Launch of "Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live, 2009"

I'm just home from the launch of Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live, 2009. The launch took place at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival and it was a super happy event. The book was created by students in 10 schools across the province. The students worked with their teachers and with a team composed of a writer and photographer. You may remember I was one of the writers involvedin the project, and that I was teamed up with one of my favourite people on planet Earth, photographer Monique Dykstra.

Today, we all got to see the fruit of our labour -- the finished book! And it looks gorgeous. Monique and I had the privilege of working with students at Franklin Elementary School, Waapihtiiwewan School, and Laval Liberty High School. I think these students learned a lot about photography and writing by producing their chapters. Perhaps the most important thing they learned was the importance of hard work. Just like you need to take a lot of photos before you get the right shot, you also need to keep re-writing and re-writing until you get your words right. So today, it's hats off to those hardworking students who kept on shooting photos and re-writing, and who now get to enjoy the product of all that hard work. A special thank you goes to their teachers -- Paula Dolphin and Gordon Brown at Franklin Elementary; Kyla Nadeau at Waapihtiiwewan; and Abbie Lawrence at Laval Liberty. And thanks of course to my special friends on the Blue Met team, especially Maite de Hemptinne, director of educational programs. WAY TO GO, YOU GUYS!!!