photo by the gracious Kam Teo, Librarian at Weyburn Public Library
One of the great pleasures of publishing this book has been the response of readers coming out to public readings. In the past two weeks I have read at "The Bookshelf" in Guelph, Ontario, the musuem in Swift Current, and the Weyburn Public Library.
The image above shows last night's reading in Weyburn, where 50 people came out, thanks to Kam Teo's (Kam is the librarian) work promoting the event. I have been to dozens of places reading this book--more than the readings for my other two books combined, I would guess--but these two this week were especially fun. The event in Guelph was in a pub attached to the book shop. It made for a terrific environment (I don't often get to read in a pub with local beer!), and there were lots of friendly folks, naturalists and university people who came out. Earlier in the day, I had a chance to visit for the first time the gravestone of my great-great grandfather, James Herriot, who brought the clan to Canada in 1852, settling in the town of Galt, just south of Guelph. Thanks to my host, Andrew MacDougall, I was able to visit the cemetery, take pictures, and see some of the tallgrass prairie remnants on the Galt Moraine, where my ancestors would have had their first glimpses of the North American Prairie. It was a great moment and I feel very thankful for Andrew bringing me out to Guelph and showing me around.
The Weyburn event brought out several local farmers who know the birds and are doing what they can to hold onto habitat on the edges of their fields. The conversations I had with them and members of the local Weyburn Natural History Society were encouraging. People care and want to do something to help.
Here is another image from last night's reading, also taken by Kam:
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...looks like a fine time in Weyburn, but I would have enjoyed the pub read a bit more (smile).
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