News
Rumi and the Red Handbag has been reviewed by Merna Summers in the latest (December 2015) issue of Alberta Views. The review isn't available online, but here is a short excerpt:
"Lemay's superb writing holds the many disparate elements of this novel together. The author is a respected poet and has written a short non-fiction book, but Rumi marks her entry into the world of the novel. Clearly it is a form for which she has great gifts."
"...this allusive and gracefully written story."
Another list! Rumi and the Red Handbag is on The Pickle Me This 2015 Best Books of the Year list, and with a great description:
“Rumi and the Red Handbag is a slim, heartbreaking and perfect read, rich with gorgeous prose, and depth and texture. Infused with allusions, explicit and otherwise, it’s a hushed and quiet celebration of women and their lives and their words and the secrets they carry. There is the Woolf, of course, and references to Clarice Lispector, who I’ve never read, but now I have to, and Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath. Plus vintage Harlequins—this is a book that permits great reverence to women’s stories and women’s spaces.”
Meanwhile, there's a short interview with me on Stephanie Medford's blog, Everyday Artistry, about creative living. Very lovely to be asked to do this.
I was really happy to see Rumi and the Red Handbag in the number one position on The Edmonton Journal's Best Seller List again. To get that hometown support is terrific.
On Friday, it was featured on the All Lit Up blog for their First Fiction Fridays.
In other news, I received a City of Edmonton Arts and Culture Citation Award last week. You can see my Facebook post (even if you're not on Facebook as I've made the post public). It was a pretty swanky ceremony and I was pleased and honoured to be recognized.
Lastly, I'll just point out that Rumi and the Red Handbag is on Goodreads. So if you're also on Goodreads, I'd love it if you could rate it or say a word or two about it.
After work today, I wrote the names of all who had entered my fun giveaway on sticky notes. (When you read the book the sticky notes will make sense).
I had Chloe fold and stuff them into one of my favourite red handbags.
Then she drew one name. Which was: Mary! Congratulations, Mary!
Thanks to everyone who entered. Your comments were fun, revealing, poignant, magical, and lovely. I'm so grateful to you all for sharing. What a wonderful week I had reading each of your entries.
Mary, you can contact me using the form on this website, or writing to me at shawnalemay (at) me.com. Can't wait to mail you out a copy of Rumi and the Red Handbag and the tote.
Because it's Friday, and because I have a tote bag leftover from my launch swag, I thought it would be fun to have a giveaway. So, if you'd like to win a signed copy of the book and the cute tote pictured above (modelled by my daughter, Chloe), here's what you need to do:
Leave a comment below telling me about a favourite purse, an unusual thing you have in your purse, or something you always must carry. Or, tell me a story that involves a purse or handbag. Or, tell me what your favourite literary reference to a purse or handbag might be. Or, tell me about the purse or handbag of your dreams.
I'll do a random draw next Friday, November 20, 2015, and announce the winner here. Please leave your email in the comments and I'll notify you personally.
It was another rather fabulous week for Rumi and the Red Handbag, I have to admit. It started off with this blog post and amazing photo by my lovely friend, Susan Licht. Treat yourself and scroll through the rest of her blog and drink in all the light and poetry in her extraordinary photos.
Next came this review by Kerry Clare of the very cool and bookish blog, Pickle Me This. I love all the connections she makes and especially her last line: "For what is a handbag anyway but a place to keep a book?" Again, treat yourself to Kerry's blog, because her readings are always thoughtful and clear and openhearted. We have her book to look forward to, as well: Mitzi Bytes will be published by Harpercollins Canada in Spring 2017.
Lastly, Rumi and the Red Handbag ended up on another list (Fall's Must-Read Fashion Books), this time in the Globe and Mail's Fashion section which is super cool. Nathalie Atkinson names RRH a "fashion fable" and says it's "lovely and lyrical." I'll take that.
This past weekend I launched Rumi and the Red Handbag in Calgary at Pages in Kensington. What a sweet book store. A lovely space for a reading - would certainly recommend it to other authors. I was introduced by one of my very best friends, Lee Elliott. Lots of family and friends in attendance, and again, a sell-out of the book store's stock. (More on order, though, I hear)!
The other fun news last week was that the book landed on the Edmonton Journal's bestseller list in the number one position. This was, of course, thanks to the amazing support I had at my Edmonton launch at Audreys Books from friends and family.
The next reading I'll be doing is in Edmonton again, as part of The Rasp and the Wine series, on November 11.
I'm very honoured that Michelle Chahine has selected Rumi and the Red Handbag as one of the Fall Reading Club choices on Maria Shriver's website.
There are, in fact, book club questions for the novel, and I'll be posting those soon, as will my publisher on her site.
I can tell you that when you publish a quirky-sweet book with an incredible but small press in Canada, you really don't expect to end up on a 49th Shelf list, let alone a Harper's Bazaar list, and certainly not on a reading club list on Maria Shriver's website.
It's a gift, a pure gift, that I know. But in all honesty, and maybe as someone who is better "known" as a poet and essayist, it's been a lot to take in. I wrote an email to a very good friend of mine, Kimmy Beach, saying, I don't really know how to process this. And her response to me was this: "Bask. Dream. Glow. Drink wine. Go out for an expensive meal. If there is one thing we know about this life we've chosen, it's that it's transitory. Love it. Enjoy it. Revel in it. Celebrate it with your family."
So for now I'm, feeling grateful for all this lovely notice, and for the advice of wise friends.
On Wednesday evening, I launched Rumi and the Red Handbag in my hometown (Edmonton) at our wonderful independent bookstore, Audreys. It's a short book, a slim volume, and I have to admit seeing a stack of them really was a thrill. There had been a little bit of a worry that the books wouldn't arrive on time, but they did. Then there were my usual pre-launch jitter worries: what if no one comes, what if I freeze up, what if no one buys the book....etc. But SO many people came, and apparently I did not freeze up. In fact, I've been told I was funny, which honestly sort of surprised me. Also, the room was packed, every seat taken, people standing, and people sitting on the stairs. I couldn't have asked for a better launching. I signed books for an hour. I got to see some of my nearest and dearest friends, and some I've not seen for ages. What a delight.
Another wonderful surprise: all the flowers I received. Roses, lilies and more roses.
I didn't take my camera, as I didn't want to have to keep track of it, but lots of people kindly took cell phone shots and posted all sorts of sweet stuff on Twitter.
My good friend Kimmy Beach, took this next one.
Afterwards, we went home and I drank a glass (or two) of wine, read all the lovely messages people were sending, and posting. I eventually went to bed and read someone else's book for a while and probably didn't fall asleep until 2am. Because that's what it's like after a public speaking moment when you're a classic introvert.
