At the beginning of 2008, I switched critical beats at the Toronto Star with movie critic Geoff Pevere. Pevere took over the Books Columnist role and I became, along with Peter Howell, one of the two movie critics at the Star. It seemed to me an interesting challenge after 18 years of reviewing books.
In March of 2008, however, the Toronto Star made an across the board offer to its employees of a voluntary separation payment (VSP) for those who wished to leave at the end of June, 2008. For me, in effect, this was an offer of early retirement, which I decided to take in order to pursue other interests, chiefly writing books. I accepted the offer with mixed feelings - one of which was certainly gratitude to the Star for all the years in which I worked for that newspaper in the capacity as books columnist. Long may that position continue to exist at the Star.
Public Appearances (2007)
Date: February 6
Place: Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., Toronto
Function: Moderator of a panel on the subject, "Altered Books - Artists Reinvent the Book." This panel was part of an on-going series, launched by the Toronto library, For the Soul: Books as Art.
Date: February 28
Place: Cadillac Lounge, 1296 Queen St. W., Toronto
Function: Conducted an on-stage interview with novelist Brad Smith on the subject of his new novel, Big Man Coming Down the Road.
Date: April 2
Place: University of Southern Maine, Auburn College, 51 Westminster St., Lewiston, Maine
Function: Speaker on the subject of his new book, Ghost Empire: How The French Almost Conquered North America. Also appearing at this event, entitled "Franco-America Through Time and Space," was poet Jean Morriset from Quebec and songwriter Marcel Marchildon from Saskatchewan. The reading was part of a three day conference entitled "Rendezvous of Franco America," taking place in the Lewiston-Auburn area of Maine.
Date: April 2
Place: Gulf of Maine Books, 134 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine
Function: Speaker on the subject of Ghost Empire: How the French Almost Conquered North America. Also appearing at this event, entitled "The Poetry of French America," was Jean Morisset from Quebec and Michel Marchildon from Saskatchewan.
Date: April 3
Place: Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine, 314 Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine
Function: Speaker on the subject of Ghost Empire: How the French Almost
Conquered North America. Also appearing at this event, entitled "Franco-America Through Time and Space," was Jean Morriset, Michel Marchildon, and Virgil Benoit from Minnesota.
Date: April 3
Place: Auburn Public Library, 49 Spring Street, Auburn, Maine
Function: Speaker on the subject of Ghost Empire: How the French Almost Conquered North America. Also appearing at this event, entitled "Poetry of French America," was Jean Morriset and Michel Marchildon.
Date: April 4
Place: McArthur Library, 270 Main St. Biddeford, Maine
Function: Speaker on the subject of Ghost Empire: How the French Almost Conquered North America.
Date: April 30
Place: Beth Tzedec Congregation, 1700 Bathurst St., Toronto
Function: Speaker on the subject of Philip Roth's novel, Everyman.
Date: June 9
Place: Eighth annual convention of the Media Ecology Association (MEA) at the Technologico de Monterrey, Campus Estados de Mexico, Mexico City
Function: Member of a panel discussion, held in the main room of the Salon de Congresos, on the subject of Marshall McLuhan.
Date: June 9
Place: Main room, Salon de Congressos
Function: First recipient of the James W. Carey Award for Outstanding Media Journalism (named after the late CBS Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University), granted at MEA awards ceremony.
