Stephen King in New Brunswick...

Master Storyteller Stephen King made a surprise visit to Sussex High School last week to speak to students about writing. How cool would that be?

Check out the full story HERE.

A quote for writers

"A good story can educate as it entertains, certainly, but that is not the reason that I write. I write because I find it personally fulfilling. I write for me. Don’t get me wrong, I find it very rewarding that readers seem to enjoy my work and find some meaning in it for themselves, but I would be doing this even if no one bought one of my books ever again."

-David Adams Richards

David Adams Richards wins Thomas Raddall

David Adams Richards has won the 2012 Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award for his novel Incidents in the Life of Marcus Paul. He also won the award in 1994 for For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down.

Richards has won the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award (twice), two Geminis, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Canadian Authors Association Prize, and is named to the Order of Canada. 

But the sad truth is, he is still unknown to many Canadians (the majority of whom live west of New Brunswick). I've talked to many supposedly well-read people who read everything under the sun it seems, yet when I mention David Adams Richards they all frown and say they've never heard of him. I tell them they're missing something special. It's like saying you're a hockey fan but have never heard of Sidney Crosby.

It's about time we start talking more about Richards and his work. Atwood gets a headline for waking up in the morning. If the world ever does anything right, we'll see him win the Nobel Prize someday. When and if that time comes, then maybe this country will finally recognize him for what he is -- far and away the best writer Canada has ever produced.