Frances Bedford, the wonderful PR pro at M&S with whom I’ve been working has managed to land me a reading on the Great Books Marquee stage at Toronto’s amazing Word on the Street festival. I’ve attended the event for years as an ardent reader and never thought I’d ever be appearing on the program as a writer. The M&S edition of TBLP will be on bookstore shelves by that day so the timing is perfect. Thanks for everything Frances and keep those gigs coming!
This past Friday night I joined two great Canadian writers for a public reading as part of the Leacock Summer Festival in Orillia. The festival is Ontario’s largest summer literary gathering and this year’s edition was another great success.
The Friday night program was held at Swanmore Hall, just steps away from the home of Stephen Leacock. Scott Gardiner, who was shortlisted for this year’s Leacock Medal, opened the program with a reading from his hilarious political satire, King John. This is a wonderful book made even better by Scott’s outstanding reading. Reading aloud is not easy but when it’s done well, the story comes alive. Next on the bill was Drew Hayden Taylor, a very funny aboriginal writer who certainly knows how to handle himself at the microphone. He had the audience in stitches reading from a selection of his works including his newest book Me Sexy.
I spoke third, which was a little intimidating given how much laughter Scott and Drew triggered. The capacity crowd seemed to enjoy the four brief selections I read. All in all, it was a great evening. Thanks to Fred Addis and Bruce Meyer, the festival organizers, for inviting me. This was a good warm up for the many other speaking and reading gigs that are being lined up for me in the fall when TBLP is re-released by McClelland & Stewart.
About a month ago, the good folks at CEO TV shot a segment about TBLP and my day job as a PR professional. They also sent a camera crew up to Orillia for the Leacock Award weekend to help round out the segment. Well, it aired nationally on Global a week or so ago and in case you need a laugh, you can watch it here…
I’ve just returned from the family cottage on Georgian Bay where I’ve just spend two weeks offline with my family. It was wonderful despite an unusually high mosquito count. I read several books, swam, slept, ate, and watched movies at night with my two sons. It was strange being completely discounted for two weeks (although my BlackBerry worked sporadically if I stood at the highest point on our property and stuck my BB in the air like the Statue of Liberty’s torch) but I managed. My in-laws arrived from Nova Scotia and we had a great visit. We saw some wildlife when we dropped off our recycling one day and my mother-in-law took this great shot.
We also took them on a day trip to Orillia to visit the Stephen Leacock Museum. Here are a couple of shots showing me sitting in Leacock’s library and the display in the Leacock Medal Room showcasing books and artifacts from the 61 year history of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
I’ll be back to Orillia on July 25th to do a public reading at the Summer Leacock Festival. I have to read for 30 minutes so I’ll need to decide which sections to present. My heart rate is slightly elevated already.
Stay tuned for more information about all the events I’ll be doing in the fall to coincide with the release of the McClelland & Stewart edition of TBLP.
My friend and fellow writer Mark Leslie Lefebvre just wrote an article for Canadian Bookseller magazine about the rise of free podcasting as a way of building a pre-publication audience for a book. This is the approach I tried out with TBLP. The TBLP podcast was up and available in its entirety many months before the novel was ever published in print. I’m convinced the interest and community engendered through the podcast really helped when TBLP finally became an actual book. The article is interesting and foreshadows possible changes in the world of traditional publishing as more and more authors employ social media tools like blogging and podcasting to drive interest and build audiences. Thanks for the profile Mark!
Back in February 2007, Steve Paikin, the outstanding host of The Agenda, TV Ontario’s great nightly public affairs program, was kind enough to interview me about the then unpublished TBLP. Here’s the blog post Steve wrote in the wake of the Leacock Medal announcement:
The Funniest Book In Canada
Back in February of 2007, I interviewed a political wise guy named Terry Fallis. Terry has been around the block in the political world. He now plies his trade at an eponymously named consultingfirm.
But once upon a time, he was one of those back room boys who worked for politicians and tried to get them elected.
He’s a smart guy and figured there must be a funny book somewhere inside him, given all of what he’d seen in politics.
So he wrote a book, set on Parliament Hill, and followed the travails of a once naïve, now a bit too cynical back room boy who’s seen too much of politics’ seamy underbelly.
His book is called The Best Laid Plans and Terry rolled it out in unusual fashion.
Once a week, he downloaded a chapter of his work into podcast form on his website. He narrates the action himself. He did it this way because no Canadian publisher would print his work. Not a one.
So rather than wait for that, Fallis got the book into the readers’ hands with the newfangled technology so many of us are using these days. And what do you know: he ends up winning the Stephen Leacock prize for humour.
While the credit is all Terry’s, I take a certain amount of pride in saying we were the first program to interview the author, when, quite frankly, no one was beating his doors down to give him any attention.
So, to see and hear my conversation with Terry Fallis from last February, about his own political history, and his successful political novel, watch this web-exclusive video and enjoy.
Thanks Steve. You were there at the beginning and I’m grateful.
The power of a little media coverage. On a lark, I checked iTunes this morning and was shocked (for the second time this week) to find the TBLP podcast sitting at the number one spot (Arts and Literature). Certainly a Leacock halo effect. I grabbed a screen shot as I don’t imagine it will stay at these lofty heights for long. Bizarre to be ahead of the New York Times Book Review podcast, which is one of my “must listen” podcasts. Just another surreal aspect to a surreal week.
As my wife Nancy and I were driving home yesterday from Orillia where the Leacock Medal luncheon was held, James Adams of the Globe and Mail called my cell phone. We did a quick interview as I tried to drive down highway 400 while still floating off the ground. Anyway, here’s the result:
Stay tuned. I’ve been informed that the official Globe and Mail review of TBLP will run this Saturday (gulp).
I’m sure my 15 minutes must soon be up. Because of the Leacock Medal shortlist, the Toronto Star ran a nice piece in the Sunday Star this past weekend. They even teased the story on the front page of the Entertainment section. I’d done the interview and photography last week. I’m amazed at how many people have e-mailed me in the wake of the article, including some who have said that they’ve ordered the book. Every little bit helps!
Pages is one of Canada’s premier independent bookstores offering an extraordinary range of literary fiction, nonfiction and art books. It’s located on trendy Queen Street West in Toronto and TBLP is now available there.
Welcome to terryfallis.com where award-winning novelist Terry Fallis blogs about his writing life and podcasts his first novel, The Best Laid Plans, winner of the 2008 Stephen Leacock Award for Humour.
