Free virtual book club event to feature poet Lorna Crozier

NEWS RELEASE
CREATIVE AGING BOOKS AND IDEAS
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Often referred to as one of Canada’s powerhouse literary couples, Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane met at a poetry workshop in 1976, an event Crozier describes as “akin to nuclear fusion — I was passion’s ad agent.”

Tumultuous from the beginning, Crozier and Lane’s love affair (both abandoned their marriages to be with each other), was a double-edged sword, one that was full of passion and frenzy.

There were the walking out on each other incidences; the comings back together; the creation of poems and writing rooms shared, (a total of 40 books, immersed in lyrical, magical, and emotional outpourings were written between the couple); the handful of beloved cats; and the bountiful gardens that flourished under the couple’s artistic spirits.

Life on the edge, however, was not all roses and teacups and Crozier talks openly and poignantly of these times, including the jealousies and the demons of Patrick’s addiction. During Lane’s downward spiral dance with alcohol, Crozier says it was necessary for her “to walk on eggshells, eggshells with sharp edges, egg shells made of brittle glass.”

For Lane, “booze was his inspiration; it swung open the gate to poetry’s truths and insight, its linguistic dazzle and daring.”

As life evolves, the couple achieves both literary success and a sense of peace and calm. And as a part of that journey, in Through the Garden, Crozier, true to her unabashed honesty, tackles the physical restraints that aging has visited upon her body without a modicum of restraint or hyperbole. She does not shy away from these hard uncomfortable issues, and in fact, gives readers a straight-up account of the 'it is what it is' realities of aging.

Told with both humour and honesty, in Through the Garden, Crozier also shares the challenges of being a caregiver to Lane during his last years of debilitating illness. 

A smorgasbord of wit, and words, the free June 24 Virtual Book Club Event with Lorna Crozier will be a conversation you will savour throughout the summer months ahead. 

Read Cece's full review of Through the Garden here BOOK REVIEWS - NO. 9: Through the Garden A Love Story (with Cats), and register for the free virtual chat on June 24, at 2 p.m. by sending an email to [email protected].

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