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Monday, October 23rd 2017 : "My Big Canadian Adventure"
I'm just back from a book trip to Canada, slightly heady and hazy with jet-lag, but with dozens of brilliant memories from the time I spent there. The excuse for the visit was that Bouchercon - the big mystery convention usually held in the US - was taking place in Toronto. But when more invitations arrived, we extended the trip into a proper book tour and ended up travelling across the country from Ottawa to Vancouver Island, taking in Bouchercon, a couple of writers' festivals, some magnificent stores and a spectacular library event on the way.
We started in Ottawa. It felt a very welcoming city, but perhaps that was because I caught up with my old friend Brenda Chapman, who hosted a conversation between me and her fellow crime writer Barbara Fradkin. The Writers' Festival event was held in a church and the pews were packed with enthusiastic readers. A great introduction to the city and the country.
Next stop was Toronto, where we met up with the Publishers Group Canada team. PGC works to distribute and promote Pan Macmillan's titles in the country and the wonderful Jen Lynch worked with Maura to plan the trip. It was down to their organisation that everything worked so well.
Bouchercon was a bonkers mix of social events, business and the chance to catch up with friends from all over the world. Along with the panels and interviews that made up the programme... Perhaps the high-light of the conference for me was my event with Louise Penny on the last morning. Louise is hugely loved in the US and her native Canada and it was an honour to be asked to interview her. One of the benefits of the role was that I binge-read Louise's Three Pines novels before my trip and realised again what a thought-provoking and clever writer she is.
We stayed in Toronto for a day after the Festival and headed out into the suburbs with Jen. After signing stock in a few stores, we were hosted to a lovely afternoon chat with customers in A Novel Spot, a tiny bookshop in Etobicoke. Then we hit the road again for a public library event in Oakville Ontario. I love libraries and this was a library event at its very best - a great theatre space in a community centre, a thoughtful intro by Florence, the librarian, and an independent bookstore to sell books. More importantly, the space was full of readers determined to have a good time.
The next morning brought a horribly early start and a five hour flight to Vancouver for the writers' festival there. The festival is held on Granville Island, with its food market, craft shops and performance spaces. It attracts writers from all over the world. Vancouver in the autumn seems a very rainy city, but the weather cleared just when it was needed - for the tiny seaplane ride to Victoria on Vancouver Island, and for the ferry ride back the following day, so we had magnificent views of the islands on both crossings. My final event was in Victoria in Munro's famous bookshop. What a way to end the trip!
Thanks to everyone who made the tour so friendly, fun and stress-free: Maura and Jen, the organisers and volunteers of the writers' festivals and Bouchercon, the team from Minotaur, my US publisher, booksellers and librarians. And most of all, thanks to the readers, who turned out to share their reading passions and who stood in line to get books signed.
Posted by Ann at 11:41 AM GMT
