Michael Crummey on PEI with new novel

PEI fans of Michael Crummey, Newfoundland novelist and poet, will welcome the news that his new novel, 'Sweetland,' is a finalist for the 2014 Governor General's Award for Fiction. Crummey will read from 'Sweetland' and sign books on Thursday, November 27, at 7:30 pm in the Confederation Centre Art Gallery.

After his first two, historical novels, 'River Thieves' and 'The Wreckage,' Crummey further enhanced his reputation and popularity with the mythic, multi-generational novel 'Galore,' crafted from Newfoundland's history and folklore. In 'Sweetland,' he brings us to the present day and a small Newfoundland fishing community devastated by the ongoing cod moratorium. 'Sweetland' is the name of both a small island and the main character, Moses Sweetland, former lighthouse keeper and cod fisherman, and eighth generation descendant of an ancestor who gave the island its name. The government will relocate residents, but only if all residents agree to move. Moses refuses to leave, and will not explain why.

' 'Sweetland' is a compelling depiction of a community...coming together and coming apart simultaneously. Drawing on history, memory and dream. Crummey creates a vivid portrait...of the world around him, both human and natural. It is a love song and a paean to a life and a history, and an elegy for its disappearance,' said Robert J. Wiersema of the National Post.

Michael Crummey is one of those Atlantic Canadian writers who, like Alistair MacLeod and Donna Morrissey, inspires a warm, kindly, loving-hearted mood when he's present. His writing inspires readers and listeners to travel deeply and powerfully into the tragic, heroic, and bittersweet lives of the people of his island, of our region.

His reading is sponsored by the UPEI English Department with the generous collaboration of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery.

For information:
Dr. Richard Lemm, Department of English, UPEI
Winter's Tales Authors' Reading Series
(902) 566-0592, rlemm@upei.ca