Mary Walsh created and starred in This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC’s satiric take on current affairs. The series earned her numerous Gemini / Canadian Screen Awards. Many fondly recall her outspoken Marg Delahunty character. She also wrote, produced and starred in the award-winning series Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, which returned to CBC as a feature length presentation called A Christmas Fury. Her debut novel, Crying for the Moon, was a Canadian bestseller. A Member of the Order of Canada, she has also received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts, and the CSA’s Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in television acting. She is making a return visit from her home in St. John’s.
Brassy Bit of Aging Crumpet is a disarmingly vulnerable and wickedly funny collection of essays in which Mary Walsh chronicles her sometimes difficult but never boring life with the hopeful conclusion that growing old means finally discovering – and loving – oneself. Her subjects range from the heartbreak of growing up next door to her family, to behind the scenes of her popular CBC shows, to dealing with a challenging parent, as well as struggles with alcohol and self-doubt. The result is a collection of essays that are deftly comical, heartachingly vulnerable and, above all, hopeful.