Went to Winnipeg to do a reading…

Went to Winnipeg to do a reading from City Wolves at Polo Park McNally Robinson’s Bookstore. McNally Robinson bookstores started in Winnipeg, now have big stores in Edmonton, New York City and recently, Toronto.

Historic, culture rich, gateway to the west, Winnipeg.  In City Wolves,  Meg Wilkinson, first female vet. visits there en route to the Yukon in 1896.  It is home city for Margaret Laurence, the great writer/beloved Elder and lead wolf, introduced to me by my editor at MacMillan London, England when I was in Oxford and Margaret lived near-by. When she returned to Canada I wanted to follow but my mate, pups and teaching job kept me in Oxford, until 1980. Through the long years it took to complete City Wolves, it was Carol Shields’ wise and kind correspondence that helped me get it done. She added profoundly to Winnipeg’s fame during her years there.

As I trotted along the banks of the Red River, having seen how it forks with the Assiniboine in the heart of the city, I felt a deep sense of familiarity. It was like trotting along the banks of the Klondike River where it meets with the Yukon in Dawson City!

The reading was superbly organized by McNally Robinson’s staff and I couldn’t have disgraced myself, for lo and behold…City Wolves made it onto their best seller list! Right up there in the top five with Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and a couple of New York Times best sellers. The spirits of  Margaret Laurence and Carol Shields were smiling as gleefully as Ike and Piji when they brought Meg to Dawson City.