Richard Wagamese

This morning I was fortunate enough to attend a Grit Lit event in Hamilton, Ontario. Numerous workshops and readings were available to the public for a small price. I was lucky to spend an hour and a half listening to the Canadian author Richard Wagamese.

Richard is an amazing, brilliant, and special author. His background is truly disturbing. He was taken away from his family at a young age and then placed with an adoptive family who consistently abused him. At 16, he left those terrible people and headed out to make a life for himself. He succeeded in obtaining some of the most menial jobs because he only had a grade 9 education and no work experience.

Yet, he discovered the library. He had never experienced a silence such as the quiet he heard at the library. Voraciously, he read every book he could lay his hands on. He kept a small note pad to record pieces of knowledge he gleaned from overheard conversations. He would take these simple queries to the librarian to learn everything he could.

Not only did he learn to write from the books he read, he also obtained a position with a local newspaper. From there, he achieved many writing opportunities from all over Canada. He admitted to still reading widely as evidenced by the number of books scattered throughout his house. Truly amazing. Most authors tell would-be authors to read as much as possible.

Since one of my characters in That Truthful Place is Ojibway, I provided Richard with a copy. I look forward to any comments he may have.

Check out a new Review from Jaylan Salah who I met through Twitter. Have you read the reviews from HollySisson or R.D. Hale for That Truthful Place.

have fun,
patty
www.pattylesser.com
@PattyLesser