The Kingston Writers Festival does something remarkable (in my view): they encourage people in Kingston to support their festival by becoming an author patron. That means providing sufficient funds for an author to participate.
I had the privilege this long weekend of meeting my patrons, Judith Irwin and Richard Henriksen.
Both are astrophysicists at Queens (Richard is a professor emeritus), so you can imagine the interesting discussions we had, sitting on the deck overlooking the lake at my cottage near Kingston, with the Mars rover about to land.
They are an absolutely lovely couple, and I really enjoyed meeting them. It was such a great day for them to come out too: 34 degrees in the city, apparently, but we had a nice cool breeze by the lake and went for a swim when it got a little hot.
Patrons, yes, but also new friends. They hadn’t yet read The Beggar’s Opera but I do hope they enjoy it (that would suck, wouldn’t it, to be someone’s patron and find out you hate their book?).
Judith and Richard plan to host a small reception while I’m in Kingston which will be quite wonderful, and I’m very grateful for their support. Last year, they were patrons to the brilliant Canadian sci-fi author Robert Sawyer, who is a good friend of my good friend, Hayden Trenholm, so it really is a small world.
Not to mention a small galaxy. Incredible landing on Mars early this morning. Apparently it was like hitting a hole-in-one from Los Angeles to Scotland!
There are a good many author patrons for this year’s festival and I think they should all get a nod. A giant thank you on behalf of all of us to the following companies and individuals who are helping to make this festival happen:
| Altair Electronics | Melanie Dugan |
| Katie Carmichael & Helène Pratt | David Helwig |
| Chez Piggy Restaurant & Bar | Emily Schultz |
| Chris James | Naomi Wolf |
| Justin Connidis & Julia McArthur | Will Ferguson |
| Curry Original Restaurant | Ami McKay |
| Anju & Chander Datta | Linda Spalding |
| Elaine & Michael Davies (The Davies Charitable Foundation) |
Michael Ondaatje |
| Tim & Christine Everdell (Quarry Pharmacy) |
Michele Landsberg |
| Bryan & Carol Finlay | Ben McNally |
| Get Funky Boutique | Damian Rogers |
| Virginia Gordon & Lynne Kenny | Nancy Richler |
| Mary Ann Higgs | Miranda Hill |
| Judith Irwin & Richard Henriksen | Peggy Blair |
| Jo-Anne Lachapelle-Beyak | Andrew Westoll |
| Brian Osborne | Jamie Swift |
| Joanne Page | Susan Gillis & Phil Hall |
| Yvonne Pelley | Shannon Moroney |
| Paul Fisher paulfisherinvestments.com |
Trio Without Words |
| Queen’s University Archives | Steven Heighton |
| Queen’s Quarterly | Mark Kingwell |
| Read & Red Book Club | Shelagh Rogers |
| Reading Between the Wines Book Club | Susan Olding |
| Regina Rosen | Judith Thompson |
| Mike Scrannage & Karen Charlton | Eva Stachniak |
| Ed Smith | Tanis Rideout |
| Geoff Smith | Helen Humphreys |
| Student Association St. Lawrence College, Kingston Campus |
Tilda Shalof |
| Dr. Eva Toth | Linden MacIntyre |
| United States Embassy | Teju Cole |
| Untitled Book Club | John Vaillant |
| The Waterfall Tea Room | Wallace Edwards |
| Willow Family Physicians | Vincent Lam |
| Anonymous | Naomi Duguid |
