Code White

In Uncategorized by farzanadoctor1 Comment

This past week I went to “Get Your Lit Out – Heartbreaker”, a night of post-Valentine’s readings by a variety of gifted queer writers: Marusya Bociurkiw, Rose Cullis, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, Julia Gonsalves, Chanelle Gallant, and Lisa Foad. The very funny and political Fat Femme Mafia hosted at the Edward Day Gallery (www.edwarddaygallery.com).

Debra Anderson (www.debraanderson.ca) , author of Code White, organized the event, and because I like to support fellow writers, and especially writers who organize forums for established and less established writers, I bought her book.

I love meeting authors before reading their books. Reading is an intimate experience already; delving into a well-written story always takes me deep into another’s mind, allowing me to escavate a new perspective and experience. But there is something about meeting an author — listening to her voice, hearing the cadence and rhythm of her speech, watching her facial expressions as she speaks — prior to reading her book that makes the experience feel even more intimate. Perhaps I make-believe that the fiction isn’t really fiction, picturing the protagonist with the same features of the author, or imagine a character’s voice sounding a little like the author’s. But all of a sudden, there is a new depth to the reading. Does that happen to you?

Debra and I exchanged just a few words and pleasantries at the bar after the event–she was gracious and thanked us all for coming, and that’s about it. But it was enough.

I’ve been gobbling up Code White since then, reading it on the subway, almost missing my stops, thinking about it as I’m drifting off to sleep. It’s an amazing story about a dyke stuck in a psychiatric institution. I’m almost through it. Go read it.

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