Hood of the Prairies, is published in the anthology of poetry and short stories, YYC POP – Poetic Portraits of People, ed. Sheri-D Wilson and published by Frontenac House.
The online launch happens tomorrow and Sunday – September 26 and 27. The poets and authors will be reading from their work, and readers can join us online. The link to watch is found on the editor’s website – https://sheridwilson.com. I hope you can join us. My reading is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. There are readings by many noteworthy Calgarians (e.g. our Mayor) plus many well-known Calgary authors. Please join us!
Great news – the anthology, YYC POP, has been published and released for sale. The cover is beautiful! And I’m humbled to be included in this anthology that features short non-fiction and poetry by many well-known poets and authors. Thank you, Sheri-D Wilson, Poet Laureate of Calgary and Frontenac House, for such a beautiful book!
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and social distancing rules in place in the city of Calgary, and the province of Alberta, the publication and launch of the short story/poetry anthology, YYC POP, has been delayed until October 2020. The delay includes the public transit project of displaying excerpts of poetry and stories on City of Calgary buses and C-Trains. Please, stay safe everyone.
Exciting news! My short story, Robin Hood of the Prairies, will be published in 2020 as part of an anthology, in book form and online, by Frontenac House. The anthology is the brainchild of Poet Laureate of Calgary, Sheri-D Wilson. More information on launch dates and where the anthology can be purchased, in the near future.
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com
I often get asked, why write children’s books instead of adult fiction?
It’s an easy answer – I grew up over the last (ahem) 30+ years, and found out it’s great to be independent, make my own decisions, chart my own path and all that. Yes, but it’s also more serious and demanding and – well, less fun. Sure, adults have fun and most teens seem to be in a big hurry to grow up. But now I’m going in the other direction – down. Back to my childhood I guess.
Why? Another easy answer – I want to laugh more, real belly-laughter, tears in your eyes, gasping for breath laughs. I want that lightness in my chest that feels like I could run forever or fly into the wild blue yonder or turn somersaults in the fresh green grass or pretty much do whatever I want to do! I want to tell stories that make someone spew milk out their nose or giggle themselves silly.
And kids know how to do this best! So my current WIP is a humorous Picture Book. And selfishly, I think it’s more for me than anyone else. Well – yes, I want readers too. So more here in this blog when I have news to share.
First, an apology for letting nearly two years go by without posting. Life took a terrible toll on me two years ago as my husband of nearly 40 years died in an airplane crash. Less than two weeks prior to that, my mother had passed away – gently, while holding my sister’s hand. She was nearly 101 years old, so she had lived an amazing, long life. I miss her still, but believe she’s now at eternal rest and, hopefully, reunited with my dad.
Losing a dear loved one far too soon is indescribably difficult, so I won’t say anything more here, other than to recognize I needed the past two plus years to regroup, to grieve, and to contemplate the purpose and meaning of life. One lesson I’ve learned is that equilibrium/peace of mind is a temporary state of being, and that we must embrace all the deviations and obstacles that delay our achieving it. As others before me have said, with the bitter comes the sweet, with the night comes the dawn, with the dark comes the light.
With the support and love of family and friends, I’ve been able to re-engage with writing. I’m starting to query publishers for my next YA novel, which (ironically) deals with grief. I hope my next blog post will be an announcement that I’ve found the right home for “AFTER MATT”. As a teaser, here’s my pitch from #PitMad that attracted a publisher’s attention recently:
“Teenage girl grieving her brother’s shooting death must choose between caregiving her PTSD mother or joining the sport she believes will save them all, biathlon. FALL FOR ANYTHING x WINTER OLYMPICS”.
I’ve presented The Art of Rebellion at three book clubs so far, and it’s been a tremendous experience. Always thinking of myself as hating public speaking, it turns out I love to talk about books – er, my book in particular. A new facet of my self-image has emerged.
This fall, I present at three more book clubs and can’t wait to do so. The responses and questions I get are always so interesting and make me think about how once a book goes out into the world, it’s the reader’s book, not mine.
So thank you, all you book clubbers! You are awesome and really lift me up!!
Brenda Joyce Leahy 