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Aug 24, 2022Liked by Bill Richardson

Sharing this bit from Daphne Du Maurier's memoir...completely tangential but somehow I don't think you will mind. It stuck with me for that feeling of affinity between writers and that wish for coincidence to be more than coincidence. https://twitter.com/saraoleary/status/1041280623799939072?s=20&t=XSB4S8uN_iPDfpPsw6Re_w

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Oh, Bill, I’m going to miss you….you have been part of my daily ritual these last few months…like a friend with some delightful insights and observations which one could take away and mull over and toss over in one’s mind…just quiet contemplation and await with much anticipation your next entry into MG and your world. I wish you could continue doing this..do you think this may be possible?

XXX

Gisele

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Far too soon to talk of decamping.

I have found each entry, posted after your self-imposed Mavis’ 100th birthday deadline, addictive. I love your diary’s engaging, loopy style, as you probe the links, fathomable and unfathomable, between MG’s life, her art.

Please resist the urge to unpeg, un-pole. Keep us in your tent.

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I told Bill I met Mavis in 1980 at the Canadian Centre of Photography on Markham St. in Toronto. Mavis was old friends with Tess Taconis, my boss at the Centre. Tess told me they "competed for men" when they were young in Paris in the 50s. I had the idea of pairing Mavis' diaries from that time with Tess' photographs but her archive can't be found. I am researching both Tess and her husband Kryn, who was a photojournalist. He worked for Magnum Paris but quit over an argument with Cartier-Bresson over photos he took in the Algerian War. Tess and Kryn moved to Toronto and Kryn worked for the Toronto Star.

If anyone has knowledge of either of these two, I would be happy to hear from you. Parathink@gmail.com.

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I don't know if this has been covered by there is a very good documentary on Mavis called Mavis Gallant, Paris Stories. It is online. Lynn who did it said she was somewhat surprised that Mavis liked her and opened up beautifully. She did by reading about how she writes. I asked Lynn about the outtakes she had and she said she was planning a film with various filmmakers dramatizing Mavis's stories. I thought it a great idea!

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