Two big surprises at the Literacy Conference in Burlington last weekend.

1. The onsite bookseller, Different Drummer, had on hand a big stack of Love Every Leaf: The Life of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander - and it wasn’t scheduled for release till several days later! (It looks gorgeous, and after I spoke about it briefly during my keynote address, they sold out quickly.)

2. The night before the conference, I learned that Janet Lee Stinson and Arnie Stewart (see I’ve Got Mail posting) were planning to attend. Not only did I get to meet these two remarkable people, Arnie helped make my keynote address a truly memorable event for everyone there. After mentioning the correspondence I’d been enjoying with Janet Lee, I looked around for where they might be sitting, thinking the audience might like to recognize them. But Arnie surprised me (and his wife and Janet Lee) by coming up to the front of the room, where he described letters he has exchanged with children who have struggled with learning to read. He said he knows he will like my new book, A Pocket Can Have A Treasure In It. He then took from his pocket a stone and placed it in my hand. “Put this in your pocket,” he said, “and it will bring you good luck.”

Before going off to sign autographs (for 3 hours! what a great bunch of readers that audience was!), I had a chance to visit with Arnie and hear some more of his personal stories about learning to read. Janet Lee is working on his biography and plans to apply to a writing workshop/retreat that my husband and I are offering this summer. (See “Summer Workshop/Retreat by the Sea” posting.) I hope she does!

To read Janet Lee’s account of Arnie’s participation in last week’s event, and about how the good luck stone circle has been completed, visit Janet Lee’s blog (and find the entry for Apr9/08).

Happy reading!

How does this sound? Five days in August in a spectacular Nova Scotia setting - indulging in private writing time, walking the beach, getting feedback on your work from me, my partner Peter Carver (children’s book editor for Red Deer Press and teacher of writing for George Brown College), and a small group of fellow writers from all across Canada? (Possibly. It depends, of course, on who the six successful applicants are this year, but in the past we’ve had people from Vancouver, Alberta, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.)

Peter and I are planning to attend tonight’s CANSCAIP meeting where we’ll announce that we are now accepting applications for our third annual retreat and workshop.

We had a great time the first year we offered it - so good we were almost afraid to offer it again. But, as is perhaps obvious from the fact we’re offering it for a third time, last year’s experience was a great success too. (One of our six participants (from Ottawa) actually reapplied and made a return visit to work on another new and promising novel.)

To find out more about this opportunity, read what some of last year’s participants had to say about their time with us, and to find out how to apply, click here.