Tonight is very exciting for the Quill — the Griffin Prize is being announced and the late P. K. Page’s collection, Coal and Roses, is up for the award. At the time of writing this, there is about an hour and a half before Page’s relatives will find out whether they win $75,000 for Page’s beautiful collection. As Elke told me a few days ago, P. K. Page is surely watching. (Tim added that she’d probably be drinking in a bar, too, or at least that’s what one of Page’s closest friends says.)
But wait — let me back up a minute. On Monday we had another exciting visitor stop by for some lunch by the river. Jack Illingworth interned at the Quill a number of years ago, and now works as the Executive Director at the Literary Press Group. I had emailed back and forth with him a couple times in September before beginning work at the Quill myself, and have encountered several of his (brilliant) reviews on my forays into our PExOD database, but meeting him in person was still a real pleasure. Plus he’s getting married in August — how can you not smile at that?! Elke sent him on his way again with a pie from the Holtom Bakery, so I know he enjoyed visiting the Inksters too.
The Inksters were missing from the shop today, however. Jill and I held down the fort as Tim and Elke gallivanted around Toronto in anticipation of the Griffin award ceremonies tonight. (Don’t worry, the kitties are safe until the Inksters get home.)* I was a little nervous at first, since their absence meant that if I accidentally deleted an entire book, or exploded an entire computer, I had no one to bail me out. Fortunately (miraculously?), none of the above happened — not even the explosion — and, in fact, I managed to accomplish most of my goals, while juggling fax machine spam and telemarketers. The only hiccup was the weather: Jill and I had to go out and find Cho-Cho in the pouring rain (it only took about ten minutes, though).
This week, the excitement doesn’t even end on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, June 5, I’ll be repping the Quill in Toronto’s Clinton Tavern (Bloor & Clinton) for the Meet the Presses’ Indie Literary Market. We’ll have lots of books on hand, and also free four-page samplers (featuring poetry from The Essential Margaret Avison) for anyone who purchases a book — which you can then, after being taught how in a free workshop, make a book out of with samplers you pick up from other presses. It’s a pretty neat keepsake, and seeing as I spent a long time today getting our sampler to the Market’s standards, I hope you book buyers like it too!
I have one last Quill-related task before beertime. (See how I did that? You know, ‘beertime’ instead of ‘bedtime’? … Summer has already leeched my brain.) You might notice that the blog title list on the right side of this page is getting a little long. I think it’s time to make an archive!
Let’s hope it’s not possible to explode a website.
*By the way, Tim informs me that the shy cat’s name is, in fact, spelt ‘Leelee’.
