About
Pickle Me This is written and edited by Kerry Clare, and is mainly a literary blog comprising book reviews, author interviews, bookish miscellanea, reading reflections, and sundry curiosities, literary or otherwise.
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Kerry reads and writes in Toronto, where she lives with her husband Stuart, and their daughter Harriet. Her essays, reviews and short fiction have been published in several Canadian newspapers and journals (see below), and she holds a Creative Writing MA from the University of Toronto. Her essay “Love is a Let-Down” was awarded an honourable mention in the Personal Journalism category at the 2011 National Magazine Awards, and appears in the anthology Best Canadian Essays 2011.
Kerry has been blogging since October 2000, writing mostly about books since 2006. In December 2008, she spoke about literary blogs whilst serving as a panelist on the Arts Matters forum “A Passion for Reading”, hosted by Their Excellencies, Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Jean-Daniel Lafond. In September 2010, Pickle Me This was cited by CBC Books as one of ten “Book Blogs We Appreciate”.
Kerry teaches the course The Art and Business of Blogging at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, which will be offered next in April 2012.
She is currently editor at Canadian Bookshelf.
Kerry currently volunteers for the Toronto charity Literature for Life, maintaining their website (along with Create Me This) and co-administrating their blog.
Contact klclare AT gmail DOT com
My Work In the World
Books:
- “Love is a Let-Down” in Best Canadian Essays 2011
Print, Web and Live:
- Review, David Gilmour’s The Perfect Order of Things, Canadian Notes and Queries (forthcoming)
- “True Crime” (essay), Prairie Fire Sharon Butala Special Issue, October 2012 (forthcoming)
- “How to read so your kids will listen” (article), Today’s Parent Online, January 27 2012
- “The Not-So Good Terrorist: Reading Zsuzsi Gartner’s ‘Better Living Through Plastic Explosives’” (essay), Canadian Notes and Queries 83, Winter 2011 (Out Now!)
- “Chasing Happiness” (book review), UofT Magazine, Autumn 2011
- “When I Was a Compulsive Parenting Expert” (essay), 4 Mothers Blog, August 2011
- “The Womanly Art of Blogging” (essay), Women Doing Literary Things, July 2011
- “The Challenges of Early Motherhood”, abridged essay, Readers Digest June 2011
- reading at Draft Reading Series, February 13 2011
- “The Difference of Value Persists” (essay), Canadian Notes and Queries Issue 80, November 2010
- “Love Is A Let-Down” (essay), runner-up Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest, The New Quarterly 116, November 2010 –noted by the Utne Reader‘s blog “Great Writing”, November 11 2010 “Newborns Make the Worst Roommates” –nominted for 2011 National Magazine Award (Personal Journalism) –abridged version reprinted in Readers Digest, June 2011
- Book reviews in Quill & Quire
- “Small Town Horror Alert” (book review), Globe and Mail November 15, 2010
- “You Can’t Run a Show on Stage Management Alone” (short story), Eden Mills Writers Festival Fringe, September 19 2010
- “Dear Carrie Bradshaw”, BlogHer Syndicate June 2010
- “Anna Lambert Lived and Died”(short story), The New Quarterly114 (online), April 2010
- “Georgia Coffee Star”, UofT Magazine, Winter 2010
- Review of Libby Creelman’s The Darren Effect, Canadian Notes and Queries 76
- Descant Blog Posts ’07-’09
- “At least the baby’s library is ready”, Rona Maynard Guest Post, May 2009
- “What Noise Can Carry” Room Magazine 32.1
- “Real Dirty Laundry”, This Magazine Jan/Feb 2009
- reading at Pivot Readings at the Press Club, Weds. January 28, 2009
- “On Literary Blogs”, A Passion for Reading (Panelist). Art Matters Forum, Dec. 2008
- “On a Picnic” The New Quarterly 108
- “Still Born Friends” 2008 Eden Mills Writers Festival Literary Contest (Shortlist)
- “Dancing About Literature” Descant 140-
- “The New Peppermint” The New Quarterly 104
- “Slush Puppy Hart House Review ’06
- “A Big Enough Army” Toronto Star 7/30/06
- “The Philosophy of Elephants The Globe & Mail 2/3/05
Notable Experiences
- Instructor, The Art and Business of Blogging at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, from October 2011
- Editor, Canadian Bookshelf, from March 2011
- Judge, The 2011 U of T Magazine Short Story Contest
- Provincial Judge, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation’s Student Achievement Awards, March 2011
- Guest Lecturer, “Bringing Children’s Book to Life” for a Literacy course in the Early Childhood Education Program at Ryerson University, November 2010
- Juror, 2010 Quebec Writers Federation First Book Prize
- Curator, Canada Reads Independently
- Volunteer, The Children’s Book Bank, Toronto
- Panelist, “Art Matters Forum: A Passion for Reading,” hosted by Their Excellencies, Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Jean-Daniel Lafond
- Guest Author/Workshop Leader, Toronto District School Board Authors’ Day, May 2008
Interviews and Profiles
- “Develop Online Voices With Blogging Courses”, Linda White, The Toronto Sun, December 2011
- “Into the Eye (and Safely Out Again)”, January 2011
- Pickle Me This featured by Toronto Word on the Street’s blog, November 2010
- Proust Questionnaire, Open Book Toronto, August 2010
- Conversations in the Book Trade, Interview by Finn Harvor, August 2010
- Interview by Julie Wilson at the CBC Book Club, Jan. 2010
Copyright: All content on this site is copyright of the author.