Jana O’Connor is writer, performer and a frequent guest contributor on CBC Radio’s Because News. (Jana O’Connor)
The Next Chapter12:58Thread of connection: Jana O’Connor recommends three crafting books
Despite a busy schedule as a frequent contributor on CBC Radio’s Because News and the executive director of nonfiction festival LitFest Alberta, Edmonton’s Jana O’Connor somehow manages to sustain a life-long love of crafting.
“There was always a lot of materials around our house. I was always inspired by that,” she told Ali Hassan. “But it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s and I just caught a fire in me to decide to learn to knit.”
On this week’s episode of The Next Chapter, O’Connor shares three nonfiction titles that have greatly influenced her relationship with crafting and her appreciation of the art.
Sharp Notions is a collection of essays by Marita Dachsel, left, and Nancy Lee. (Shannon Ogilvie, Arsenal Pulp Press, Kyrani Kanavaros)
This nonfiction essay anthology brings together crafters from all walks of life. From crochet and knitting to embroidery, beading and quilting, these artists explore their relationship with fibre arts as it intersects with identity, trauma, politics, technology, climate change, disability and chronic illness.
Marita Dachsel is the author of the poetry collections There Are Not Enough Sad Songs, Glossolalia and All Things Said & Done, and the play Initiation Trilogy. Her essays have appeared in multiple anthologies. She is an assistant teaching professor in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria.
Nancy Lee is the author of two works of fiction, Dead Girls and The Age and a poetry collection, What Hurts Going Down. She is an associate professor at the UBC School of Creative Writing and co-creator of the internationally acclaimed EdX education series, How to Write a Novel. She lives in Vancouver.
Jana O’Connor says:“It’s an absolutely beautiful book and has a myriad of different perspectives on people’s lives and their relationship to needlework. It brings all kinds of insight and thoughtful reflections on the role of craft in people’s lives.”
Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore
Yarn Bombing is a book by Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore. (Graphic made by CBC Books)
Yarn bombing, the international guerilla movement using textile art as an act of political resistance, first picked up steam in the early 2000s. The 10th anniversary edition of Yarn Bombing was published in 2019 and includes patterns, tips and infamous examples of the movement over the previous decade.
Leanne Prain is a writer, speaker and certified design professional from Vancouver who helps communities connect through creative ideas. Her previous books include Strange Material: Storytelling through Textiles and The Creative Instigator’s Handbook: A DIY Guide to Making Social Change through Art.
Mandy Moore has worked in the yarn industry for over two decades as a teacher, designer and technical editor. She lives and works in Vancouver.
Jana O’Connor says: “Yarn graffiti and craftivism are very exciting ways of inserting yourself gently into the both political and municipal landscape and just making your mark.”
Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater by Peggy Orenstein
Peggy Orenstein is the author of the memoir Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater. (HarperCollins)
In order to cope with immense family upheaval amidst the COVID pandemic, Unraveling details author Peggy Orenstein’s journey to create a sweater entirely from scratch. From shearing a sheep to dyeing and knitting the yarn, Orenstein undertook every element of the year-long process herself in this hilarious, poignant memoir.
Peggy Orenstein is New York Times bestselling author, whose other books include Boys & Sex, Don’t Call Me Princess, Girls & Sex, Cinderella Ate My Daughter and Waiting for Daisy. She is a frequent contributor to publications such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, the New York Times and the Washington Post. She lives in North Carolina.
Jana O’Connor says: “This memoir is really beautiful, intimate and funny.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
