News
Apples on a Windowsill has made its third end-of-year list with Miramichi Reader’s Best Books of 2024: Nonfiction. Bit of a hat trick really, as one of my good friends has pointed out. :)
Very grateful to Ian Colford for his original review which led to this list pick.
Apples on a Windowsill makes Quill & Quire’s Books of the Year / “Canada’s book community shares favourite titles of 2024” list.
This is the list you want to be on! Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This is the most delightful, generous, joyous, and smart reader. Check out what she has to say about Apples on a Windowsill and I bet you’ll also find you add a bunch more books to your TBR list!
When I wrote “In Lieu of Flowers,” a piece in my book of poem-essays The Flower Can Always Be Changing, I would not have predicted all the places it would travel. I’m pleased that it acts as a point of consolation at a time of grieving for so many. I’m grateful to Dr. Rob Curtis for inviting me to hear “Mass at Journey’s End” being performed at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Edmonton on November 23.
I will be signing copies of my books at Audreys Books on Monday, December 16th, 2024. I’ll be there about 11am! If you know of anyone who’d love a signed copy of Apples on a Windowsill or other works, I’d love to see you there. If you can’t make it, call Audreys or message them and I’m sure they can arrange to get one to you!
There will be other local authors around all that week at Audreys so you’ll be sure to find some cool gifts.
Kate O’Gorman of Prairie Flower Reads had this to say about Apples on a Windowsill:
“Apples on a Windowsill by Shawna Lemay is a love letter to art, to being attentive, to being attuned to beauty. Often funny, and at every turn insightful, this compelling collection of essays reads like a book of prayer.”
And:
“I am reminded, each time I re-read an essay from this collection, to pay attention, to be intentional—that the mundane can become a work of art. A recommended read!”
You can read more on her blog here and follow her on Instagram here.
Every review for a small press book feels like a giant gift! I’m so grateful for this one!
I’m also grateful for the wild skills of my publisher’s publicist who makes the prettiest posters to share out! Thank you Palimpsest Press and Vanessa!
Extremely grateful for this review of Apples on a Windowsill on the Miramachi Reader by Ian Colford. It begins,
“Shawna Lemay’s engrossing collection of essays, Apples on a Windowsill, should be required reading for anyone with an interest in creating art and being human in challenging times.”
Click the block below to be taken to the full text.
I recently had the great good fortune to be interviewed by Alberta’s treasured radio host, Grant Stovel, on CKUA Radio. The show is titled, Alberta Morning, and it is a source of uplift for so many of us. You can listen to our conversation here:
And then, I also had a conversation with the wonderful Kerry Clare on her new podcast BOOKSPO where she talks about the books that inspired an author to write their latest.
What I loved about these conversations was that even though the starting point was my new book, Apples on a Windowsill, each explored very different territory.
I’m so grateful that both of these talks took place because I feel like I learned something about my own book, how others read books (mine but also in general), and also about how a really good interviewer (and these two are stellar) will ask questions in such a way that you forget you’re being interviewed! You’re just talking about stuff that interests you! And with luck that comes through in both of these convos.
My publisher’s amazing publicist made these next two graphics for the two above convos and I really just love them, so sharing these here as well.
Lovely to see my interview with Open Book go live! Take a look when you get a moment and find out what questions I was asking myself while writing Apples on a Windowsill. Hint: So. Many.
A few quick notes to say that Apples on a Windowsill is now available! Events have been planned! And I’m excited to say that the first review is in by Kerry Clare on Pickle Me This. It’s always meaningful when a writer you admire shares their thoughts on your book and I admit it, when I hear that someone has underlined stuff in the pages of one of my books, I get very happy. That’s my booklovelanguage.
You can get all the deets on how to order here.
I’ll be launching at Audreys in Edmonton on February 1, 2024, and at Another Story Bookshop in Toronto on February 29, 2024.
