The First Little Bastard to Call Me Gramps Poems of the Late Middle Ages

Bill Richardson, winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and former CBC Radio personality, delivers a “fresh and frisky” poetic take on transitioning into life as a retiree and living through the golden years.

In their frank and witty delivery, Richardson's illustrated retirement rhymes for the hoary-headed do not just playfully reveal the inevitable weakening that afflicts the mind and body as the years wear on, they also cast light on the ageless, exuberant spirit that too often remains hidden inside. From retirement homes, cruises, and grandchildren to liver spots, memory problems, and geriatric sex, Richardson's candid reflections on the trials, tribulations, and humiliations of growing old are funny, sharp, and irreverent.

Illustrated by award-winning artist Roxanna Bikadoroff, The First Little Bastard to Call Me Gramps is an essential companion to the graces, and disgraces, of ageing.

Bill Richardson is a writer and broadcaster. His books include Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast, which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and After Hamelin, a novel for children, which won the Silver Birch Award. For CBC Radio, he hosted Richardson’s Roundup and Bunny Watson. He lives in Vancouver, B.C., and Holmfield, Manitoba.

Roxanna Bikadoroff is an award-winning Canadian artist whose illustrations have been published internationally for more than twenty-five years. Her work has been published (and shown) in Canada, the United States, Japan, England, Ireland, Europe, Romania, Brazil, Israel, and China. Her illustrations have appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers, including The New Yorker and The Walrus magazine and on numerous book covers. She works in a variety of mediums, has won numerous awards, and has served twice as a judge for the National Magazine Awards. She was born in Montreal and currently lives in Vancouver.