What’s Happening In My Author World?

I was interviewed at my launch by amazing author Colleen Nelson. Her latest book is The Umbrella House.

I only discovered recently that in April of 2023 when Sixties Girl was launched, it made The Hamilton Review of Bestselling Books at Independent Bookstores.

Thanks to my publisher Heritage House for including Sixties Girl in its display of books for the Christmas season.

I’ve found out that both my novels can be purchased from Fables Books in Goshen Indiana. 

And………can you believe it they are also selling Sixties Girl through the Harvard Bookstore in Massachusetts.

It’s also available through Target stores, Barnes and Noble stores and even in San Antonio where I am headed next on my holiday at the Nowhere Bookshop.

My granddaughter’s Sunday School teacher approached me when I was visiting her church to ask if I knew that Vancouver lecturer Adrienne Gear the author of six books about reading and literacy had named Sixties Girl one of her Top Ten picks for middle-grade novels in 2023. 

Photo of Adrienne Gear from her World Literacy Summit bio

I didn’t know and was excited when I checked out Adrienne’s blog to indeed see Sixties Girl listed there along with books by two other Manitoba authors, Colleen Nelson and David Alexander Robertson.

I‘m on holiday now in Palm Springs where we were invited over for dinner by a couple we know. The woman had just read Sixties Girl and we had an interesting discussion about which things in the novel were based on my own family’s life and which things were purely fictional.

I love having talks with my readers. It’s the best part of writing a book. That’s why I am really excited about upcoming speaking engagements for a seniors’ group that meets at the St. James Community Centre to talk about Sixties Girl and another visit to a class at Sergeant Park Junior High to talk about Lost on the Prairie.

Thanks to Kimiko Fraser who took this great photo of books from my publisher Heritage House. Check out Sixties Girl at the top of the pile.

Did you know that a preview of Sixties Girl is now available on Google Books? If you are debating about whether to buy a copy you can get a sneak peek there.

Some recent comments from people about Sixties Girl.…….

Will’s struggle to admit the terrible extent of the bullying he has experienced to everyone who cares about him is wrenching and eye-opening. I enjoyed the peeks back into Grandma’s 1960s years – her stories are really good.- Cindy Mitchell- School Librarian- Salt Lake City Utah

Excellent story about a young girl growing up in the sixties in Winnipeg told in alternating timelines. Includes a lot of historical events including the Cuban Missile Crisis, Expo 67, Beatlemania and miniskirts. I loved this book for many reasons: strong writing; intergenerational storytelling; age-appropriate approach to heavy subject matter and excellent characters who face their problems in realistic ways. Would make an excellent read-aloud in an upper-intermediate class.- Adrienne Gear- Author and Literacy Instructor- Vancouver

Driedger’s self-contained chapters – inspired by her own childhood – are well crafted and effective. The highly evocative vignettes will appeal to young readers with a taste for the past (history buffs will also appreciate the endnotes that cast extra light on each chapter). And on the final page, a last-minute twist provides a welcome surprise. – Trilby Kent- Quill and Quire Magazine

I read Sixties Girl in the airport and on the flight to Abbotsford, then handed it over to my granddaughter Hazel. Hazel and I both enjoyed the book and it gives us topics to discuss and compare–how things were and how they are now. A “generation spanner.”- Mitch Toews author of Pinching Zwieback

I bought this book not realizing it was written for pre-teens or teens, but as with most really good young-adult fiction, a young age was no prerequisite for enjoyment! This is one of the good ones!– Judy Dykstra Brown

You can read more reviews of Sixties Girl here.

A book I’ve been working on for many months now has had to be put on hold for a variety of reasons.

But……. I’m busy with a new work in progress that has been moving along nicely.

Thanks for your support and interest in my writing.

You can check out other blog posts about my books here.