Joanna Cockerline begins cross-Canada book tour Sept. 7

GUELPH –  CBC Literary Awards prizewinning writer Joanna Cockerline, originally from Guelph will read at several area events this September, accompanied by multi-media visual artist Leslie Putnam.

Cockerline is the author of the new novel Still – alongside London author Kevin Andrew Heslop, author of The Writing on the Wind’s Wall: Dialogues about Medical Assistance in Dying.

At the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival on Sept. 7 Cockerline will read from her work and participate in a panel moderated by Porcupine’s Quill and Gordon Hill Press publisher Jeremy Luke Hill, of Guelph, at 2:15pm at Eden Mills’ Willow Hill area.

On Sept. 15 Cockerline, Heslop and Putnam will be signing books, exhibiting art, and doing a meet-and-greet at The Bookshelf, from 4 to 7pm.

On Sept. 16, at the Elora Centre for the Arts, Cockerline and Heslop will offer a free writing workshop at 5:30pm (to which participants are welcome to bring short writing samples) and a free public reading at 7pm, followed by a meet-and-greet, book signing, and opportunities for everyone to interact with Putnam’s art.

Cockerline and Heslop are both releasing their books in September with the Canadian indie press The Porcupine’s Quill and are touring across Canada to connect with audiences about issues close to their hearts and homes.

Cockerline’s novel Still is set amid the vibrancy and precarity of unhoused and street-level sex work communities, and follows the story of a woman who lives and works on the streets, who is looking for a fellow sex worker who has gone missing.

The novel is informed by Cockerline’s own experiences as a long-time street outreach volunteer and co-founder of a new non-profit street outreach organization in Kelowna, BC, where the long-time Guelph resident and University of Guelph alumni now lives.

Kevin Andrew Heslop’s book also addresses pressing social questions.

The Writing on the Wind’s Wall presents an atonal chorus: a disability-studies scholar, an ethicist, doctors, a death-doula, a reverend, a medium, a member of parliament, a psychiatrist, relatives of people who have died with medical assistance, and someone who intends to die.

“We’re deeply excited to connect with readers and audiences across the country,” Cockerline stated, noting they will be touring throughout BC, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces throughout September and October.

Cockerline will continue her tour in western, central, and northern Canada next spring and summer.