BC Book Prize Soiree
Posted by Meg Tilly
I have returned home from the Soiree where I met three out of my four road trip companions and I’m not nearly so nervous now.
Bryan, the man who gets to hold the steering wheel gave my husband the heads-up on a romantic retreat that he had purchased at the auction the year before, and apparently “my eyes lit up” so Don outbid the other eager bidders and scored it for me. Go Don!
I met Sally, who was so lovely that I got tongue-tied and inarticulate. Odd how that happens sometimes when I think someone is nice.
And then towards the end of the evening I had the good fortune to meet Gayle Friesen, the author of For Now. Also up for the Sheila Egoff Children’s Literature Prize and her dashing husband whose name eludes me. And there was none of that dancing around stilted conversation, it was like we had known each other before. Had dinner, flopped on the sofas afterwards, comfortable, feet tucked onto the sofa or stretched out and propped on the coffee table.
I hadn’t planned on buying her book, because I have a stack of books a mile high that I have in my to-read pile, but now I am going to have to. Want to. If her book is half as generous and honest as she is, it will be a fabulous read.
Me, Gayle and husband. (Her husband. Mine is wielding the camera.)
