Hello everyone!

Once again, the Read and Write with Pride event was a great success! I think that we all had a lot of fun doing our readings.

Rob Browatzke started us off with a hilarious excerpt about how God created the world. He took the audience immediately and had them laughing throughout his entire reading. He made God seem a lot more relatable than in my past experience.

Next, Heidi Belleau read from Dead Ringer, which she co-authored with Sam Schooler. She read a sweet excerpt about her protagonists on a date. Her characters are far more invested in the relationship than an escort and a client should be. One of them has a secret, and the tension was definitely there.

Then came Marina Reid Hale, who read us some slam poetry with a queer twist. I particularly enjoyed the one about finding the perfect, possibly non-existent shade of yellow for a bedroom.

I read after that. I read an excerpt from All the King’s Men, a section in which my protagonist is searching for clues to finding the lost memories of his leader, who has been taken prisoner by an unknown government. Particularly highlighted were his interactions with Agent Seven.

After me came Sheldon L’Henaff, who read from his upcoming novel. His character is a supposedly straight DJ who works at a gay nightclub. However, his protagonist shares some interesting interactions with another character that had the rest of us intrigued.

Last but not least, Laurie MacFayden read some of her poetry that was very intense. My favourite piece was about the teenage girl who was in love with her best friend and who was struggling about staying in the closet when it came to her family.

That was the event, and we had a lot of people come to hear us read, so I think it was a successful night. I didn’t explain as much as I could have when I was introducing my novel, but I was assured that it was okay. I’m slowly but steadily improving on doing readings!

We’re hoping that maybe next year, we can get the Read and Write with Pride event on the Edmonton Pride itinerary. 

And, as always, thank you very much to Audrey’s Books for hosting the event and doing such a great job!

Hope to see you all next year!