BookmarkedVoyageur recommends "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral"

As the five women travel across the country, they encounter surprises and small miracles that help them grieve over their losses and missed opportunities in life as well as share their deepest secrets.

—Jocelyne Gagnon, official Voyageur

Ever since the Festival du Voyageur began in 1969, a different family has been chosen to be the Official Voyageurs for each Festival.

This year it is the Gagnon family which includes Jocelyne and her husband Daniel, along with their three children, Katia, 12, Miguel, 10 and Cabrel, 8.

As ambassadors, the Gagnons visit schools, homes for the elderly, and festival venues to share the history, culture, music and joie de vivre of Manitoba's ancestors with everyone they meet.

SCENE also wanted to know what Mama Voyageur has on her reading pile.

Despite a busy schedule, I've always made time to read. Right now, I'm reading another one of Kris Radish's book. Her stories are often paralleled with real life, which creates a new genre that she calls Real Fiction.

Radish writes about women, their relationships and the psychology behind the ties that bind people. There's a wild mix of laughter, sisters, daughters, friends, more laughter, celebration of life and empowerment for her readers.

Radish has written eight novels and I'm on my fifth one. It's called Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral.

In it, a woman named Katherine receives a UPS package. Inside she finds a pair of red sneakers filled with the ashes of her friend and a note that will forever change her life.

Katherine's dearest friend, Annie Freeman, left behind one final request - a traveling funeral - and she wants five of her dearest friends to be the 'pallbearers'.

As the five women travel across the country, they encounter surprises and small miracles that help them grieve over their losses and missed opportunities in life as well as share their deepest secrets.

Kris Radish's books always leave me pondering my own life and encourage me to live each day more fully. She invites the reader to simply be open to whatever life offers them.

Festival du Voyageur runs from February 15 - 24, 2013.

Related:
See our Top 5 acts to check out at Festival du Voyageur.