Writers in the Schools I love reading out loud, and find taking part in the WFNS Writers in the Schools Program (WITS) is a wonderful and rewarding experience. My specialty is historical fiction for younger readers. My presentation includes a reading, a slideshow of my research and tips for students doing their own research. There are lots of opportunities for questions. Of course I love pirates too. After an animated reading, we construct our own smelly pirate on a flip chart and find time for a piratical rhyme, some riddles and maybe a mermaid story. Bookings for WITS usually take place in September. If you'd like me to visit your school, check the WFNS website for more information. (http://writers.ns.ca/)
Teacher's comments:
"She read her book with passion and made the story come alive as she shared her wealth of knowledge about life on the fishing schooners." Barb Martell, Sacred Heart School."
Teacher's comments:
"She read her book with passion and made the story come alive as she shared her wealth of knowledge about life on the fishing schooners." Barb Martell, Sacred Heart School."
Piper Book launch
Port Joli Writer's Retreat
For the last seven years Jan Coates, Jill Maclean, Marcia Barss and myself have gone on a Writer's Retreat to Port Joli. We write and talk, drink wine and go for wonderful long beach walks on a pristine beach. This year a bear shambled by, Vicki Grant cycled by and PM Justin Trudeau jogged by our cottage. We are pictured with a flag we made out of a Rubbermaid lid, a white towel and a red paper napkin in honour of his visit. |
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Photo Shoot
Loretta Migani (illustrator) and I on a selfie photo shoot for promotion purposes of Explosion Newsie. We are sitting on the
rocks on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. In the background
is Halifax. It is a sparkling Fall day and hard to imagine the devastation caused by the explosion in this very area, one
hundred years ago.
Explosion Newsie Book Launch |
Explosion Newsie, Book Launch took place on November 6th, 2015 in the beautiful Evergreen House, home of the Dartmouth Heritage Museum. It was the perfect venue as it overlooked Halifax harbour, the location of the explosion. My heart felt thanks go out to the museum who were wonderful hosts and provided a vintage top hat for the book-draw and served us tea in china cups. Loretta's original illustrations were on view. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Opening of the new Halifax Central Library
Carrie asked me to join her in a piratical reading of The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate at the opening of the wonderful new Central Library in Halifax, 2014
Word on the Street 2014
A windy, splashy and fun reading of Bluenose Adventure on board Theodore Tugboat at Halifax Word on the Street,
    Research Piper 
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Read by the Sea - Wordplay (2013) My reading of The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate was followed by a piratical craft (paperbag pirates) and some swashing buckling paperbag pirate puppet shows. The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate launch party at Alderney Gate Library. (May 2008) My book was dedicated to my grandchildren. I got the biggest surprise of my life when they turned up at the launch all the way from Hong Kong!!!! I'm seen here in pirate attire with amazing co-author Carrie Muller and fantastic illustrator Eric Orchard. |
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With a grant from Access Copyright, research for my latest historical novel took me to Pictou, Nova Scotia to explore the Hector. Piper my children's novel about the voyage of the Hector is to be published by Nimbus, Spring 2018. This is a full-sized replica of the original old, rotting, over-crowded ship that brought the first Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia. (The replica is not old or rotting, of course.)
Bluenose Adventure
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Research for Bluenose Adventure included a visit to the Fisheries Museum in Lunenburg. Ralph Getson, the curator told me some of the gut-wrenching, funny, and amazing stories he'd heard from retired fishermen who'd actually been throaters, headers and flunkeys on fishing schooners in the 1920s.
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Skye
I love research and the places it takes me and the stories I discover. For Skye, a novel (that didn't actually make it to publication) I visited Rob Woods, an ex-library colleague, on his Alpaca Farm and
helped with the shearing.
I love research and the places it takes me and the stories I discover. For Skye, a novel (that didn't actually make it to publication) I visited Rob Woods, an ex-library colleague, on his Alpaca Farm and
helped with the shearing.