The printing has started!

In my last post I previewed the design for this year's CBC Sounds of the Season linoleum block print. The prints help raise money for food banks here in Ontario.

This year's print is the Old Toronto City Hall clock tower (feeling nostalgic for the old city I guess - I also love bells and clocks.)

This year, I cut the actual printing block alongside some amazing artists at ArtHeart Community Art Center.

I was asked to come and give a "how-to" presentation. We all sat together for about three hours, making designs on paper, transferring that to a block and then cutting into our blocks.

It was amazing to see some of the designs. There were faces, skulls, snowy landscapes and winged superheroes. Most of us even reached the point where we could pull prints off the blocks.

If you haven't done a lino-cut since high school - give it a try.

The amazing things about block prints (for me) is that the finished product always has a cool arty look - even if you are not the greatest "artist" in the world. 

2013 Lino Cut

Each year the great folks at CBC Toronto put on a big all-day holiday show - Sounds of the Season. December 6th is the date.

The doors of the CBC Broadcast Centre are thrown wide-open and there's music, great stories, and a chance to meet your fave CBC celebs.

All proceeds go to help Ontario Food Banks such as the amazing Daily Bread.

I do a lino-cut each year, as a kind of 'thanks' gift for people who donate $100+. There are usually about 300 takers or so.

Here's the rough sketch for this year's print. (I guess Toronto City Hall is on my mind these days... hmmmm....)

I'm extra excited this year because I'll be cutting the actual plate (using a knife to gouge into a piece of linoleum) with the crew at ArtHeart - an amazing community group in Toronto that offers art supplies and lessons to people who might not get the chance otherwise.

Yay!

Some writerly advice

I did a great tour through the schools and libraries in Innisfil, Ontario last year.

They were running a writer's contest and they asked me for some of my advice.

Still valid (I think) for anyone who is taking part in NaNoWriMo.

Smiles all around!

I just got back from an amazing trip to Windsor for the Windsor book festival. I asked Margaret Atwood a question about genre fiction (which she dodged!)

(Here's a nice pic from the crew at the Public Library. A nice blog post about my visit is here.)

I had dinner (and was on stage) with one of my heroes, Ken Oppel, and we were joined by recent Man Booker winner Eleanor Catton for dinner on friday. Her dad was a philosophy prof too!

Then I got home and there was a very nice package from my publisher, Simon and Schuster, waiting for me.

Now I'm back in my attic in my grungy sweats and Sabres sweatshirt, and getting back to work.
But I'm smiling.

Great Kids, Great Reads Podcast

I've started something a little new, trying to combine my love of radio with my love of books.

So I'm launching a new podcast. Great Kids, Great Reads (click here to hear #1)

GKGR features interviews with my fave booksellers and I get their picks for must-read books - picture book, middle-grade and YA.

The amazing Melissa Bourdon-King and Michelle Gram from Mabel's Fables Bookstore are my guides for the first few episodes. Podcast #1 features some of their spooky book nods.

There's also a Facebook page for the podcast, where we will post the books (feel free to LIKE)!

And stay tuned for more!

Where have you gone Jackie Robinson?

So, now that the big TD awards are behind us (List of amazing winners here), it's time to turn our attention back to baseball.

The World Series starts tonight. (Why the teams needed 5 days off to rest, I do NOT understand. Kind of eradicates the idea of playoff conditioning. I mean, each team is now rested and can start whomever they want as a pitcher.)

Anyway, I'm working on a book about baseball and numbers so I'm thinking about the little things in the game right now, and the not so little things.

One thing struck me as I was looking at the rosters of Boston and St. Louis. They are almost exclusively white players. This is definitely true of the starting pitching, and mostly true of the starting lineups in general.

This is worth noting, because it signals a trend in baseball, that baseball itself is trying to address - the decline of African-American players. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig launched a task force at the beginning of this season to look at the causes and some possible solutions.

When Jackie Robinson joined Brooklyn in 1947 he ushered in an era of integration. The percentage of African-American players in the game peaked around 30 years later, which is now around 30 years ago. It was about 19%. Now it's closer to 7%. (The folks at SABR have a great analysis of the numbers here. It is worth noting that there is a rise in players from Latin America and Asia.)

I won't get into all the reasons why this is important. Let's just say if baseball is "America's pastime", it needs to better reflect "America's demographics."