MaryLou Driedger

The Story of A Little Free Library I love being the librarian at my church In 2016, I had the idea of opening a Little Free Library at Bethel Mennonite Church. When I took on the position of church librarian in 2014, my first task w…

I helped set up a Little Free Library in Winnipeg which has been thriving for a decade. Read more in my post below.
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The Correspondent-A Life in Letters We may think that as people age, their lives get lonelier and less rich and meaningful, but just the opposite happens to Sybil, a retired law clerk, in an absorbing new book I read called The Corre…

A story told entirely with letters? I was skeptical, but The Correspondent by Virginia Evans won me over. It was an absorbing and intriguing read. See my review in the post below.
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Learning About Green Worlds Karen Krossing, who was the instructor in a picture book writing course I took in the spring, introduces Paul Coccia, who taught us about green worlds. At the Packaging Your Imagination conference …

I learned about a new idea that will change the way I think about my reading and writing, and my life experiences, at a children's writing conference in Toronto. Read more in my post below. #PYI2025
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A Good Book For I Read Canadian Day Today is I Read Canadian Day, when Canadian authors are celebrated, especially those who write books for young people. What is really exciting is a noted trend that books written to appeal to the y…

It's I Read Canadian Day, and I'm celebrating a new book for middle-grade kids by British Columbia author Nikki Bergstresser. Read more in my post below. #IReadCanadianDay @heritagehouse.bsky.social @nikkibergstresser.bsky.social
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Jean Pendziwol gave a truly inspiring talk about the value of curiosity at the children's writing conference I attended in Toronto. Read more in my post below. #PYI2025
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I Had Lunch With Tim Wynne-Jones As a tall man sat down at the same table where I was having lunch, at the Packaging Your Imagination conference for Canadian children’s authors and illustrators in Toronto on Saturday, I whis…

At a conference for children's book writers and illustrators in Toronto, I was lucky enough to have a chat over lunch with well-known Canadian author Tim Wynne-Jones. Find out what we chatted about in my post below. #PYI2025
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Writing A Poem For Winnipeg Winnipeg’s poet Laureate Jennifer Still has a really cool project on the go. She is inviting everyone in the city to help write a poem about the place we all call home. She’s made these…

The Poet Laureate of Winnipeg, Jennifer Still, is asking people to help her write a collaborative poem about the city. You can add your contributions to a neat little fold-up map available at public libraries. Check out my post below.
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Friends of the Library Week Did you know that today is the beginning of Friends of the Library Week? There are 642 public library systems in Canada, and many of them have Friends of the Library groups who support libraries in…

Did you know today is the start of Friends of the Library week? I'm part of that organization here in Winnipeg. Read more in my post below.
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A Rambling Autobiography At a recent workshop I led on writing memoir, I introduced the thirty participants to a form called a rambling autobiography. I wrote a little sample about my own life to get them started. I was bo…

A rambling autobiography is a great way to write a memoir. Read my sample to see what I mean.
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The Heart of Winter A friend recommended Jonathan Evison’s latest novel, The Heart of Winter. It provides a history of the 70-year marriage of Abe and Ruth Winter who meet in college in 1953. People have often r…

A novel that chronicles a 70-year marriage had me thinking about my own marriage. Read more in my post below.
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Drawn and Quarterly-Finding New and Wonderful Children’s Books in Montreal On my visit to Montreal in September I went to a book store called Drawn and Quarterly which had been recommended by my Winnipeg friend Laura, who is a frequent visitor to the Quebec city. What a u…

In a unique bookstore in Montreal I found some newly released books by Canadian children's authors I admire. Read more in my post below.
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People Reading The Guardian newspaper did a review of a new book by David Hurn called On Reading. It features photos of folks reading in different places and spaces around the world. It inspired me to look throug…

Inspired by David Hurn's new book On Reading I collected photos of people reading from my collection.
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Mouth-Watering and Spine-Tingling Description I just finished reading Manitoba author David Bergen’s latest book, Feasting and Rejoicing, and oh my, his descriptions of food are mouth-watering and his step-by-step detailed account of mur…

In his latest book Canadian author David Bergen engages readers with his descriptions of food and a protagonist desperately trying to cover up a murder.
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Sad and Slow-The Berry Pickers I read The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters on my Kindle in airports and on planes and in hotel rooms during our recent trip to Quebec. One of my very favourite books to read to children is Robert Mc…

Amanda Peters' book The Berry Pickers reminded me of a children's book where children are separated from their parents while picking berries. Read my review in the post below.
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Banned Book Puzzle I did this puzzle last week. It depicts some sixty books that have been banned from schools and libraries at some point. I simply couldn’t think of reasons why many of the books in the puzzle…

I just did a jigsaw puzzle that challenged me to think about why books I'd read and discussed with my students had been banned from schools and libraries. Read more in my post below.
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Cycling trip in Quebec.

Louise Penny and French Pastry Standing across the street from the Brome Lake Books One highlight of today’s biking trip would definitely have to be visiting Knowlton, which is the inspiration for the community of Three Pi…

On a cycling tour in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, we visited the community that inspired the Three Pines setting in the mystery novels of Louise Penny. Read more in my post below.
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Children Like Us I told a friend I had just finished reading an autobiography by Steinbach area author Brittany Penner called Children Like Us.  “Is that the same Brittany Penner who is my doctor?” m…

Read my review of Brittany Penner's new book, Children Like Us.
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Part of A Canadian Vacation Guide In the summer issue of BOOK NEWS published by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre there’s an article called Traveling Across Canada Through the Pages of a Book. It invites kids to explo…

It was great to see my two novels included in a Canadian Vacation Reading Guide in the latest edition of Book News. Read about it in my post below.

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We Love Memoirs Day Today is We Love Memoirs Day. First celebrated in 2013, it is a day to recognize the unique writing genre of memoir. Autobiographies tell the story of a person’s whole life, but a memoir focu…

I attended a memoir workshop at the Mennonite/s Writing Ten Conference in June. It inspired me as I prepare to participate in a memoir writing workshop at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in September. Read more in my post below.

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Everything is Tuberculosis My newspaper column last week was inspired by a New York Times bestseller I read by a popular author, John Green. It is called Everything is Tuberculosis. My editor headlined my column with the wor…

'Tuberculosis Might Have Triggered World War I was the headline my editor gave to my newspaper column this week, which was about John Green's New York Times bestseller, Everything is Tuberculosis. Read more in my post below.
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Fifty-Eight Stories During the six years we lived and travelled in Asia I was a regular contributor to a website called Things Asian. I wrote 58 different stories for the travel website about our adventures in many di…

When I lived in Hong Kong, I wrote 58 articles for a website called Things Asian. In the post below, I look at five of my favourites.
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Top Five Books My teenage grandson is a voracious reader. When we were together in mid-July, he could already list a whole string of books he’d read since his school vacation began. I was telling him about …

My teenage grandson wanted to know what my top five books in my lifetime would be. A hard task. I've started trying to answer it in the post below. What would be your choices.

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10 People- 10 Lessons Learned Elsie Neufeld presenting at the Mennonite/s Writing/Ten Conference at Canadian Mennonite University At the Mennonite/s Writing Ten Conference I attended in June I went to a presentation by Elsie Ne…

A presentation by Elsie Neufeld at a recent writing conference had me thinking about some of the people I have interviewed during my journalism career and what I learned from them. Read more in my post below.
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The Sacred Space of a Cottage House at Qualicum Beach by Edward John Hughes-1951 In my newspaper column this week I wrote about how cottages have become a kind of sacred space for many Canadian families since they gained in pop…

I used a 1951 painting House at Qualicum Beach by Edward John Hughes-to illustrate a post about my latest newspaper column which my editor headlined The Sacred Space of a Cottage.
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My Friends I’ve really enjoyed some of Fredrik Backman’s books, like A Man Called Ove and Bear Town. Others like Anxious People, not so much. Getting into his latest book, My Friends, was a little…

What did you think of My Friends by Fredrick Backman? Read my thoughts in the post below.

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Writers Need Other Hobbies Reading has been a life long hobby of mine In a recent post on the website Writer Unboxed, Julie Carrick Dalton talks about why writers need to have other creative outlets, hobbies and activities. …

Writers need to have other passions and hobbies. Read more in my post below.

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She Was A Force of Nature I just finished a beautiful book called Force of Nature by Ann E. Burg that tells the life story of Rachel Carson, scientist, writer, and environmentalist and the author of the classic, best-seller…

I just finished reading a beautiful book about environmentalist and best selling author Rachel Carson by Ann E. Burg. Read more in my post below. @aeburg.bsky.social
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The Steinbach Heritage Village Museum Last week, my newspaper column was about a memoir writing workshop I will be participating in at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum at the end of September. Together with four other local writer…

I'll be doing a workshop on writing memoir at the museum in Steinbach in September. You can read more in my post below.

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I received a beautiful new book bag from a friend. Click on the link to read more. maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/a...