Wanting in Port Medway

Author Carole Glasser Langille is stopping by Port Medway this weekend, to give a reading of her latest book “When I Always Wanted Something”.

The book is a collection of stories about our blind spots, and how despite them we try again and again to connect with each other.

Before this book, most of her published works were collections of poetry. This book, she says, is a shift from the usual. “It was sort of a surprise when I found myself writing these stories, and I’m going to talk about that and why I wrote it,” says Langille.

Poetry, which she has written for most of her life, she describes as reaching into the air for inspiration. Stories however rely on a different skill set, she says. “When you write stories, it’s digging into the mind.”

The inspiration for this work is a particularly long story, some of which she will share at reading.

At the readings, she likes to keep the audience engaged and not just read from a page. “If a story is read to you, and it’s in anyway good, it’s like one of the primordial experiences. You can sit there and be entertained.”

Originally Langille is from New York City, but currently lives in Black Point Nova Scotia. Even while living in New York however she knew of Nova Scotia and felt there was something about it calling to her. “When I used to live in New York City, I would read the poems of Elizabeth Bishop. She would talk about the Tantramar Marshes, and Tamarack trees. Even the word Nova Scotia was so beautiful.”

Now she says it feels like home.

Langille has published three books of poetry, as well as children’s books, and is a professor of poetry at Dalhousie University.

The reading takes place at the Old Meeting House in Port Medway Aug. 2 at 4 p.m.

For reservations and information, contact Langille 902-857-1694.