cover girl

On newstands now!

This is the end product of the photo shoot with Guillaume Simoneau I wrote about here.  I was surprised when I saw the picture as I had seen a neat close-up picture he'd taken on his camera (my face next to one of the long, sesame-seed-covered wooden paddles they use for lifting bagels in and out of the oven), and for some reason I assumed the magazine would use that one.  But I love this and it makes me really happy it was taken inside Fairmount Bagel, which inspired the novel. (The photos inside the issue were taken at St-Viateur, which also makes a pretty unbeatable bagel).

I felt a little self-conscious when I went to buy a copy.  I picked up two, one for myself and one for my mom, and I was worried (why??) that the clerk would notice, but he didn't.  (Although Edmonton-based poet and writer Alexis Kienlen had someone ask her if she was the one on the cover when she picked up at copy!)       

But self-consciousness aside (which is mostly related to being designated as a "star" in large lettering...gulp), I am so excited about this!!  How could I not be?!  Quill & Quire is basically the only magazine I actually sit down and read from start to finish with any regularity.  When I was working hard to finish Mother Superior, I used to read the author profiles on the Quill site to give me motivation to get writing, and I daydreamed about having one about me there someday.  (Though I never once dreamed about the cover!)

Somehow, wonderfully, there has been so much coverage of Bone and Bread that I actually feel daunted and bashful about posting about all of it here, but I will try to catch up with mentioning everything over the next little while.

So along those lines, this is a very nice review/profile by Peter Robb that ran in the Ottawa Citizen -- my hometown newspaper!  

In other, regular life news, I am still knitting up a storm as my cold gradually (oh so slowly) ebbs away.  Last night's knitting group was hosted by J. at S's amazing studio and featured sparkling wine and chocolate babka from Cheskie's, among many other yummy snacks.  S. is a costume designer (right now she's designing for the opera!) who is also apprenticing to become a bespoke tailor, which sounds even more intense than you might imagine.  No pins!  And no electric sewing machines. 

Also, today at lunchtime I used my gift certificate to Paragraphe to pick up Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Dinner by Herman Koch.  Looking forward to starting one or both this weekend, and doing some real writing at last.