The Dusty Owl Reading Series Presents Mary Lee Bragg -- 6 November

[SteveThe Owl]

The Dusty Owl Reading Series Presents:

Mary Lee Bragg

November 6th, 5pm @ Swizzles Bar and Grill, 246A Queen Street, Ottawa

No Cover

As an outsider to Ottawa, fluent in English and French, Mary Lee Bragg sees the national capital as a border town, separated by a river and by language, but joined by a network of human relations.

Shooting Angels, her first novel, sets a story of personal disintegration and renewal against the background of Ottawa on the eve of the 1995 Quebec referendum. Roy Brown, a news photographer, leaves Bosnia for Canada when his parents are killed in a car accident. His childhood home in a quiet Ottawa neighbourhood offers a needed refuge after too long in the war zones. But as Roy sifts through the traces of his parents’ lives he finds that appearances can be deceiving. Roy gathers a new family among the friends who move into his house, running from responsibility or abuse or Quebec. In the house and out of it, the bonds between people are tested. Roy watches through the camera’s eye and learns to see what is most important to him.

He had seen it before, taped it and sent it home. People wept to his camera and he adjusted the focus. He did not weep. It wasn’t part of the job. Now suddenly it seemed he couldn’t stop. Something snapped in the funeral home van between Brattleboro and Ottawa, watching the snow-covered mountains, steep hills and icy roads, thinking about the trip he should have taken and the one he did. Off in search of bodies. Finding them.

Mary Lee's novel is powerful and rooted in both the Ottawa experience and the wider world, finding echoes of each other. Her appearance at Dusty Owl promises to be riveting, funny, and moving.

And as usual, there will be a friendly open mike after the feature -- bring your poetry, music, rants, stories -- and the ever-surprising Object of Desire contest. Admission is free, but donations are lovingly accepted.

[Booche]

What is love? What is this longing in our hearts for togetherness? Is it not the sweetest flower? Does not this flower of love have the fragrant aroma of fine, fine diamonds? Does not the wind love the dirt? Is not love not unlike the unlikely not it is unlikened to? Are you with someone tonight? Do not question your love. Take your lover by the hand. Release the power within yourself. Your heard me, release the power. Tame the wild cosmos with a whisper. Conquer heaven with one intimate caress. That's right don't be shy. Whip out everything you got and do it in the butt. By Leon Phelps

[SteveThe Owl]

But guys you can not blame the wang. (Phelps also)