Coaldale author’s ‘Canterberry Tales’ makes top 100 list

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on December 23, 2021.

Connie Penner

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A local author has placed in the top 100 of the Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2021 with her book Canterberry Tales.
“Kirkus Reviews review books for the library system, they review both published and self published books,” said Connie Penner, author of Canterberry Tales.
Penner, who uses the pen name C.P. Hoff, said her book is the second to be placed in the top 100 of Kirkus Reviews along with her book West of Ireland, which gained a spot in 2020 and was featured in Kirkus Best Indie Fiction and Literature 2020.
Canterberry Tales is a story about a little girl who has been abandoned, and her family secrets.
“She is raised by her grandmother, but her grandmother won’t tell her why her parents abandoned her. But the neighbour does,” said Penner.
Penner explained that her book is a chapter format for adults, and has some humour in it, as the town has decided to make the little girl’s life into a comic strip.
“It’s kind of like a cartoonist that draws her odd things that happen in her life and write about in the paper,” said Penner.
Penner said the little girl’s grandmother keeps the comic strips hidden from her, but the neighbour keeps them.
“The neighbour has kept a scrapbook under her chesterfield of all the odd things she’s done since she was born, and that’s how she tells her about her secret,” said Penner.
Penner has been writing for over 30 years, but it was not until recently that she has been published.
“I first got published by a little press out east, it’s no longer there, it was Five Rivers Press. And the first book I wrote was called A Town Called Forget,” said Penner.
She said that her first book was long-listed for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 2017.
Penner said her next book will be called A Crack In The Teacup, being published in the spring of 2022.
Penner, who lives in Coaldale, has ties to Lethbridge as a graduate of Winston Churchill, and remains tied to the city through her writing.
“I’m a founding member of WordBridge, the Lethbridge writer’s conference. This year’s conference will take place on February 11-12, 2022,” said Penner.
Penner’s book Canterberry Tales is available at Analog Books.

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