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This story is a collection of poems that is magically linked to Tom Thompson as a painter,
as a figure, as an icon, as an individual…and I tried to explore all those different facets
through the poetry in the book. Growing up in Toronto Tom Thompson is such
a part of someone's life. I remember him in school hallways, in banks at Hart House at
the University of Toronto, here at the Art Gallery of Ontario. And he is such a presence
even for people who aren't aware of him. Anyone who rides the subway north of Bloor passes
his studio where he lived and where he painted. The ravines here in Toronto, the Humber and
the Don River are places he explored and so just being in the same places where Thompson
was makes a connection that inspired me. I just see myself as a Toronto writer because
I was born here, I was raised here, I grew up here. When the wonderful things about Toronto
is the fact that glass buildings and streets can suddenly just disappear within minutes
when you go down into the ravines and it’s a new world there…a world of nature, a world
of tranquility, a world of inspiration that probably Tom Thompson himself did explore
when he was living here in Toronto. In fact, it was said that during night time he would
take his snowshoes and go along the Rosedale Valley ravine just to explore the landscape,
so that ravine was just out here was part of the Thompson landscape, altered as it is.
I would like readers to make some connection with Thompson either emotionally through their
memory, through their experience, and to feel that sensation that Tom Thompson has an effect
on them, on their own life, on their own experiences and memories.
The Toronto Book Awards are important because they highlight the tradition of Toronto literature
that has been going on for decades. I believe that literature creates landmarks in the landscape.
Landmarks in the imaginative landscape of Toronto and the great thing about the Toronto
Book Awards is that not only that it recognizes the books but it also recognizes this city
as a place of inspiration, imagination, and interests.