KINGSTON READING

Oh yes, and then there was the reading at Novel Idea Bookstore in Kingston on March 10th. I read from my novel, Ile d'Or, and Elizabeth Greene read both from her latest book, Moving, and also some new poems written when she was in Chile at a workshop recently.

Novel Idea is one of those independent bookstores that enhance a community and make you feel welcome. The owners, Oscar and Joanne, are personable and knowledgeable with a good selection of books to choose from. What a delight. As were the treats Joanne and Elizabeth provided before and after the readings. I ought to have asked Joanne for her recipe for macaroons! Instead, I was pleasantly occupied with different people who had come to the reading who wanted to know more about either me or one of my books.

Thanks to Novel Idea!

Butter Tart Squares

This is not a recipe blog, but I tried out some squares this weekend and took them to my milonga workshop where they were demolished quickly. I told one friend I'd give her the recipe and decided to type it on my blog and make it more widely available. The original recipe is from Toronto Star and when I tested it this weekend I made slight variations. As follows: lemon juice and cinnamon were added by me. Also original recipe prefers all raisins, but suggested other measurements for raisins and nuts, which I prefer.

Butter Tart Squares

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter

Filling:
2 tbsp. unsalted butter melted, cooled
2 large eggs lightly beaten
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 to 1 tsp. lemon juice (fresh)

pinch salt
slightly more than a pinch of cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In medium mixing bowl, mix flour and sugar. Using pastry blender or fingers, cut in butter till crumbly. Press into 9" square cake pan or 8" for thicker crust and filling layers(not sure what size pan I used, something that appeared standard!). Bake in preheated 350 oven 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.

For the filling, stir butter and eggs in medium bowl. Stir in sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt. Stir in raisins and nuts. Pour over base. Bake in preheated 350 oven until top springs back when lightly touched, 20 t0 25 minutes. It took longer than this, but I checked then and cooked it until the top was nicely medium browned and sprung back as indicated.

Let cook in pan on rack. Cut into squares. These were even nicer the next two days, at which point they were all gone. The number of squares depends on what size you cut them.

Review in 'Rover, Montreal Arts Uncovered'

Review on December 6, 2010


http://roverarts.com/2010/12/mining-for-literary-gold-in-the-abitibi/#more-6767




The reviewer, Claire Holden Rothman, points outa serious historical error in the book as well as giving it a good review. Very embarrassing to have missed the error on the fate of James Cross on p. 247. It was picked up by a friend (indeed two friends) right after publication and will be changed if there's ever another edition, whether another printing or an electronic edition. Since realizing that I had made this factual error in the book (can't imagine how I missed it as I actually knew/know better myself) I have told readers about it (at readings and signings) with both apology and humour. I haven't told them what the error is/was, but challenged them to look for it, to see if they pick it up themselves, while reading the book. It hasn't deterred people from buying the book. As my friend who discovered it says..."A blooper is just a blooper." Indeed! In any case, thanks to Claire Holden Rothman for an interesting and honest review.

Fragments of 2010

VANCOUVER Oct. 2010

Signing at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Winnipeg. Oct. 14, 2010

Signing at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Winnipeg. Oct. 14, 2010

McNally Robinson Booksellers
and
Inanna Publications
present
Mary Lou Dickinson
signing
Ile D'Or



Thursday October 14, 2:00 pm
Grant Park by the Cash Desk

Shortly after the first referendum on Quebec separation, four people who knew each other as children encounter one another in the town where they grew up. Bourlamaque began as a frontier gold mining camp in the northern Quebec bush. It is attached to Ile d’Or, the commercial centre, which by 1982 is still a bustling place despite concerns about the gold running out. The four protagonists - Michelle, Libby, Nick and Lucien - are some thirty years out of high school when they meet again. The four of them either converge on Ile d’Or, or still live there, and play out in a few days a drama that none could have foreseen.

Mary Lou Dickinson grew up in northern Quebec and has lived for many years in Toronto, where she worked as a crisis counsellor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and a Master in Library Science from the University of Toronto. Her fiction has been published in the University of Windsor Review, Descant, Waves, Grain, Northern Journey, Impulse, Writ and broadcast on CBC Radio. Her writing was also included in the anthology, We Who Can Fly: Poems, Essays and Memories in Honour of Adele Wiseman. Mary Lou’s first book of short stories, One Day it Happens, was published by Inanna Publications in May 2007.

Unintended Consequences of Writing a Novel

As a result of my novel, Ile d'Or, published this spring (May, 2010), I have heard from people across Canada and the U.S. who either grew up in the north or are familiar with it.

One man wrote that when his family moved into the log bungalow that had belonged to the local policeman, there was a jail in the back yard. It was a shed with bars. I asked what his family had used it for and he told me it was used as a shed. Why not? The fact that it was once a jail simply adds to the legends that surround the frontier town that Bourlamaque (Val d'Or) then was.

A woman wrote to ask why I'd used the name Serge Bikadoroff. In this case, I had used the name of a real person I knew to be deceased. And as the fictional character of a fictional character, it seemed innocuous. Ultimately it was, but I worried until the woman, who turned out to be Serge's sister, wrote to say she'd been delighted with my response to her query.

People appropriate the characters and their stories and tell me what really happened. Or what they would like to have happen. That's their prerogative. Once a book is published, it no longer belongs entirely to the author.

As a result of the novel, I am now in communication with people I had almost forgotten. With one man I exchange photographs and recipes. Another sent the class photographs in an earlier post. There have also been some uncomfortable moments when someone or other thinks the fiction is fact. I explain that it's a novel, that characters are often composites, that a lot of the background of the town is real but that the story is not. The story of four characters who come together in the town in their forties and have to face themselves and their pasts. It could have happened, but it didn't. And at this point, I can scarcely recall what is fact and what is fiction. That's the way it goes for a writer!!

Then & Now

Class photographs were taken in the 1940s and 1950s. They were sent to me by someone who also grew up in Bourlamaque, Quebec at that time.

Breakfast Recipe

Apple Oatmeal Bake

Next weekend visitors will stay over again. Everyone likes this breakfast dish and it's so easy so I decided to share the recipe. This is a huge amount. I halve it and have plenty for four people. If you have any left, it's great cold or you can reheat it in the microwave.

4 c. milk ( I use water)

2 c. old fashioned oatmeal

¼ c. maple syrup

2 c. chopped apples

2 tbsp. canola oil

1 c. chopped nuts (I use walnuts, recipe says walnuts or sunflower seeds)

1 c. raisins (or cranberries, I use raisins)

1 tbsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt (I don’t use)

Bring water, maple syrup, oil, salt and cinnamon to simmer

Stir these items into the remaining dry ingredients in a heavy baking dish

Bake uncovered 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I prepare the dry ingredients the night before and put them in the baking dish. Then I add the rest in the morning and shove it in the oven.

I imagine most people would want milk on this. I use plain yoghurt only. I think when you see and taste it, you’ll figure out what you and/or your guests will prefer. Perhaps a bit of maple syrup?

'Famous Author'

What a weekend! A wedding outside of Rochester, N.Y. that involved a dinner on Friday at Artworks, wedding and reception dinner on Saturday at a country club, brunch on Sunday morning at the hotel where almost everyone stayed. The Punjabi suit I'm wearing was given to me in Calcutta in 2005. My friend, who had invited me to the wedding, introduced me to friends and relatives of hers as 'a famous author.' I was hardly going to tell her 'famous' might be an exaggeration. Who knows, if the novel starts to get some reviews, I still might be!!!

Summer Trip to Ottawa.

Imagine winning four return Via tickets from Toronto to Ottawa. So I went in late July along with three family members. What a blast! Grandson is 12 and it was a lesson in civics, in history, in architecture. All of us loved the Library of Parliament. What an exquisite library. How many librarians does it require to run this library? I didn't find out. Maybe you know!

Fact Or Fiction?

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

My novel Ile d'Or has just been released. It seems a book that might interest your readers even though it is fiction and they are reading The Northern Miner for factual information.

It might interest you to know that in the first chapter, one of the main characters reveals that the obituary in The Northern Miner that told of his death was mistaken.

The idea for this occurred because my own father's death was erroneously reported in the Miner many years ago. My father wrote to correct this and then you did also. I think my father thought it was quite funny.

When his actual death occurred, of course there was an obituary then.

Mary Lou Dickinson Toronto, ON

© 1915 - 2010The Northern Miner. All Rights Reserved.

Interesting Blogs

http://howtodoitfrugally.com/book_promoter_excerpt.htm
I'm new to this one, looking for tips for p.r. around my own books. Found it on Twitter.


http://tedbarris.com/ (June 9th. Copyright gone wrong). Ted Barris' blog is clearly set up and easy to follow.

http://farzanadoctor.wordpress.com/ Farzana also has a website of interest.

What is the man under the umbrella waiting for?

Upcoming Reading

I will be reading from my new novel Ile d'Or, at Brockton Writers Series 10 on July 6th, 7pm!

Moosecall #7: Herd Locker

Date:	Friday, June 18, 2010
Time:	6:30pm - 10:00pm
Location:	The Central
Street:	603 Markham Street
City/Town:	Toronto, ON
	View Map

Description

The Moosemeat Writers Group invites you to "Herd Locker" - our annual night of literary mayhem. Hosted by the herders Heather & Mike, the evening will feature the launch of our seventh flash fiction chapbook, FREE RANGE, short fiction readings and the awarding of super duper door prizes. Free snacks for "early bird" carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

Readings begin at 7:15pm.

p.s. I will be reading during this launch. Mary Lou

Ottawa. June, 2010

Taken on a walk after a session at the Writers' Union AGM.
Copyright a big issue with new legislation that will adversely affect creators unless changes are made.

For more information, please visit: www.writersunion.ca


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Argentinian Tango

Follow these websites to see some beautiful dance performances. The dancers are Colleen Clancy and Dieter Hessel, dance teachers, who are partners in life as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op8ebbxreEc&feature=channel
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>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FXlIUmnViI
>>>

BOOK LAUNCH

NEW from Inanna Publications

Mary Lou Dickinson's novel, Ile d'Or, was launched on TUESDAY MAY 18th, 2010 in downtown Toronto.

Elizabeth Greene's collection of poetry, Moving, had its Toronto launch at the same time. There will be a launch party for Moving in Elizabeth's home city, Kingston, later in June.

Readings began at 7:00pm.