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.
In the May 19 issue of Maclean’s magazine, Katrina writes a provocative feature about how international adoption is suddenly going out of vogue: China has been making it harder for foreigners to adopt. How hard? Well, with the backlog building, prospective parents could, as of this week, be looking at an arrival date of 2016.
On May 1, Katrina was a finalist for an American National Magazine Award in the Essay category. Her piece, about teen girls’ sexuality and a high school scandal, lost to an article in New Letters, but she still got to have a great night in New York. Oprah’s BFF Gayle was there, making it all worthwhile. It really was an honour to be nominated. Seriously.
Read the nominated article at Elle
Read the full list of winners/finalists of the 2008 American Society of Magazine Editors NMAs