Are YOU a Literary Locavore?

Lennoxville Library

Locavore: a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food. Literary Locavore: a person who strives to read only or principally locally produced literary works.

Would you be surprised to know how many local English-speaking folk in this area are published writers? LOTS! And, we have several publishing houses in this area as well; notable among them is Shoreline Press, owned and operated by the indefatigable Angela Leuck (recently relocated from scenic Hatley to Coaticook). Some of the growing number of Shoreline titles include two memoirs –Geneva’s Scrapbook (Joanne Pocock), and Colouring Outside the Lines (Anne Hill), and two collections of stories: Towners and Other Stories (Josh Quirion) and Ol’ Tom Stories (John Mackley).

“Anne Hill’s accidental memoir is a thoroughly charming mix of the personal and universal. With playful wit and an easy command of language, Mrs. Hill is like a water bug effortlessly skimming across deeper waters…. A winning collection.” -Ross Murray

“It has been a long time since I fell in love with a book. The journey into Joanne Pocock’s self-discovery captured my heart and excited my imagination. It is an engaging read, written with passion and elucidated with just the right quotes from philosophy and psychology.” -Gerry Cutting

“Everett Winter is a young boxer and farmhand who forsakes his rural heritage and carries the weight of a small-town tragedy with him into unfamiliar, urban territory, where he rapidly discovers “Towners” are less than welcome.” -Towners and Other Stories

“Life-or-death struggles are leavened with lighthearted fun and fascinating portrayals of nature, old-fashioned machinery, and “making do” by a resourceful farming family of modest means. As Ol’ Tom tells his tales, he reveals the secrets, hazards and bounties of his life story.” -Ol’ Tom Stories

Another local source is Studio Georgeville, better known as an arts centre and gallery, but recently launched as a Townships publisher, producing the In the Vale anthology, a delightful collection of illustrated memoirs of Vale Perkins. The book, featuring 88 stories, poems, and songs from more than 70 contributors is now available for purchase at the gallery.

Some Townships authors see their way to print via self-publishing, as John Lebaron has done recently with It Was Only a Movie, utilizing Ingramspark. Over the years, John has penned several sorta-work-related books, but now, in his retirement he writes for fun and exercise. “It Was Only a Movie was written to raise a laugh about the awkward foibles of a boy growing up in Québec’s Eastern Townships of the 1940s and 50s, in particular about the social and linguistic pratfalls of an adolescent emerging unilingually into adulthood and then spending much of his adulthood in the United States, trying to turn himself from a callow francophony into a semblance of an adult francophone.” -John Lebaron.

“Peacekeeper’s Daughter, is the astonishing story of a French-canadian military family stationed in Israel and Lebanon in 1982-1983. Told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl,

Peacekeeper’s Daughter parachutes the reader into the Lebanese Civil War, the Palestinian crisis, and the wave of terrorism—including the bombing of the American Embassy—that ravaged Beirut at the height of the siege.” -Thistledown Press

Also on the humour front we have erstwhile journalist/humourist/ educator/thespian Ross Murray, who ventured into novel territory with

A Hole in the Ground a few years ago, and has compiled several volumes of his wild and witty columns, eg. A Jerk in

Finally, several hours of fascinating reading result from the riveting anthology, Hope and Resilience in the Time of Covid, a BULLA book, edited by Rebecca Welton.

One of the very cool things about having all these writers around and eminently accessible is that it’s pretty easy to get on a first name basis with them! (Trust me on this)

P.S. Don’t even get me STARTED on our amazing poetry community…

Literary Locavore Honourable Mentions: The first goes to Jan Draper, godmother of ET community writing, founder and head of “Write Here, Write Now” (WHWN, part of Bishop’s University Lifelong Learning program, affectionately known as BULLA.)

The second goes to the multi-talented Louise Abbott of Rural Route Communications and Studio Georgeville. She writes, she makes videos, she is an artist and entrepreneur: Is there anything she CAN’T do? Only time will tell…

More Anglo auteurs? Give some attention to such skilled local columnists as Sheila Quinn, Tim Belford, Dian Cohen, and Jesse Pelletier, to name but a few.

Not too shabby for a group that is regarded as second-class (at best!) by our current provincial government…

Clearly, there are more avenues available to satisfy your literary locavore urges, but sadly, space (and a faulty memory) mitigate against including them here. Feel free, though, to do your own research, beginning with your local library!

Lennoxville Library News

This summer we are bringing the library’s offerings for kids outside the library walls!

Join us at our “Espace Biblio” for games, stories, art activities, and more, every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the Lennoxville Farmers’ market.

On June 25 we will be painting our kiosk. Kids of all ages are invited to come help out and make the space their own!