This one’s a gorgeous book of photographs by Frank Stefanko. Fear not, though—Patti Smith, American Artist also has a number of really stellar essays. Has left me to thinking (again) so much of how powerful photography is as a medium, & how it captures time in the second it takes to snap an image.

For my Celts, happy Lughnasadh.☘️🔥

I’ve had a lot of time to read & think this year, based on dealing w/ physical health challenges I didn’t expect, & this book—The Starving Artist Myth: Bust the Stereotype & Find Success in Creative Careers, by Mark J. Jones, has just made me think more deeply. Thx to my friend Dinah Laprairie.

Wiring desk blooms. Thanks to Patsy at Bella Flora. 🙏❤️✨

My friend Karen let me borrow this novel, No One Saw A Thing, by brilliant Irish crime novelist, Andrea Mara. I thought I’d figured out the mystery and the crime…but, as usual, I was stymied right up until the very end. Great summer read!

So glad I had a chance to visit w/ my friend Sophie last week so she could sign her new book, A Mouth of Vowels, for me. Always lovely to see a Northern Ontario writer doing amazing things in the world of writing. Congratulations to Sophie on this powerful new work. @sophieanneedwards.bsky.social

A friend let me borrow all of her Patti Smith books back in December, knowing I love Smith’s work. It’s been a gift—to escape into them during these strange days. So grateful…for this comfort that is reading.

Thanks to Tara Levesque—my kindred soul sister of a book lender friend—& to luella, too, for letting me borrow Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore. Felt like an emotional & intellectual roller coaster inside my body & brain. Was afraid of how it would end. Didn’t want it to end. Did want it to end

This time I’m the slow reader in my book club, #literhotties. Thanks to Tara Levesque for lending me her copy of Aisling Rawle’s novel, The Compound. It was a captivating, disturbing read. A little bit post-apocalyptic Lord of the Flies. Loved it. Would definitely recommend. Hard to put down.

Grianstad an tSamhraidh✨☀️🌿

❤️

Someone in my online James Joyce reading group suggested I read John Banville’s The Sea and it found it to be a beautifully written and told story. So much about love, loss, memory, secrets, and (un)truths. A small book with a big story. Brilliant. 📚❤️✨

Wrote this thing on going analogue and finding some stillness inside. You can read it here if you’d like… open.substack.com/pub/kimfahne...

Thanks to my friend Tanis for being in the world’s smallest book club with me, and for suggesting this beauty of a novel—Eggshells, by Caitriona Lally. It’s been an escape of the highest order in a challenging week. I’ll never look at signs or maps the same way…and it’s made me miss Dublin terribly.

I mean—she’s brilliant. Be sure to buy / borrow / read Zadie Smith’s collection of essays, Dead and Alive. Thought provoking, powerful work. ❤️✨📚

The Walk, by Emma Marns, is an important story for those of us who’ve studied the history of the various mother and baby “homes” that once populated Ireland. This story is partially set at Bessborough in Cork. For those who know the horrific story of Tuam, this will resonate again. A powerful novel.

Olivia Laing’s Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency is another one of my friend @tanismacdonald’s wonderful suggestions. This a buffet of articles & interviews that focus on writers and artists, & makes any reader consider how art can save us all in times of darkness. Creators—just keep on keeping on.

A Succession of Poetic Scenes: On Lusting After Real Estate Listings, by Ian Williams, is a brilliant essay that’s been published by Grant Munroe and Woodbridge Farm Books—down in Kingsville, Ontario. There’s a limited print run on these handmade chapbooks. thewoodbridgefarm.com/shop/a-succe...?

Listened to the audio book of Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives over the last little while. So wonderful. (Bought the hard copy, too…because I’m a fan girl.)

I’ve spent the last few days with Manchan Magan and it’s made me miss him being on the planet. He was, in my mind, a visionary. That he died last year, at such a young age, seems an affront to all that is good. Thanks to Frances for bringing Magan’s Thirty-two Words for Field.

I’m late to the party on this one…because, life…but wanted to take note of Latitude 46’s A Thousand Tiny Awakenings. Edited by brilliant young Northern Ontario poets, Connor Lafortune and Lindsay Mayhew, it’s an anthology of poetry written by fifteen young and marginalized creators. 📚✨✍️

Every Canadian poet should read Catherine Owen’s brilliant book, The Other 23 & a Half Hours: Or Everything You Wanted to Know that Your MFA Didn’t Teach You. It’s one for the shelf—to buy, not to borrow. Published by Wolsak & Wynn. 📚✨❤️✍️❤️✨📚@cowenwriter.bsky.social @wolsakandwynn.bsky.social

My first walk around the block since Fall 2023. Retraining my gait and trying to strengthen ankles and knees means it was slow and slightly lopsided…but it’s coming along. As my dad used to say, “It’s a long game, Kimber.” The sticks help me balance myself out. ❤️

I really think every Canadian should read Maggie Helwig’s very powerful book, Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community. For Sudbury and Northeastern Ontario friends—she’s coming to Wordstock, so write down Oct 16-17 in your calendars.

Sudbury friends—please go & say hello to my friend John Degen for me? He’s in town tomorrow at Indigo & will be selling & signing copies of his new novel, Seldom Seen Road. It’s set in a fictional town called Burnt River, but it reminds me of Thessalon. He’ll be there from 11am-4pm.

Thanks to my bookish friend Tara for lending me this beauty of a novel, The Amalfi Curse, by Sarah Penner. There are sea witches, sunken treasure ships, kidnappings, and a love story. Loved it. ❤️✨📚

My friend Rosanna has a new book about growing up in Sudbury as the daughter of Italian immigrants in the 1960s. Definitely a must read if you are a Sudburian & love the city’s fascinating history. Love this little book. Congrats, Rosanna! ❤️📚@robattigelli.bsky.social @latitude 46pub.bsky.social

Day 29 is Bronwen Wallace. I think every Canadian woman poet should read her work because she opened up a space for women’s voices—poetically speaking—in terms of personal narrative lyric. I really wish she were still here… (Thanks to Dr. Brenda Carr at Carleton for introducing me to her work!)

Day 28 was Eavan Boland and her collection In a Time of Violence. She died on April 27, 2020, and I still am so sad that she’s no longer in this dimension… Here are some of my favourites from this collection.