OK, here we go. On May 4, Our Hero addresses the Canadian Celtic Arts Association in downtown Toronto. It's a public event co-sponsored by Celtic Studies, St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and Ken will talk about his book How the Scots Invented Canada. Details: please click here.

On May 25, Ken will read from that same book at a "non-fiction cabaret" called Stranger Than Fiction. That's with several other high-profile writers: Wayne Grady & Merilyn Simons, Don Gillmor, Marni Jackson, Rosemary Sullivan, Andrew Westoll. That's at Harbord House Gastro Pub, 150 Harbord St., Toronto, 8:30 p.m. Details: please click here.

Then, on May 27, three days before he flies to Glasgow to sail around Scotland with Adventure Canada, Ken will don his hat as chair of the Public Lending Right Commission to moderate a panel (PLR: 25 More Years Please) at the annual general meeting of The Writers' Union of Canada. That's open to the public, 9:30 a.m. at the Courtyard Marriot, 475 Yonge Street. Details: please click here.

As for the voyage, well it's sold out. www.adventurecanada.com

Turns out that, before he talks to the Canadian Celtic Arts Association in Toronto (see below), Our Hero will head out to Barrie for the L3 Writers' Conference, where he will perform with Romeo Dallaire, George Elliott Clarke, and Nino Ricci. That's April 14, an evening event at Barrie North Collegiate (click on the headline above). During the day, Ken will entertain 60-80 high school students with a talk he's calling Nothing is More Fun / Than Canadian History. After the Celtic Association event, and immediately before the annual general meeting of The Writers' Union of Canada, Our Boy will perform at a Creative Nonfiction Cabaret along with Merilyn Simonds, Wayne Grady, Marni Jackson, Don Gillmor, Rosemary Sullivan and Andrew Westoll. That event, hosted by Maggie Siggins, happens at Harbord House Pub on May 25. Short readings, that environment . . . can't miss.