Book reviewer and newspaper columnist Hubert O'Hearn is bringing the Dorothy Parker Society to Thunder Bay.
Dorothy Parker (August 22, 2023 ? June 7, 2023) was known for her witticisms and wisecracks. She was a "quintessential New Yorker." Aside from her charm, she was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist. The Dorothy Parker Society took root in New York in 1998 and later branched to Los Angeles.
"I'd gotten to know Kevin Fitzpatrick, the head of the New York group, through reviewing his travel book on Dorothy Parker's New York - which is excellent by the way. So I asked him in an email if he had any objection to my forming a similar club, the Dorothy Parker of Society of Thunder Bay. He said to go right ahead, that there were no constitutional barriers, so I did. Essentially right now it is a Facebook page with an open invitation to join," he said.
But that's changing. Hubert said the group will get together on a weekend nearest the 5th of every month "as Dorothy herself never liked to be that far removed from a Fifth." He's also spearheading an anthology aptly titled Laughing Through the Snow. It'll be published in September, 2013, by River Rocks Publishing.
The content of the book will be humour. Hubert said, "If there aren't three laughs on every page, or one if it's a full page cartoon I guess, we aren't doing our job. Poems, stories, essays, sketches, drawings - you name it. Canadians are incredibly funny people, it's our defence against the weather and Stephen Harper, and at least three or four of us can spell. Dorothy Parker, and the rest of the Round Table of Robert Benchley, George Kauffman, Harpo Marx and so on were the most intelligently witty bunch in history. May as well aim at emulating the best."
The exact requisites for submission will be announced soon. Free membership in the Dorothy Parker Society of Thunder Bay through Facebook will keep those interested informed.
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