At the Vancouver Writers Festival in October, I had the pleasure of interviewing three American authors whose work has come blazing into the forefront of publishing in the US. Aamina Ahmad, Jonathan Escoffery and Soon Wiley. A stunning and thoughtful conversation about American publishing, bridging cultures, and creating unforgettable characters.
Island Launch: Big thanks to Karen Mahon Carrington, Robert MacLeod Carrington, Marnie’s Books, and others on Cortes Island, who organized my Island Launch (socially isolating, and completely wonderful). Please lie back on a blanket, in one of our blanket pods, and enjoy the entertainment as the sun sets – see video below! Poetry courtesy of Erin Robinson, music by Lucy Lambert and Rick Bockner, and a reading from Petra, plus on-stage interview about the novel, moderated by Karen Mahon Carrington.
Munro’s Books, October 13th, 2020. Three BC writers of historical fiction talk shop about their new novels. This was such a fabulous event! A Zoom show and share, using photographs to illustrate our research process! Then a conversation led by acclaimed novelist, Claire Mulligan. Featuring Dede Crane, author of the newly released One Madder Woman, the story of the brilliant impressionist painter Berthe Morisot – a woman who changed our relationship to light, shadow, figure and movement in painting, but whose name is far less known than her contemporaries, Degas and Manet, both of whom owe much to her innovations. And Caroline Adderson – the author, most recently, of A Russian Sister, which brilliantly tells the story of Masha Chekhov, the famous writer’s sister – whose watchful eye sees deeper into her brother than he can see into himself. I talk about my earliest drafts of Petra, how wolves haunted my drafts, and a single image that got under my skin for years.
Ottawa Writers Festival Podcast – Confronting History: Some think of history as something distinct from the here and now, but for bettor or worse, history is always with us. Clearly, some history needs to be confronted if we are ever going to learn from it. This episode features Francesca Ekwuyasi in conversation with Catherine Hernandez and Shaena Lambert in conversation with Peter Schneider.
Vancouver Writers Festival, Sunday, October 25th, 11 AM PST: Thrilled and honoured to be part of The Interviews with Marsha Lederman, featuring Seth Klein, Shaena Lambert and Amin Maalouf. This is sure to be a fascinating discussion. Amin Maalouf is the renowned scholar and author of The Crusades through Arab Eyes, and Samarkand. Policy expert and social thinker Seth Klein has just come out with a new book – The Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency – on how our society can and must flex World War 2-type muscle to fight climate change. I will dig into the story of ecological heroine Petra Kelly, and what we can learn from her incandescent – and complicated – example. Three consecutive solo interviews with Marsha Lederman followed by audience questions and answers. For more information, contact The Vancouver Writers Festival.
Tune in for a discussion of the themes and story behind my new novel, Petra, with Shelagh Rogers, on The Next Chapter, CBC Radio. Recording in August for airing early September. Date and time to come. If you’d like info on when this interview will air, please join Shaena’s mailing list.
Join us for a CBC Radio Toronto conversation about Petra, my novel, and the fascinating woman behind the words. 1:55 pm, PST; 4:55 pm, EST.
A Festival of Ideas, Story Telling and Imagination. Join in a 30 minute on-line facilitated discussion on Petra, research, the ethics and boundaries of writing into the lives of real people, the seeds that started the book, and a reading. Precise time to come; visit the website.