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Arts & CultureCelebrate the life of Jan Andrews, November 16

Celebrate the life of Jan Andrews, November 16

TO SEE THE STARS: IMAGINING A LIFE

 A reading from Jan Andrews’ Last Novel by Ellis Lynn Duschenes

Traditional Music with Gail Anglin and Neville Miller

SATURDAY, NOV 16 AT 3:00

CURIOUS AND KIND 12B MILL STREET (BEHIND HERITAGE MALL)

Open Seating by Donation


Jan Andrews immigrated to Canada from the UK as a young woman, just in time to be part of a phenomenal blossoming of fine Canadian children’s literature that began in the 1970s. Very Last First Time is now regarded as a Canadian classic and all her picture books and novels were critically acclaimed.  Jan worked on To See the Stars over more than 20 years and when she died it was almost ready for publication. Her splendid publisher, Running the Goat, was determined to bring it into the world and so final edits were done and here it is.

This is your chance to come and celebrate Jan’s life as a writer, an internationally recognized storyteller, a rock climber; a woman who lived her life vividly, creatively and with a determination that no matter how hard life gets, always there is the possibility for joy.

It seems fitting to be celebrating this particular book in Almonte both because Jan’s beloved home on Taylor Lake is nearby, but mostly because the books main character shares so much with the women who worked in the Almonte mills. Edie Murphy comes from a small out port in Newfoundland, leaves home to go into service but ends up in the garment industry in New York. There, like the so many workers in Almonte, she does arduous factory work and becomes part of the struggle to make the conditions in those factories more bearable.

To add to the richness of this event Gail Anglin and Neville Miller will be there to entertain you with traditional music that speaks of the hardships faced by people working in those early days of the textile and garment industries and of the courage they needed to survive.

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