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Friday, 25 September 2015

Station Eleven & Emily St. John Mandel

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending an author event for Emily St. John Mandel author of "Station Eleven", my area's pick for the One Book One Community read this year.


Ms. Mandel was "in conversation" with Craig Norris for the first portion of the evening.  Mr. Norris is a popular local CBC radio personality and lead singer for "The Kramdens".  It was quite obvious that he had indeed read and enjoyed "Station Eleven" because he posed some very interesting questions about Ms. Mandel's writing process, how the concept of the book came to her and her personal feelings about not only the book but also the fact that it has been selected as the OBOC read this year.  Ms. Mandel is well-spoken and her answers were most interesting.  She has a wonderful sense of humor as well.

Mr. Norris invited Ms. Mandel to read a portion from the book and may I say she brought the characters to life.  She read with emotion and it was quite clear that she was proud of this book, as well she should be.  She is an excellent reader (I am often surprised that some authors are not).

Her reading was followed by a Q&A with the audience and then she was kind enough to sign books.  Ms. Mandel was courteous and engaging as she was signing her book and most accommodating to those of us wanting a picture taken. (I like to attend author events on my own so many thanks to the lovely lady behind me in line for snapping the pic for me ... good job!)


Secrets revealed to those attending ...

... Despite the fact that the ending of "Station Eleven" is fairly open there will be NO sequel, although one or more of the characters may appear is future books.

... Ms. Mandel is currently working on her next book.

... She has participated in 92 events for "Station Eleven" over the past several months and in light of a very cute baby bump I hope she takes a well deserved rest soon.

It was a lovely evening sponsored by Wordsworth Books, OBOC, WPL and the Princess Theater.

Other books by Emily St. John Mandel include "The Lola Quartet". "The Singer's Gun" and "Last Night in Montreal".

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