A sociable literary event...centred around solitary adventures
By Contributor
The CBC’s Grant Lawrence will be doing a reading and slide show next Saturday, October 29, at Cafe Books. His new, award-winning book is titled Adventures In Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Sound. In Adventures in Solitude, Lawrence shares how Desolation Sound shaped his life in music and the history of Canada.
Young Grant’s father bought a piece of land next to BC’s Desolation Sound marine park in the 1970s, just in time to encounter the gun-toting cougar lady, left-over hippies, outlaw bikers and an assortment of other characters. It was these early experiences, many alongside an influential hermit named Russell, which led Grant to a life of music and journalism far away from Desolation Sound. In his book, Grant returns to regale us with tales of “going bush,” the tempting dilemma of finding an unguarded grow-op, and other laugh-out-loud stories from this unique place.
Grant Lawrence hosts the popular CBC Radio 3 Podcast with Grant Lawrence, and Grant Lawrence Live on CBC Radio 3 and Sirius 86, and can also be heard on various CBC Radio One programs such as DNTO, Spark, All Points West and On the Coast. Adventures in Solitude–a bestseller in BC and across Canada–won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award for best book published in British Columbia earlier this year. Just last month, the book was also shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, one of the richest literary prizes in Canada.
In addition to his book and radio appearances, Lawrence hosts many major music events, such as the Polaris Music Prize Gala, the Western Canadian Music Awards and various festivals around North America, and conducts music industry seminars and keynote addresses on music and media related topics. He still spends much of each summer at his cabin in the Sound. The rest of the time he lives in Vancouver, with his wife, Canadian folk singer Jill Barber.
The reading will take place at 7:00pm at Cafe Books. This author event is made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Admission is free, but seating is limited. For more information, please call Café Books West at 250-362-5333.
