---

---

As you can see by the posters above, the OMDC are putting on a series of readings for the 3oth anniversary of the Trillium Book Awards. And, hilariously for Peterborough and Guelph, I am involved in some of them.

You can find the event information for both of these by clicking on the link for either town below. All of the event details are included, as well as a button to register to attend. All events are FREE:

PETERBOROUGH – Trent University – March 9th
GUELPH – University of Guelph – March 16th

In P-Town, you can also see readings from Trillium finalist and my partner-in-crime as runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, Andrew Forbes. Also, there will be readings by Peterborough based writer, Janette Platana, Caroline Durand, past winner Rabindranath Maharaj, and more…

In Guelph, we’ll have the wizardry of Jeff Latosik, Madhur Anand, Pasha Malla, and Kevin Connolly. All past winners or finalists for the Trillium.

There will be two more events in Toronto in the months to follow, and one in Ottawa, with the participating authors to be announced. So keep checking back for info on those. They should be some good times, so please come by and listen to some tales and poyems…

Cheers. KH.

---

---

Last year I was invited to film critic Richard Crouse’s radio show, on Newstalk 1010, where guests show up to talk about their latest projects, and about various pop-culture topics. That was during the time that Debris was up for the Trillium Book Award, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Due to the subway being ON FIRE, I was late to the show, but Richard was still kind enough to talk about the book and writing with me.

After going to a launch for Richard’s line of socks (he fuckin’ loves socks), Richard asked me to fill a chair for this week’s show, and I got up at the absurd time of before-8am to make sure I was early and nothing was on fire. I was on with comedian Simon Rakoff (who was there last time, coincidentally), and actor Kyle Gatehouse, and we talked about all kinds of things, like the moving Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes performance and statement at the Grammys (PRESIDENT AGENT ORANGE!!), the recent SNL spoofs of the current US administration, and James Cameron’s whining about the Oscars. It was a good time, and, as Simon said after, it had a really good flow to the whole discussion.

We also talked at length about my new novel, In the Cage, which will be published September 12th by Biblioasis. So you can hear more about it directly.

The show should be airing tonight (Saturday, February 18th) at 9pm. You can stream it online, or listen on the actual radio if you like.

I’ll post the link after as well, so that people can find the show when it’s catalogued on Richard’s soundcloud page. Hang tight for that…

That’s it today. Happy Saturday. It is 11 degrees outside so I am going to get up out of this hobbit hole for awhile. Peace out. KH

---

---

Though it has been a year and a half since Debris first saw the light of day, the odd review and bit of interest has still showed up here and there. Most recently, I saw a social media post by critic and IFOA gesticulator Steven Beattie, (who reviewed the collection for The Globe and Mail last year) highlighting a segment from Ian Colford’s excellent review of Debris in the latest issue of The Fiddlehead (Issue 270).

The issue is on newsstands now, and has been sent out to subscribers. It’s not up on their website at the moment, but perhaps it will be at some point (if an online version shows up, I’ll link that in later). I’ve also heard rumblings of an essay in Canadian Notes & Queries about class concerns in Debris and in Andrew Sullivan’s novel Waste, written by The Puritan editor André Forget. That has yet to surface yet, but I’ll post it when I can.

In the meantime, here is a chunk of that Fiddlehead review:

---

---

Thanks to Mr. Colford for such a close reading, and for really digging into what the book is really about. I appreciate that, times twelve.

If anyone recalls, one of my outtakes from Debris was actually published in The Fiddlehead back in the Summer 2015 issue. The story was called Thought you were fast, and it long gestated before getting printed there with the likes of such excellent writers as Kathy Page, Cynthia Flood, and one of my favourite writers on the planet, Daniel Woodrell. That was a pretty sweet deal. So, thanks to The Fiddlehead for all of the support over the past couple years, and for still giving a shit about this collection that, by all CanLit rights, should’ve been long put in the rearview. You are alright, Fiddleheaders.

More to come soon… actually, tomorrow. I am gonna be on the radio again, and I’ll post a little about that. But it’s beer o’ clock and I worked at Booktown this evening and am going to just sit here now.

Cheers. KH

---

---

Last Saturday I got to see the Drive-By Truckers play live for the second time. Both of those at The Phoenix in Toronto. Same as ever, they rocked the hell outta the place, and to a sold-out crowd this time around. I don’t know if Alt-Country/Americana/Southern Rock has gotten a little more respect up here, the snobbery worn thin for real, actual country music, or if the success, and frightening timeliness of the latest, critically acclaimed album, American Band, has paid off, but I was glad to see a damn good band who worked so hard get their due.

Anyways, this appears on my blog about writing and writing related things for some good reasons. Mainly, the Truckers are one of my favourite bands (that I first heard on the Friday Night Lights soundtrack, because FNL FOREVER), and who have written some of the most literary and affecting songs about poor and working class people that I’ve ever heard. There’s a narrative quality to their songwriting that shares similarities with all of the schools of writing I’ve been influenced by, such as the Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, Daniel Woodrell (who has gone on the record as saying he’s a fan), Donald Ray Pollack academies. Less is more, and their best songs weigh a ton. Easier than rambling further, here’s a thing from a couple years back where I talk about what I think of their music, and how they’re a very literary band…

This is from The Puritan (their supplement The Town Crier), where I published the story, Bandits back in 2013. It came up that I write to music always, and that I’ve written a ton (far more so since) to the music of the Drive-By Truckers. 

So, thinking on that, and how much of an influence they were on my work, and a companion to the writing, I got this idea that I’d try to get them a copy of my fucking book…

---

---

Thanks to the sorcery of Jenna Illies, and T Cole Taylor, the Truckers’ road manager, I managed to get backstage after the show and hand a couple copies of Debris to Patterson Hood, one of the two founding member and songwriters. I also got to meet Matt Patton, formerly of The Dexateens, who took up playing bass for DBT after Shonna Tucker left, not long after the show I’d seen in 2011. We had a beer with those folks and then let them continue living their lives, but they were very good about it and Patterson told me they’d read the book. For a band who has been at it more than 25 years (if you count Hood and co-founder Mike Cooley’s Adam’s House Cat days), and in the middle of another of their lengthy, hard-rocking tours, I would’ve been happy just to give it to someone who’d give it to the band. But this was something else.

After many years just trying to get published at all, it is still hard to believe that the work I’ve done could get into the hands of people like the Drive-By Truckers, like John Irving, But, with a little luck and a ton of trying, it may just happen. In short, believe in your dreams and whatnot.

---

More to come soon, in the meantime, check out the latest Drive-By Truckers album, and their back catalogue, and see what it’s all about. It may just change your life, and inspire the shit out of you, as it did for me.

Take care. KH