Project Bookmark Canada is now installed in its new office in Hamilton, Ontario. When I say new office, I mean new home office, so not only is Hamilton our organization’s new centre, but also my new home. When I move to a place, I like to see it through the eyes of its writers, so I am spending time this summer with writer John Terpstra’s poetry, much of which features Hamilton locales, and his book Falling Into Place, about the history of the Hamilton land formation called the Iroquois Bar. Hamilton is also home to many other writers including novelist Trevor Cole, short story specialist Krista Foss and poet Marilyn Gear Pilling, to name a few. And it boasts the fabulous Bryan Prince Booksellers and the GritLit writers’ festival. All in all, a good place for Bookmark to be.
I’m busy reading beyond the Hamilton borders too, in order to make recommendations to the Project Bookmark Canada site selection committee, which approves possible Bookmark installations across the country. One highlight from the reading list has been Lisa Moore’s beautiful new novel February. The book is set in St. John’s, Newfoundland and focuses on the decades’ long effect on one woman and her family when her husband is killed on the Ocean Ranger oil rig. Spectacular.
So what about you? I’d love to hear your ideas for the literature – poetry, fiction and children’s lit – of your area. Send me your suggestions at miranda.hill@projectbookmarkcanada.ca and get in on our Canlit conversation and celebration.
