This month, I chased Rihanna across three countries for a cover story in American Elle. Fame.

Read excerpts from the article here.

Hey, I won Gold at the National Magazine Awards in the Arts category, for this Toronto Life article. I was in Italy and missed the party, but it’s very cool to have finally won one of these. Here’s my Oscar-y speech: Thanks to Sarah Fulford and Mark Pupo, fantastic editors both. See — no orchestra cut-off!

And this happened a while ago (loop, I am out of thee), but I was really pleased to see How Happy to Be short-listed as part of an on-line response to CBC’s Canada Reads series, called Canada Reads 2010: Independently. Alas, the book didn’t win, but I loved the blogosphere discourse around these under-celebrated novels; thoughtful and respectful and very smart. I bow down to any contest that promotes Carrie Snyder and Ray Robertson.  And while I wrote a lot of undergrad papers on Martha Ostenso, I feel like I’ve never read Wild Geese because I was too busy grade-grubbing. Will now check out all these books. Thanks, bloggers.

A quick note to say that I am heading to Italy for a year with my family. This site will slow to a trickle as I — God willing — complete a book, though my Chatelaine work will continue. Thanks for your nice notes in the past months (and to the not-nice: Christian Bale appreciates your support). Please have a great year, and come back in 2010.

For her work in Chatelaine, Katrina received a nomination in the Columnists category at the 2008 Canadian National Magazine Awards. She’s very pleased, if doomed, to be up against a gaggle of former colleagues from the National Post, including personal favourites Patricia Pearson and Paul Wells. The shindig is June 6 in Toronto. Susan Lucci streak expected to continue.

The cover of Toronto Life belongs to Katrina this month. “How to Get Ahead in a Recession” is about the much-maligned under-3os (you know: coddled, tecchie, entitled Boomer progeny — or not ) and how they’re faring in an economy of indifference. 

The piece isn’t on-line, but available on newsstands. Check it out here.

Katrina will be reading from her novel, How Happy to Be, on Wed. April 29, 7pm, at the Yorkville Public Library in Toronto (22 Yorkville Ave.). This is part of Lit City, a really interesting series matching writers with the Toronto neighbourhoods they celebrate (and abuse, in KO’s case) in their work. Katrina will be reading with Ray Robertson — very good company. Please come out and support our local libraries and local impoverished writers! Plus, it’s free, so what’s your excuse, really?

Inside the Music is a smart, thoughtful radio series that ran recently on CBC Radio. Each episode is a stand-alone doc about an essential Canadian album (we’re waiting for the canonization of The New Pornographers‘ Mass Romantic, but this is still good stuff). In the segment on Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Katrina waxes whiny about her angsty teen relationship to the record. She’s in good company, sharing the stage with Camille Paglia and Sheila Weller, who wrote an interesting book about Mitchell/Carly Simon/Carol King. Listen to all of the episodes here and read more about Weller’s book, Girls Like Us, here.

Katrina has a feature interview with the new Bond, Daniel Craig, in the November ‘08 Elle magazine (US edition — and also Taiwan, apparently; cool). Unfortunately, the story’s not on-line, but you can buy the issue with money! Nicole Kidman and her forehead are on the cover.

The cover story in the November ‘08 issue of Toronto Life is written by Katrina. It goes something like this:

The plaster dust, the ruined finances, the wrecked marriages — why do we do it? Toronto’s masochistic obsession with home improvement.

Read the article here.

CBC Arts Online will be going all out to cover TIFF this year. Check out their dedicated site here for ongoing coverage and reviews. They promise not to be too slavish.