As many of us searched for comfort during lockdowns, author and performer Ivan Coyote found theirs in answering correspondence they received on the road pre-pandemic.
On Wednesday, Oct. 19, Coyote brings their recent book, Care Of: Letter, Connections, and Cures, to a virtual presentation hosted by North Shore Reads. Coyote will be accompanied by Shelagh Rogers of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter for a heartfelt conversation around themes of the book, which include connecting with friends and strangers across generational divides, struggling to figure out one’s identity and working to build or repair community.
In the early days of the coronavirus lockdown, like many artists and creators, Coyote was faced with a calendar full of cancelled shows and a heart full of questions around “what now?” reads a statement from North Shore Reads, which selected the book “to help us build connections and explore themes of healing and finding peace with the past.”
They began to answer correspondence received prior to the pandemic: emails, letters, direct messages on social media, soggy handwritten notes found tucked under the windshield wiper of their car after a gig.
“In Care Of, Coyote combines the most moving and powerful of these letters with the responses they’ve sent in the months since the lockdown,” the statement continues.
Speaking on behalf of the North Shore Reads Committee, NVDPL Librarian Sara Oremland said the event is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the pandemic, on ourselves, on our relationships.
“North Shore Reads exists to connect people across the North Shore through the shared experience of reading the same book,” Oremland said. “Ivan Coyote’s Care Of is a natural choice for this as it gives us readers a window into others’ lives in all their vulnerabilities, and inspires us to choose grace and compassion for one another.”
The program will begin with a traditional Indigenous welcome from Carleen Thomas of Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
For more details, visit the Eventbrite listing.
North Shore Reads is hosting a book discussion on Care Of on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m., on Zoom and in person at North Vancouver District Public Library, Capilano Branch.
North Shore Reads: Ivan Coyote in Conversation with Shelagh Rogers
When: Wednesday, Oct. 19, 7-8:30 p.m.
Where: Online.
Cost: Free. Registration is required.
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