My Novels Were In Frankfurt

maryloudriedger

Oct 31

Check out both my novels Lost on the Prairie and Sixties Girl in the bottom left hand corner of the photo

There was an international book fair in Frankfurt, Germany October 18-22 and my publisher Heritage House had a display there which included both of my novels.

With my husband Dave on the Eiserner Steg (Iron Footbridge) in Frankfurt

I spent several days touring Frankfurt in 2010 but at the time I never dreamt that someday a book I had written would be on display in the city.

I visited Allison Caldwell's class at John Pritchard School last year after she read her students Lost on the Prairie. This year she read the novel again to a new batch of students and I went back for a return visit to her class as well as another grade six class.

The kids were great and had such interesting questions for me. One of the girls did this sketch of me while I was talking and presented it to me just before I left. Love it!

I also love finding my books on shelves in stores and seeing what authors' books are displayed alongside mine. Last week I found Sixties Girl at the McNally's at the Forks beside Peanut Butter and Pandemonium by Anita Daher, a well-known Winnipeg author. My writers' group is named in Anita's honour.

Deborah Ellis

On the other side of Sixties Girl was the book One More Mountain by Deborah Ellis. It is part of her Parvana series set in Afghanistan. I heard Deborah speak at a conference I attended in Toronto and I wrote an article about Deborah for the Winnipeg Free Press many years ago when she visited Winnipeg. It's quite the honour to have my book next to hers.

I so enjoyed my book chat with members of the Manitoba Writers' Guild on October 11. After I read from my novel Sixties Girl and talked about writing the book those in attendance shared some of their memories from the 1960s.

I've been going to visit all my former homes which serve as settings for stories in my book Sixties Girl. Recently I blogged about my house on Kroeker Avenue in Steinbach where I set two of the stories Grandma Laura tells her grandson Will in Sixties Girl.

It was so cool to find a website called Teaching Books which features both the covers of Lost on the Prairie and Sixties Girl as jigsaw puzzles and offers a word search for kids to do after reading the book.

At the Christmas market in Steinbach in 2021

I will be in Steinbach twice in November for different book related events at the Steinbach Heritage Village Museum. Come out and see me on November 11 at the Christmas Market

and on November 15th at an author's night.

I'm delighted to be booking author visits to 55+ clubs and living facilities in 2024. I'd love to come and tell you about Sixties Girl and have you share your 60s memories with me. You can find my contact information on my website.

I was happy to donate a copy of Sixties Girl for a gift basket raffled off during the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library annual book sale. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Friends and am the editor of their monthly newsletter.

Some of the wonderful volunteers I worked with in the payment area of the book sale.

Friends provides financial support for lots of valuable programming at the city's public libraries which by the way carry dozens of copies of my novels.

I'm starting to buy Christmas gifts and if you are too let me suggest that either Lost on the Prairie or Sixties Girl would make a great present for someone of any age on your list.