The author Camilla Gibb discusses her memoir, This is Happy (Doubleday, 2015), and more, with Joseph Planta.

This is Happy by Camilla Gibb (Doubleday, 2015). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: This is Happy

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The distinguished writer Camilla Gibb joins me again. She has just published This is Happy. It is a memoir about her life’s search out of grief and sorrow, and the wisdom she might have gleaned from her life thus far. She goes back to experiences in her formative years, surrounded by family members that were broken, as well as her own longing for family around her. It’s a great book. It was moving, thoughtful, funny, sad, wise, and raw. The author’s humanity and curiosity are throughout the book, and it’s such an engaging and absorbing book. Camilla Gibb is the author of four novels and the recipient of many awards including the Trillium Book Award, the City of Toronto Book Award, and the CBC Canadian Literary Award. She was shortlisted for the Giller Prize for her third novel Sweetness in the Belly. She was last on for her previous novel, The Beauty of Humanity Movement, which was published in 2010. I recall speaking to Ms. Gibb while she was in town for appearances to promote the book, as she had just given birth to a daughter some weeks previous. That daughter is now five, and her conception, birth and growing up provides the focus of part of the book, as Ms. Gibb, thinking she’s alone, finds the people around her that constitute family. The website for more is at www.camillagibb.ca. The book is published by Doubleday. We taped this interview in mid-August, just as she commences the promotion of this book. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, in Toronto, Camilla Gibb; Dr. Gibb, good morning.

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