“Wind ’er up and let ’er talk” is the theme of a coffee-and-muffin event with author Anne DeGrace on Saturday, October 20, at 10 a.m. at the Nakusp Public Library. She will also offer a beginner’s fiction writing workshop Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. called The Brass Tacks: Getting Started in Fiction.
“Good coffee is essential,” says Anne, who will rise early at her home in Bonnington to make the trip up the valley. “Once I’m properly primed, I believe I can read some entertaining selections and, I hope, engage in some lively discussion. Later, I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the workshop.”
DeGrace is the author of four novels, published by McArthur & Company (Toronto). Treading Water chronicles the fictional community of Bear Creek, inspired by the real-life village of Renata that flourished on Arrow Lake before dam development in the 1960s. Wind Tales plays with the idea of points of departure in a story of a waitress, a hitchhiker, and a cast of characters who stop by a mountain diner one windy day in the 1970s. The backdrop for Sounding Line is based on a true U.F.O. incident that occurred in 1967 in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. DeGrace’s most recent novel, Flying with Amelia, follows the descendants of two immigrant families across Canada, and across a century. In each chapter, there is a historical backdrop to the lives of everyday people.
“It’s not often that a book makes me late for drinks with a friend,” said book reviewer Candace Fertile in the Globe and Mail, “but I was in the middle of the title chapter of Anne DeGrace’s latest novel, Flying with Amelia, and I had to find out what happens to the characters. And then I had to mop the tears off my face.”
“There will be no crying at this event,” insists DeGrace, “unless it’s over weak or insufficient quantities of coffee.”
Registration is required for the workshop, which runs from 1 - 3 p.m. DeGrace will take participants through the brass tacks of fiction, focusing the elements of storytelling: character, setting, voice, and point of view, with fun exercises to get the juices flowing and good ideas to take home. The workshop is ideal for beginning writers. To register or for more information, call the Library at 250-265-3363 or email info@nakusplibrary.ca.