Hello everyone. It has been pretty quiet over the last little while, what with book things winding down at the end of 2017 and winding back up somewhat at the beginning of 2018. Nonetheless, I do have a few readings and events coming up that are worth mentioning, for folks that might be interested.
- Common Reading Series – The Bell Jar Cafe – Toronto, Ontario – With Amy Jojo Jones & Cherie Dimaline – February 19th, 2018
- IFOA Weekly presents ‘What’s Life Got To Do With It?’ – Toronto, Ontario – With Mayank Bhatt, Terri Favro, Catherine Graham, Kevin Hardcastle and Grace O’Connell – Hosted by Lisa De Nikolits – March 7th, 2018
- Junction Reads – Toronto, Ontario – Guest Author – March 25th, 2018
- GritLit: Hamilton Readers & Writers Festival – Hamilton, Ontario – Guest Author – April 12th to April 15th, 2018
- Talk at the McLaren Art Centre – Barrie, Ontario – Guest Author – May 4th, 2018
- Festival America: Littératures et les cultures d’Amérique du Nord – Vincennes, France – Guest Author – September 20th to September 24th, 2018
- Wordstock Sudbury – Sudbury, Ontario – Guest Author – November 1st to November 3rd, 2018
These are all findable on my readings & events page on this site, and I’ll update any new readings or appearances there as they emerge.
I’m looking forward to the festivals especially, including GritLit in Hamilton, and Wordstock Sudbury, which both seem like great municipal literary happenings. The craziest one of the year is my being asked to participate in Festival America, an international literary festival that takes place in Vincennes, which coincides with the French publication of In the Cage, by the renowned Parisian publishing house, Albin Michel.
I’ve been working on translations of both In the Cage & Debris with Janique Jouin-de Laurens, and my editor there is Francis Geffard. They’ve published translations of writers like Donald Ray Pollock, Marlon James, and Stephen King, and are a formidable literary force in Europe. So, I’m very interested in seeing how the French receive my work. I’ve heard only good things about their passion for good writing, and for their enthusiasm for reading literary crime and the like, and novels authored by those that I truly admire and have looked up to over the years.
Otherwise, I’m some chapters into the next novel, and will be back in the short story tumbler soon enough. It took a lot of time and energy to get the first novel to where it got to, and I’ve been busy with some prize juries and other endeavours, but it is time to cut my teeth on some new writing, and lots of it.
Take care. KH
Kevin Hardcastle 
I read In The Cage a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. Lean and fun, though I reckon ‘fun’ is not the right word for a book that tears your heart out. It’s watching a slow motion car crash. You know everyone is doomed, but you read on holding out hope anyway. And then at the end it is nothing but carnage and heart break.
I see you mentioned wanting to expose American audiences to your novel. Have you reached out to Joe Rogan at all. If you could get a mention or get on his pod, his audience is massive. It’s not a typical literary audience and has the rep of being a real knuckle dragging, boys club. But serious numbers and large influence. The MMA context of your novel aligns with his announcer gig and mixed martial arts interest. And I figure he’s probably a big proponent of all artistic mediums.
I am sure the publishing house has a PR team hitting out at every angle, but I thought I would throw it out there.
Also I saw a lot of comparisons to Cormac McCarthy, but am I wrong in figuring the novel to be more pulpy? It felt akin to an Elmore Leonard or something, stripped down prose, hard bitten, damaged hero (minus the triumphant victory).
Looking forward to the next book.