Interview at the Quarantine Review Podcast

I was recently interviewed by my friend Teri Vlassopoulos for the Quarantine Review podcast! Not only was I thrilled to be involved with the Quarantine Review again, but I got to virtually chat with Teri while sitting in my surprisingly soundproof closet, balancing my laptop and my microphone, being so…

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Semi-Retired Hens: In praise of the best writing group

One February morning last year, I shuffled along a snowy Toronto sidewalk, internally freaking out. I was on my way to the very first meeting of my new writing group. My friend Teri had set it up, and while I trusted her, I didn't know what to expect. Would we all…

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“Freedom is the best thing” – Reading ‘Tove Jansson: Work and Love’

I’m half-Finnish, but I didn’t know what a Moomin was until I was an adult.

Maybe that’s not entirely true; I do have a dim memory of receiving a Moominpapa piggybank as a child, but I had no idea what what the character was supposed to be. However, as an adult I did finally learn, and I began also to learn about the Moomins’ creator, Tove Jansson. And I began to like her quite a lot!

My friend Susanna is a Finnish visual artist, and together we share this Tove-admiration. I had asked her if Finland had a good Jansson biography in English, and soon enough, a book more beautiful than I could have imagined arrived at my door.
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