I had the pleasure of meeting Jessica Westhead (whose witty short story is in our current issue [#116] of TNQ) at our Guelph launch of the issue. She delighted me with a story about crashing the Giller awards with Sarah Selecky (our “Writer at Large” for issue #116), and said that she planned to crash this year’s awards. I made her promise to send me the story, just for you, if she made it in the door. I was very excited to find the following in my inbox:

Illicit Giller Glee: A Photo Diary by Jessica Westhead

I crashed the Gillers with my devilishly dashing husband, Derek Wuenschirs, mostly just because I wanted to give an in-person hug to Sarah Selecky, who is one of my favourite people ever, and who introduced me to the art of Giller crashing in 2003. But then Derek and I were having too much fun to leave, so we stayed and drank copious amounts of booze.

My night was made when I had my photo taken with internationally syndicated advice guru and host of the Slice Network’s Outlaw In-laws, Ellie Tesher!! I spotted her in the crowd and told her that I love her column, and Derek attested to the fact that the minute I get my hands on a Toronto Star, I flip to the Life section and shout, “I need my Ellie!” She was delightful in person, and seemed genuinely touched by my enjoyment of her.

When I saw Anne Murray, I started to hyperventilate a little. I kept saying, “That’s Anne Murray!” Derek said, “You can’t say that here! You have to act like you see Anne Murray every day.” So I collected myself, and got him to “pose” while I took this furtive over-the-shoulder shot of her. My mom was very excited when I showed her this photo.
THE END

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