news – Poor Farm

April 23, 2023 / 0 Comments

Beyond Documentary

UPDATE: Click here for my interview with Portia Clark on CBC radio’s Information Morning.

Learningo is a non-profit society dedicated to helping people with Autism become active members of their company. I am honoured to have been recently made vice-chair of the board. As part of Autism Awareness month, we are excited to show you an amazing documentary called Beyond. The movie covers the challenges faced by a single mother, Tamara Mark, to two non-verbal adults, Ian and Harry. The movie will be shown on April 30th, 1pm at the Woodlawn Library Auditorium.

October 4, 2022 / 0 Comments

Less Than Innocent

Excerpt from Cover of Atlantic Books Today [Fall 2022 Edition]

I was delighted to be asked to discuss a forthcoming Moose House Press book, Less Than Innocent, with fellow Nova Scotia author Carol Anne Cole. Moose House is the publisher of Poor Farm. In this new novel, nineteen Nova Scotia authors (myself included) collaborated on each writing a chapter set during the lockdown of 2020. The only rules were you only had a week to read the previous chapter and could not reverse the ongoing story. The whole project was a lot of fun and a very interesting spur to creativity. The book will be available from Moose House soon.

November 19, 2021 / 0 Comments

Books For The Holiday Season

Atlantic Books Historical Stories Section

Atlantic Books are dedicated to helping readers in Atlantic Canada discover books written and published in their region. They release high quality magazines and guides, including their Holiday Gifts Guide. I was delighted to see Poor Farm featured in the Historical Stories Section. They say the best gift you can give someone is a novel experience. What better gift is there than the transformation of your surroundings offered by a book?

October 23, 2021 / 1 Comment

ReJigged Festival PODCAST

The Halifax Rejigged Festival is back (live and online) this year with a great lineup! I was thrilled to be interviewed for the Between The Jigs Podcast discussing my other novel Chief O’Neill. Enjoy!

https://www.rejiggedfestival.com/podcast/2021/10/7/episode-5-ronan-odriscoll

September 9, 2021 / 0 Comments

Lunenburg Lit Fest 2021

UNESCO Heritage Site Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

At 7pm, Friday the 23rd of September, I will reading and discussing with authors Francesca Ekwuyasi and Morgan Murray as part of the Lunenburg Lit Festival. Lunenburg is a special spot and I always enjoy visiting there. Should be fun! Hope you can join us.

August 16, 2021 / 0 Comments

Recent News

Front Page of July 21st The Cole Harbour Wire

Poor Farm has been in the news recently! Along with the reading at Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum, there have also been features in local media. Check out below for more details:

August 2, 2021 / 2 Comments

Pictures from a Reading

Outdoor Reading at Cole Harbour Heritage Farm (Credit https://dartmouthbookexchange.ca)

As mentioned in a previous post, I had the pleasure of reading at the Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum. The weather was lovely and, thanks to Heather and Sawyer, we had tables and chairs set up out in the main yard of the farm. Heather is curator of the museum and was of invaluable assistance in the research behind the book. Also thanks to Sue Slade from Dartmouth Book Exchange for helping with organization and sales. She even made mini-book themed chocolates! Finally thanks to everyone who took the time to attend and discuss Poor Farm.

July 21, 2021 / 0 Comments

Reading at Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum

I will be reading from Poor Farm at 2pm on August 1st at Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum. It will be an outdoor event with lots of time for reading, discussion of local history, book-signing. Whatever you like! Copies of Poor Farm will be available at a discounted rate from Dartmouth Book Exchange (Cash only) or from the Museum gift shop. Here is the Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/870591490215872

July 11, 2021 / 0 Comments

Clary Croft Meeting

Yours Truly next to Clary Croft at Memory Lane Heritage Village

Not only was I fortunate enough to meet Clary Croft in person, here is Poor Farm featured after Clary’s new book in Saltwire Media (including The Chronic Herald) Atlantic Canada’s Books section.

June 20, 2021 / 1 Comment

A Night To Remember

As a new author, the prospect of a book launch is a fraught one: Will people come? Will I mess up the reading? In this time of Covid-19, there is the added complication of cancellation due to lockdown restrictions. We weren’t really sure if an in-person event could go ahead until the day before.

In fact, the night was everything I dreamed and hoped for: we sold out of tickets and books and the audience asked wonderful and insightful questions. It was truly a night to remember for the rest of my life. Especially since my son Martin (along with my wife and the rest of my family) were there to share it with me⁠—the best Father’s day present I’ve ever had.

See below for video and photos from the event. Thanks again to my family and friends for coming and helping out; to Erik and Brian at The Old Triangle; to PLT for all their support; Niki Davison for the photography; and Brenda Thomson from Moose House Press. This could never have happened without you.