Vincent Lam Rocks!
Have you heard of Vincent Lam? Perhaps you've heard of his new book, "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures"? For those who aren't up to speed, Vincent's book won the Giller prize this November. It blew most of us away, since he is a practicing physician and it was his first book.
It blew ME away, because I know Vincent personally! I have been friends with his sister Elsa since elementary school. We were quite close when we were young, and through our friendship, our families became friends! Since neither the Lams nor the Woolcotts had extended family nearby in Ottawa, we started getting together and joining our families to celebrate the holidays together. We've shared quite a few turkeys, definitely some exotic dishes over the years, and played many a round of charades, cards, and other board games. My whole family was at Vincent's wedding in Toronto in 1999 and my mother just recently visited Rosalie in Beijing. The Lam family is just really special. I am so glad we are friends, and so happy for Vincent's success.
Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing Vincent speak at the Calgary Public Library's main branch. He is doing a book tour to promote the collection, and he was just amazing. Vincent was human, witty, open, wise, funny, charismatic, and more. He chatted with us for almost half an hour before moving on to read a portion of one of his stories, which he read perfectly. Then, he answered a number of questions, openly and honestly, and spoke at length about each question. Of course, I got my book signed and we shared a few memories from when we were younger and both in Ottawa. I find it so inspiring to know people who become successful in their particular art form... it makes that level of success seem real, almost normal, and attainable.
The book itself is a really interesting read about 4 med school students and their progressing careers in medicine. The neat part is that the book is actually stand alone short stories, however the same characters keep re-appearing and therefore weave a common thread throughout the collection.
Check out his book - it's 45% off at Chapters right now.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/item/books-978038566144/0385661444/Bloodletting+and+Miraculous+Cures+Stories?ref=Search+Books%3a+'bloodletting+cures'
It blew ME away, because I know Vincent personally! I have been friends with his sister Elsa since elementary school. We were quite close when we were young, and through our friendship, our families became friends! Since neither the Lams nor the Woolcotts had extended family nearby in Ottawa, we started getting together and joining our families to celebrate the holidays together. We've shared quite a few turkeys, definitely some exotic dishes over the years, and played many a round of charades, cards, and other board games. My whole family was at Vincent's wedding in Toronto in 1999 and my mother just recently visited Rosalie in Beijing. The Lam family is just really special. I am so glad we are friends, and so happy for Vincent's success.
Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing Vincent speak at the Calgary Public Library's main branch. He is doing a book tour to promote the collection, and he was just amazing. Vincent was human, witty, open, wise, funny, charismatic, and more. He chatted with us for almost half an hour before moving on to read a portion of one of his stories, which he read perfectly. Then, he answered a number of questions, openly and honestly, and spoke at length about each question. Of course, I got my book signed and we shared a few memories from when we were younger and both in Ottawa. I find it so inspiring to know people who become successful in their particular art form... it makes that level of success seem real, almost normal, and attainable.
The book itself is a really interesting read about 4 med school students and their progressing careers in medicine. The neat part is that the book is actually stand alone short stories, however the same characters keep re-appearing and therefore weave a common thread throughout the collection.
Check out his book - it's 45% off at Chapters right now.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/item/books-978038566144/0385661444/Bloodletting+and+Miraculous+Cures+Stories?ref=Search+Books%3a+'bloodletting+cures'
posted by Lara @ 1/23/2007 10:31:00 PM
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