Fall Author Series: Robin Blackburn McBride

Join author Robin Blackburn McBride as she discusses Toronto’s history via a tour of selected settings and passages in her debut novel, The Shining Fragments (Guernica, 2018).

Recognized as an Editors’ Choice book with the Historical Novel Society in North America, The Shining Fragments explores the ramifications of abandonment, obsession, love, memory, and visionary power. Spanning the years 1882 – 1904, the story follows Joseph Conlon from his early childhood in Ulster to his experiences of youth and adulthood as an Irish immigrant in Toronto. Left behind as a small boy at Union Station, Joseph grows up in a city bleak with bigotry. He discovers that he has artistic talent and becomes a designer of stained glass windows. Joseph is haunted by the spirit of his unborn sister, Annie, and the powerful and often conflicting influences of the women in his life.

About the Author:

Robin Blackburn McBride is an author, speaker, and coach in human potential. She grew up in Toronto, and for over twenty years Robin worked as a teacher in the city. She has a passion for local history, intergenerational family stories, and the hero’s journey in its myriad forms. In 2002, Guernica published a collection of her poems, In Green. Her book, Birdlight: Freeing Your Authentic Creativity, became an Amazon Best Seller in 2016, and has since been released as an audio book. Robin lives with her husband in Gatineau, Quebec, where she is at work on a sequel to The Shining Fragments.

Fall Author Series

This event is part of our Fall Author Series featuring four acclaimed Canadian historical fiction and non-fiction authors! With the help of illustrated presentations and readings, these authors will provide insight into the primary and secondary source research they conducted and their efforts at ensuring historical accuracy in their works.

• September 23rd – Mark Bourrie, Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson (TICKETS)
• October 21st – Ann Birch, Settlement (TICKETS)
• November 18th – Robin Blackburn McBride, The Shining Fragments (TICKETS)
• December 2nd – Katie Daubs, The Missing Millionaire, the True story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed with Finding Him (TICKETS)

Sign-up for the entire series to save on ticket price!

Thank you to BMO Bank of Montreal – King & Church Branch for sponsoring this series.