Tom Howell

Event: The Sound of Literature

Bio: Tom Howell wrote definitions for the Canadian Oxford Dictionary and thesaurus entries for the Canadian Oxford Thesaurus before abandoning serious work. He became the in-house word nerd on CBC Radio's language show, And Sometimes Y, which involved rewriting Fowler's Modern English Usage as an opera, composing the "Phoenician Alphabet Song," and other important cultural tasks. Then he took a job as poetry correspondent for CBC's The Next Chapter.

Book: The Rude Story of English

Synopsis: There are only two problems with the story of the English language: one, no hero. Two, not rude enough. In The Rude Story of English, recovering lexicographer Tom Howell swiftly remedies these and gives us a rousing account of our language—without all the boring bits and with all the interesting parts kept in—and reveals English's boisterous, at times obnoxious, character.