Wheredunnit?

From: Roxanne's Reflections Book & Card Shop

In the past, the quintessential setting of a mystery or detective novel was always either 1) the mean streets of some heartless and corrupt US city, or 2) the musty and genteel drawing room of an country manor near a quaint village named Burton-le-Coggles, or some such place. I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture.

     What is really gratifying about the crime fiction of today is that setting has been liberated. We have entered a world where anywhere is ripe for skulduggery and intrigue: from Stieg Larrson's Sweden to Donna Leon's Italy.
     And who can forget our own home-grown bounty of books by such crime fiction masters as Louise Penny (Quebec), Howard Shrier and Robert Rotenberg (Toronto), and Anthony Bidulka (Saskatchewan)? 

"What a great honour to be asked to be Writer in Residence for this month, and to proudly hold the banner of Canadian Crime Fiction. Especially since that banner has been designed and created by some of the world’s best writers—who also happen to be Canadian, and happen to use crime fiction to explore what it means to be human. Giles Blunt, Maureen Jennings, Barbara Fradkin, Peter Robinson (a Brit, but a man who chooses to live in Canada, so we bestow upon him the honour), William Deverell, Ian Hamilton—and many, many more."
— Louise Penny, CBC Books
Read more…

"A four-day blizzard has left the village of Three Pines looking like a toy town sheltered under a snow globe. But this secluded Canadian hamlet, tucked away in a valley deep in the mountains, contributes more than its picturesque setting to Louise Penny’s latest mystery, How the Light Gets In. You might even say Three Pines is the hero of the novel.
     Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, the honorable detective in this series, often visits the village just to let its eccentric but kindhearted residents restore his faith in humanity. This time the inspector comes looking for something more — a safe haven. Demoralized and increasingly isolated, Gamache is battling an unscrupulous superior.
     'We’ve killed his career, his department. We’ve killed his credibility and broken his spirit,' gloats one of the man’s conspirators. But when the safety of two loyal friends is compromised by their undercover research into rampant police corruption, Gamache is able to spirit them away to Three Pines."
— Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
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Buy books by all the authors mentioned in this post here...

Celebration

Left to right: Andrew Westoll, Ailsa Kay, Carrie Snyder, Sonia Day, Robert
Rotenberg and Terry Fallis at the EWF Reception, Elora Centre for the Arts
(photo: Jean Mills) 

Carrie Snyder, one of our readers at the 2013 Elora Writers' Festival yesterday, was awarded the Gowlings Literary Award at last night's Waterloo Region Arts Awards ceremony at Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario.

     Congratulations Carrie! And thank you so much for being a part of the stunning lineup of authors at this year's Festival.
     And our thanks go out to all the authors who honoured us with readings from their recent works: Sonia Day, Ailsa Kay, Terry Fallis, Robert Rotenberg, Carrie Snyder and Andrew Westoll.
     And who can forget the packed house of enthusiastic fans? Our gratitude is immeasurable.
     Three cheers for our audience!!
     "Hap! Hap! Hap!"
     (You had ta' be there…)

"KITCHENER (May 27, 2013)— Every year, artists in Waterloo Region are recognized for both their achievements and contributions to arts in their community in a gala that attracts hundreds of audience members. Sunday night was no exception. Nearly 60 nominees in 11 categories joined the 25th annual 2012 Arts Awards Waterloo Region event at Centre in the Square, for an evening of music, food, an art auction and celebration of all that makes this community a cultural hot bed."
— The Record
Read more...

Learn more about Carrie here...

And buy all her books here...

The word is out...

Elora Writers' Festival Committee member Roxanne Beale with EAC
chair Barb Lee at the 2013 Writers' Festival Launch
(from: The Wellington Advertiser)

FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 3013 - It was blustery March morning, but surrounded by beckoning shelves of newly-minted books and the scent of fresh-brewed coffee there was much excitement in air, and the promise of spring.
     Elora Writers’ Festival Committee member Roxanne Beale had just announced the lineup of readers for the 2013 Elora Writers' Festival: Sonia Day, Terry Fallis, Ailsa Kay, Robert Rotenberg, Carrie Snyder and Andrew Westoll.

     "We've streamlined it, to some degree," said Festival Committee member Michael Hale. "Made it even more of a personal experience, for both the audience and the authors. As intimate, I guess, as this Media Launch.
     "After the readings there’ll be a question-and-answer session — it was a real success last year — then everyone gets a chance to chat about the readings and books in general — a real schmooze-fest; and we'll have appetizers and wine so people can relax and really get to know each other — no special dinner this year. Just a simple gathering of book creators and consumers."
     "In case you’ve been wondering why you haven’t heard anything about our writing contest this year, here's the scoop: we're taking a break," said former Competition Coordinator and Committee member Jean Mills. "But watch our blog spot for details about next year’s contest; we are re-inventing it for 2014, our 20th Anniversary. So keep writing."
     This year the Elora Writers’ Festival will be held at the Elora Centre for the Arts, 75 Melville Street, in Elora on Sunday, May 26, 2013 from 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M., so space is more limited than last year's venue. Tickets for the Readings (which includes the Reception) are $20. They’re available at Roxanne’s Reflections Book & Card Shop in Fergus (519-843-4391). You can also purchase them on the bookstore website: www.roxannesreflections.ca
     The Elora Writers’ Festival has been celebrating fine Canadian writing in this way since 1994, featuring authors (novelists, poets, biographers, journalists, screenwriters and playwrights) such as Alison Pick, Thomas King, Nino Ricci, Di Brandt, Andrew Pyper, Johanna Skibsrud, Linwood Barclay, Louise Penny, Paul Quarrington, Bonnie Burnard, Leon Rooke, Susan Coyne and Linden MacIntyre. Award winners and losers, veterans and novices—all of them with wonderful stories to tell.
      The 2013 Festival lineup is no exception: it  includes a criminal lawyer who’s a Dagger (Crime Thriller) Award winner; a primatologist and recipient of the 2012 Charles Taylor Award for Literary Non-Fiction; a local (Waterloo) writer whose latest book was shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General’s Award; an acclaimed political satirist (2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour); an award-winning author/Toronto Star columnist/chef/gardener/painter; and one of the founders of the Elora Writers’ Festival returning as a first-time novelist.

For more information about the authors go here...
and here…; just follow the links to articles about each of this year's readers.

The word is out... about Ailsa Kay

Join us on Sunday, May 26, 2013 (1 to 4 P.M.) at the Elora Centre for the Arts, 75 Melville Street, Elora for a relaxing yet thought-provoking afternoon of readings by Sonia Day, Terry Fallis, Carrie Snyder, Andrew Westoll, Ailsa Kay and Robert Rotenberg.
     For $20.00 (includes Reception) you get to enjoy readings by six of Canada's finest authors; a Q&A session; a "Schmooze-fest" replete with wine & appetizers… and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS (Get them signed by the author[s].) courtesy of Roxanne's Reflections.

     Welcome home, Ailsa!
     Ailsa Kay and Amy Appleford were the driving forces behind the committee of the Elora Arts Council that started the Elora Writers' Festival (Words by the Water) back in 1994. That first festival was an ambitious confection of formal readings at the Gorge Cinema, along with more casual and intimate events at cafes and outdoor locales in and around the village.

"Ailsa Kay's new novel (Under Budapest) came out of her life-changing visit to Hungary ('I fell in love with Budapest when I lived there in 2004. I return as often as I can, which is not as often as I would like.').
     She has taught writing at college and university where she has learned from her students to laugh a lot, swear occasionally, and always risk that leap of faith ('I teach and I love to teach. I don’t know what this says about me.').
     Kay’s short fiction has appeared in literary journals such as Exile and The New Quarterly. After twenty years in Toronto, she recently returned to her hometown of Fergus, Ontario."
— (from Fictionista! and Ailsa Kay.com)

     Under Budapest, her first novel, will be published in April by Goose Lane Editions.

Find out more about Ailsa Kay here…

And pre-order Ailsa's book Under Budapest here…

The word is out... about Robert Rotenberg

Join us on Sunday, May 26, 2013 (1 to 4 P.M.) at the Elora Centre for the Arts, 75 Melville Street, Elora for a relaxing yet thought-provoking afternoon of readings by Sonia Day, Terry Fallis, Carrie Snyder, Andrew Westoll, Ailsa Kay and Robert Rotenberg.
     For $20.00 (includes Reception) you get to enjoy readings by six of Canada's finest authors; a Q&A session; a "Schmooze-fest" replete with wine & appetizers… and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS (Get them signed by the author[s].) courtesy of Roxanne's Reflections.

From: The Star

"I really can’t remember a time when I wasn’t thinking of stories, then writing them. When I was seven my oldest brother got a portable typewriter for his Bar Mitzvah. I was transfixed by it. I’d sneak into his room and use it. And I read everything on the bookshelves of my two very smart older siblings. When I was 15, I sent a short story to the New Yorker. (I kept the rejection letter, on their letterhead no less, for years.) I wrote my first film script the next year."

— Robert Rotenberg, robertrotenberg.com
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"After graduating from law school in Toronto, Robert Rotenberg became the managing editor of Passion, the English-speaking magazine of Paris. He then returned to publish and edit his own magazine, T.O. The Magazine of Toronto.
     Eighteen years ago he opened his own law practice and is today one of Toronto’s top criminal lawyers, defending, as he likes to say 'everything from murder to shoplifting.'
     Rotenberg lives in Toronto with his wife, television news producer Vaune Davis, [and] their three children."
— Simon & Schuster
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"Rotenberg's first novel, Old City Hall, was set in Toronto, and as the name suggests, features pivotal scenes in the city's historic Old City Hall. It was shortlisted for The Crime Writers Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Since then he has published The Guilty Plea (2011), and Stray Bullets (2012).

     His new book Stranglehold will be released in May, [just in time to be featured at the Elora Writers' Festival.]"

— Wikipedia

Read more...

Get all of Robert Rotenberg's books here...

The word is out... about Sonia Day

Join us on Sunday, May 26, 2013 (1 to 4 P.M.) at the Elora Centre for the Arts, 75 Melville Street, Elora for a relaxing yet thought-provoking afternoon of readings by Sonia Day, Terry Fallis, Carrie Snyder, Andrew Westoll, Ailsa Kay and Robert Rotenberg.

     For $20.00 (includes Reception)  you get to enjoy readings by six of Canada's finest authors; a Q&A session; a "Schmooze-fest" replete with wine & appetizers… and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS (Get them signed by the author[s].) courtesy of Roxanne's Reflections.
Tickets are available at Roxanne's Reflections website here... or by calling 519-843-4391

From: Toronto Botanical Garden

"Whoopee! My latest book, The Untamed Garden, A Revealing Look At Our Love Affair With Plants, is, literally, tops.
     At the U.S. based Garden Writers’ Association annual convention in Tucson, Arizona, it won the Gold Award — beating out all the other books, magazines, newspaper sections and electronic media in the awards program. As most of the 215 entries were American, it’s quite a coup, folks, for a 'mere' Canadian to achieve this. My book had already won Silver for Best Book, but we had to wait until Oct. 16 to hear which 'Best Overall Product' had nabbed the Gold.
     I felt immensely proud (and a bit surprised) as I heard my name called out at the awards banquet." — Sonia Day, soniaday.com
Read more…

Buy all of Sonia Day's books here...