6 February 2024
Delighted to see the first copies of Stonehewer Books’ edition of Conversations with a Dead Man: Indigenous Rights and the Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott. The book is now available for online orders from the usual suspects, and it should appear in good independent bookstores soon. My gratitude goes out to George Galt and Ned Seager of Stonehewer Books for making this revised, updated and improved edition possible.
23 December 2023
In a year-end roundup of the best Canadian books of the year for the Postmedia chain of newspapers, Jamie Portman described Strange Bewildering Time as “a travel book for the ages.” He praised it as “particularly engaging” and as “enthralling.”
19 December 2023
A bookish website in the USA, shepherd.com, asked me to name the three books I most enjoyed reading this year. It was a hard decision, but this is what I came up with (two Irish books and one Canadian): https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/mark-abley
2 December 2023
On December 6th, I’ll be speaking about my life as a writer at the Forest and Stream Club in Dorval. Rumour has it that “candy cane brownie trifle” will be served. Other food too!
10 November 2023
My forthcoming new/old book:
https://www.stonehewerbooks.com/conversations-with-a-dead-man
29 October 2023
I’ll be present at the Read Quebec Book Fair on Friday, Nov. 3, thanks to the good people at Paragraphe Books. My session at their table starts at 2 pm. The book fair will take place on the ground floor of Concordia University’s library building in downtown Montreal.
4 October 2023
On Sunday, Oct. 15, Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt and I will be appearing at a Books and Brunch event in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The event begins at 11 am at the Amédée Beaudoin Community Centre in Lennoxville. I’ll be speaking about Strange Bewildering Time.
14 September 2023
Proud to have a keynote essay in the 50th anniversary issue of Grain magazine, published in my old hometown of Saskatoon. A thriving literary culture depends on small magazines like Grain.
5 September 2023
I’ve now finished the updating, revising and editing of the new Stonehewer edition of my book Conversations with a Dead Man: Indigenous Rights and The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott. Thanks to George Galt and Ned Seager of Stonehewer Books for their keen editorial eye, including the newly tweaked subtitle. The book should be in stores by February 2024.
20 July 2023
Here’s a link to the recording of that conversation between myself and Chinese Rhodes Scholar Yan Chen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe1KeY2-CWA
13 July 2023
I’m thrilled to be taking part in a book talk for the Rhodes Trust! This will happen on July 19, at 12 noon Eastern Daylight Time.
Scholars’ Library: Mark Abley on ‘Strange Bewildering Time’
“Organised by Rhodes House, we are delighted to share their monthly book talk series. For July’s event, Mark Abley (1975, English) will discuss his book Strange Bewildering Time with Yan Chen (2019, Comparative Literature).”
29 June 2023
An interview with the Montreal Guardian (with some photos too!) along with a generous appreciation of me by Harold Hoefle …
“A Day in the Life” with nonfiction Writer, Poet, and Journalist Mark Abley
1 June 2023
Strange Bewildering Time is now available as an audiobook — the first time I’ve been “published” in this format. In point of fact, it’s available in two formats: both “Digital Audio, MP3” and “Lossless Format Audio, WAV.” The digital audiobook can be purchased on Audible, Libro.fm, and Rakuten Kobo.
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/audiobook/strange-bewildering-time-1
10 May 2023
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Stonehewer Books, a new literary press based in Victoria and Toronto, to publish a revised and expanded edition of my 2013 book Conversations with a Dead Man: Indigenous Rights and the Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott.
2 April 2023
A terrific review of Strange Bewildering Time has appeared in the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/strange-bewildering-time-book-review-hippie-trail-tripping-from-turkey-to-tibet-e43f37d3
21 March 2023
It’s a pleasure to be leading two workshops again for the Quebec Writers’ Federation — so many stories in the world, so many people who need to tell their stories …
10 February 2023
I will be speaking, reading, and signing copies of Strange Bewildering Time at the Atwater Library in Montreal on Thurs., Feb. 23, at 12:30 pm.
4 February 2023
To hear my interview with Sonali Karnick for CBC Radio’s “All in a Weekend,” go to: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2169207875570
22 January 2023
Strange Bewildering Time will be officially launched at 2 pm, Sunday Feb. 5, at Paragraphe Bookstore in downtown Montreal. Everyone’s welcome!
19 January 2023
The first public event for Strange Bewildering Time will be held at 7 pm on Feb. 1 at the Toronto Reference Library; I’m looking forward to being interviewed by the novelist and memoir-writer Martha Baillie. While in Toronto, I’ll also make two appearances at the Ontario Library Association’s annual conference.
8 January 2023
If you live in the West Island of Montreal, it would be great to see you at either of the two events I’ll be doing in February: Feb. 9 (2 pm) at the Beaconsfield Public Library, and Feb. 22 (7 pm) at the Pointe Claire Public Library.
9 December 2022
In March and April, I’ll be leading a pair of eight-week workshops on memoir writing for the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
20 November 2022
Warm thanks to the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild and to all the participants in the SWG’s Fall Retreat at St. Peter’s Abbey in Muenster. It was a pleasure for me to lead the workshop, and a pleasure also to discover the beautiful abbey, college, and songbird-filled grounds.
9 November 2022
I was deeply honoured today to receive an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Saskatchewan.
17 October 2022
In the first review of Strange Bewildering Time, the journal Publishers Weekly praises the book as a “poetic memoir” and concludes: “With vivid descriptions (on riding a bus to reach Kashmir Valley: “The air smelled delicious: mingled scents of cedars, pines, and alpine flowers in the precipitous green meadows”) and frank reflections (“Privilege allowed us to ignore the daily lives of the local people we noticed along the way”), Abley gracefully captures a sense of his youthful innocence. Readers will marvel at this nostalgic travelogue.” (Would it be ungracious of me to quibble at the word “nostalgic”? Yes, it would.)
8 August 2022
My essay on Duncan Campbell Scott, Stephen Leacock, and other ‘hard-to-read’ figures from the literary past has appeared in the September issue of The Walrus.
29 June 2022
Strange Bewildering Time is now ready for the printer. It can be pre-ordered at your local independent bookstore, on the Indigo website, or (if necessary) via Amazon. Here is a link:
7 November 2021
My article on the new Field Notes series of Biblioasis Press will be appearing in the December issue of The Walrus.
4 October 2021
The poetry reading I gave the other day can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_59KfG8eQM
29 September 2021
On Saturday, Oct. 2 at 4 pm, Virginia Konchan and I will be giving a (virtual) poetry reading for the Stanstead Arts Centre. Many thanks to Gabriel Safdie and to the host of the event, Shelley Pomerance.
19 August 2021
The American website shepherd.com asked me to choose five favourite books about language. Look for my choices, and my enthusiastic explanations, at: https://shepherd.com/best-books/language
