stories from the Moth

Last night, there were about six raccoons racketing through my yard, including three very small babies. One of them clambered onto one of the chairs on my deck and began to attack the cushion with his sharp little teeth, and when I tried to chase him away, he came over to the back door and climbed up the screen! But tonight, no raccoons. The Canada Day fireworks are making lots of exploding noise. I imagine the ivy, full of those shining little black eyes, waiting.

Here's something wonderful - writer Nathan Englander writes of his discovery of the Moth, the storytelling event that now goes on around the world and which in its Toronto incarnation is called Raconteurs (where I will be doing my seven-minute bit July 11.) Englander has chosen a bunch of his favourite Moth storytellers, and they're fabulous. Take your pick. Heaven.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/the-moth-storytelling.html

And if any of you are travelling to Paris, my friend David Burke, who has written a book called "Writers in Paris," now does walking tours, so you can follow him and listen to his great stories. Another kind of Moth. If you Google David Burke and Paris, you'll find him.

Let's hope, when we start telling stories, we sound like this guy.