Thanks, Kathryn Cole

This week I was shocked and dismayed to find out that Kathryn Cole, editor at Tundra Books, was no longer with the house. I enjoyed working with Kathryn these last few years; she's the editor of a picture book of mine, 'Mr. Zinger's Hat,' which is due out fall 2012.

So I want to thank you, Kathryn,for all your efforts and wish you the very best. It was an honour making books with you. And I look forward to hearing what's next!

Wild Word on the Street

The Word on the Street festival is upon us this Sunday. It's a wild time, with rogue authors dashing here and there and mad readers snatching up books. Or visa versa.

I'll be reading twice on Sunday. At 12:10 p.m. I'm going to read my new picture book 'Ella May and the Wishing Stone'.

At 1:40 p.m. I'll be reading from my latest kids' novel, 'Banjo of Destiny.'

Both are at the Children's Reading Tent.

In between I'll be downing a double espresso.

Come by and have a listen or just say hi. After all, if an author reads and nobody is there to hear, has a tree really fallen in the forest?

Or something like that.

The photo, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with Word on the Street. It's an old photograph my brother Lawrence found of a puppet show that my cousin Ellen and I put on when we were kids. I don't know where he digs this stuff up.