Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

CBC TV mini-series based on TBLP

Friday, November 25th, 2011

 

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few months now, but it’s finally official. The Best Laid Plans is in development as a six-part mini-series to be aired on CBC television. Jian Ghomeshi made the announcement as part of the big reveal this week of the five finalists for this year’s Canada Reads crown. A hugh crowd was gathered in the atrium of the CBC Broadcast Centre. It was a great event, but I confess my heart was pounding as Jian told the assembled throng that The Best Laid Plans was headed for television. What a thrill.

The director/producer of the mini-series, Peter Moss, is a very experienced television and theatre veteran having adapted the works of others writers including Mordecai Richler and Timothy Findley. The writing team is in place and they are true professionals. I’m honoured to have the story in their hands. You’ll hear more about them and the cast when all of the pieces are in place.

Jian Ghomeshi announces the TV mini-series.

This all began back in the summer when Peter approached my agent, Beverley Slopen, and me to secure the film and TV rights to the novel. It’s incredibly exciting to contemplate the story coming to life on the small screen. I’ll get to stay involved in the project throughout as a “story consultant,” not so that I can jealously protect my work, but really just to indulge my curiosity about the whole process of adapting a novel to television. I think it’s going to be a fascinating experience. I couldn’t be happier about how it’s all come together. I”ll keep you posted as we cross certain thresholds in the production. But it’s going to take a while. We’re probably at least 18 months away from seeing Angus on television. Be patient, art takes time! Thanks for all your kind words since the news broke, and stay tuned…

Jian Ghomeshi had me stand up at the Canada Reads launch after announcing the mini-series.

Speaking of Leacock…

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

My mother-in-law was sorting through some photographs the other day and came across these two shots taken a few years ago when we visited the Leacock home on the shores of Brewery Bay in Orillia, Ontario. If you’re ever in the area, it’s well worth a visit to the beautiful home Stephen Leacock built as his refuge. Leacock wrote many hilarious works on the desk at which I’m seated below. The home has been painstakingly restored with many of the very items and artifacts that adorned the home when the man himself lived there. You can learn more about the Leacock home and museum here.

Speaking gigs a plenty…

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

I’ve been very busy in the evenings and weekends with readings and speaking gigs and am really enjoying them. I know I’ve written about it before, but I’m always struck by how rewarding it is to spend time with readers who have really enjoyed the novels. It’s a pleasure to talk with them and answer their questions about the novels. If you’re interested in seeing just how busy I am these days touring around with both books, have a look at my Appearances page. I just thought I’d provide an update on a couple of my recent readings.

Halifax

A few weeks ago, my younger son, Ben, and I flew down to Halifax for a reading I was doing at the Keshen Goodman branch of the Halifax Public Library. We had a great time and had the chance to visit family as wel. My wife’s family lives in the Annapolis Valley and drove in for the reading. As well, in a spasm of pure serendipity, my twin brother Tim and his wife Melanie were also in Halifax visiting their daughter and son who both attend Dalhousie. I joked from the podium that I had more family attending my Halifax reading than I’d ever had in any hometown Toronto reading. The crowd in Halifax was wonderful. Many of them had already read both novels and they kindly laughed in all the right places during my talk and reading. They videotaped my talk so if any of you suffer with any kind of sleep disorder, clicking on the graphic below ought to help you out.

My brother, Tim, also took a few shots during the signing. Here’s one of them:

Pelham and Fort Erie

Last week, I drove down to the Niagara Region for an afternoon reading at the Pelham Public Library and then on to Fort Erie for a library reading there in the evening. Both events were wonderful with very enthusiastic audiences, who showed up in great numbers. At each stop, I spoke for a while about The High Road, and then read a few sections that I thought were particularly relevant in the midst of a federal election campaign. There were great questions posed afterwards and I was even able to answer some of them. After the Fort Erie reading, I bought a Coke at a nearby convenience store and listened to the Blue Jays game on the radio to help keep me awake for the drive back to Toronto. There are plenty more readings coming up, including the Georgina Public Library in Keswick tomorrow, and the Port Hope Public Library on Saturday.

When I arrived in Pelham, a few people had brought copies of the previous weekend’s St. Catharines Standard. It was a bit of a shock to see the front page of the Arts section. Click here or on the photo to read the article:

Here’s a shot taken just as my talk/reading at the Pelham Public Library got underway.

M&S creates a cool poster for book stores

Friday, March 18th, 2011

I’m one lucky author. Check out this poster that will soon be hanging (I hope) in bookstores across the country. My publisher M&S has created it and it appears that CBC and Canada Reads are in the play on it too. My twin brother, Tim will be pleased with the poster. If you look closely, you’ll see his photo credit in the bottom left corner of the author shot.

We’re clearly still in the Canada Reads afterglow, and this poster is just one manifestation. I have dozens of speaking and reading gigs upcoming so it’s going to be a very busy spring and summer. But you’ll never hear me complain about my schedule… I couldn’t be happier…

Unveiling TBLP as a Canada Reads Finalist

Monday, December 20th, 2010

CBC has just posted the video clip from the November 24th “big reveal” of the five 2011 Canada Reads finalists and their staunch defenders. It was an amazing day that I’ll not soon forget. Here’s the segment when Jian Ghomeshi introduced Ali Velshi (what a pro!)  and then me (it went downhill from there).

You can watch all of the Canada Reads authors and defenders on the CBC Book Club YouTube channel.

Ottawa launch of THR, November 23rd…

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

My colleagues in our Ottawa office are very kindly organizing a launch event for The High Road to be held the evening of November 23rd. We’ll be meeting, appropriately enough, at the Parliament Pub on Sparks Street, just a stone’s throw from the Hill. All are welcome. We’ll be raising money for the Jamie Anderson Parliamentary Internship Fund, a very worthy cause. My old friend, Rob Oliphant, Liberal MP for Don Valley West, will say a few words. (Rob is also a United Church minister. Some 23 years ago, he officiated as my wife and I tied the matrimonial knot in a 200 year old wooden church, near Wolfville, Nova Scotia.) I expect I’ll yak for a moment or two and read a brief section from The High Road. Of course, the real point is to socialize and enjoy a gathering of political collaegues and friends, and anyone else who’d like to come.The affairs gets started at 5:30, so you can come right after work.

I’m looking forward to it and I certainly appreciate the efforts of my friends in Ottawa to pull this together.

The Hill Times runs a Q&A with yours truly…

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

The Hill Times is a weekly paper in Ottawa that focuses on politics. It’s read religiously by the political power brokers on Parliament Hill. I did a Q&A style interview with Kate Malloy while I was in Ottawa a few weeks ago promoting The High Road. This past week, the interview ran in the latest issue of The Hill Times. Because it’s only available online by subscription, I don’t feel I can actually reprint the article so that it’s readable, but at least you can see it here…

Registration open for U of T course I’m teaching

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

In November, I’ll be teaching a four session night school course through the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. The course is for writers, published or not, who are looking to build an audience for their writing. We’ll be covering a range of  emerging techniques including blogging, podcasting, YouTube, Twitter, readings etc., etc. Registration is now open for the course so if you know anyone who might be interested, pass the link along. Enrollment is limited, so don’t wait too long to check it out and sign up.

Let’s prove the theory that a podcast sells books!

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

I was thrilled and grateful when McClelland & Stewart allowed me to podcast The High Road, in its entirety, chapter-by-chapter, for free. The wonderful digital team at M&S made a strong case for the podcast, and it worked. I’m very thankful. But giving it away for free as a podcast is a difficult notion for some. I believe strongly in the theory that listeners who really enjoy the podcast will want to purchase the book. It makes sense to me and it seemed to work with my first novel, The Best Laid Plans, which I also podcast. But let’s be clear, it’s still just a theory, and The High Road podcast is the experiment that I hope will prove it. But that’s really up to all of you who have been listening to, and I hope enjoying, the podcast. And now is the time to step up and justify McClelland & Stewart’s decision to podcast the novel for free, so that I might be allowed to follow the same path with novel number three, whenever it’s finished.

So while I have always preached that social media is not really an appropriate platform for hardcore selling, I’m going to cross the line this once, but I think all for a good cause. If you want to have a hand in reshaping the approach traditional publishers like McClelland & Stewart have historically adopted, please take a second to buy The High Road. Here are Amazon and Indigo links, and you’ll also find links in the left hand side bar.

If we can show that the podcast helped to drive early sales, M&S will be more likely to consider podasting to be an effective way to promote new titles. As always, thanks for all the support. The High Road hits bookstores today (September 7th), so now is the perfect time to place that order. Besides, the holiday season is just around the corner. Thank you all, I’m grateful…

Update: It seems I’m not the only one with this idea. Check out this wonderful post by Mark Leslie, the writer and forward-looking bookseller at Titles, McMaster University‘s great bookstore.

Heading up to Thunder Bay for Sleeping Giant

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

I’ll be on a plane tomorrow afternoon (Friday) for beautiful Thunder Bay for the Sleeping Giant Writers Festival. I’ll be reading with my friend and editor/publisher Doug Gibson, and with the wonderful Miriam Toews on Friday night. Then on Saturday, I’ll be delivering two workshops on how to build and sustain an audience for one’s writing. I’m really looking forward to it.

We’re now less than two weeks away from the official publication of The High Road.