Writer & Reader
Gail Vallance Barrington credits her start as a writer to Hugh MacLennan, her creative writing professor at McGill University.
After a varied career as teacher, consultant, professor, and researcher, Gail now pursues her passion for words full time. She is just breaking into print. Her poetry has already been featured in The Rumen and Beyond Words: A Different Literary Magazine. She has written fifteen short stories about people who have lost hope but discover their resilience and reimagine their lives with the help of a little magic. One of them, “The Restaurant for Lost Kids,” will soon appear in Intangience: The Lighter Side of Weird. She’s also working on a fantasy novel and a YA eco-adventure novel.
Check out some recent examples of Gail’s work and read her latest Pop-up Story. She reads over 100 books a year in many different genres, some old, some new. See her favourites for 2024 .
On Creativity
Here’s a recent workshop Gail presented at the 2024 When Words Collide conference, Journaling: A Portal to the Creative Self.
Poetry
View Website: Six Rules to Tidy My Life
Pop-up Stories
Check out Gail’s latest Pop-Up Story, published here for a limited time.
Best Reads, 2024
| Last Name | First Name | Title | Commentary | Link |
| Bennett | Robert Jackson | Foundryside | Great fantasy & worldbuilding. Very original. | See Book Details |
| Bradbury | Ray | Fahrenheit 451 | A dystopia with scary parallels. Beautifully written. | See Book Details |
| Butcher | Jim | White Night | How I love Harry Dresden! PI and wizard extraordinaire. This is #9 and one of my favourites but read them in order. | See Book Details |
| Davis | Barbara | The Echo of Old Books | Old books and magic, what’s not to like? | See Book Details |
| French | Tana | The searcher | The best thrillers are by Tana French! Follow this one with the sequel, you’ll love the characters. | See Book Details |
| González | Xóchitl | Olga Dies Dreaming | Love, political corruption, and family ties | See Book Details |
| Grossman | Lev | The Bright Sword | What happens after Arthur dies? A bunch of misfits try to bring him back. | See Book Details |
| Hanner | Chris | Scrublands | A great Australian thriller set in the outback. | See Book Details |
| Kreuger | William Kent | The River We Remember | A small-town thriller. The great writing you expect from Kreuger. | See Book Details |
| Mason | Simon | A Killing in November | Two British detectives one a slacker, the other a fashion plate. A great odd couple. | See Book Details |
| May | Peter | The Black House | The Isle of Lewis lovingly described, painful tension among friends, May shows what a terrific author he is. | See Book Details |
| Novik | Naomi | Empire of Ivory | If you love dragons, this series is for you. #4 is one of my favourites but read them in order. | See Book Details |
| Quinn | Kate | The Briar Club | Quinn is always good but I love the residents of this Washington DC boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. | See Book Details |
| Reverte | Arturo Perez Reverte | What We Become | High lifelong romance between a sophisticated jewel thief and a high society woman. | See Book Details |
| Stegner | Wallace | Crossing to Safety | One of the all-time greats, I treasure Stegner’s books and read them slowly. | See Book Details |
| Towles | Amor | Rules of Civility | Ney York in the 1930’s, social commentary, class struggle, and great writing. | See Book Details |
| Whitehead | Colson | The Nickel Boys | So good, I immediately re-read it. A residential school drama described with searing insight. Whitehead is one of my all-time favourites. | See Book Details |