Holy Crap
Lady and Gentleman,
Yeah...okay...let me wrap my mind around the last couple of days. Thursday night was my Rohinton Mistry event at the Broadway Theatre and Friday my David Suzuki event at the Broadway Theatre.
Naturally, David Suzuki sold out way in advance of the event. It happens every time he speaks in town. But the Mistry event...the Mistry event got off to a slow start. The tour was set up by his publisher in celebration of its 100th anniversary with the proceeds from this event going to PEN Canada. All that being said, it was still a hard sell.
Factors That Contributed to its Difficulty;
1)No new book.
2)Between university sessions. His has a very literary audience fueled by the U of S.
But in the end, it was a success. Almost 300 people ended up coming out for the reading which is fantastic. The key was I used every single area of promotion I had access to. CBC Radio, CFCR (I am not impressed with their attitude problem but that is a whole different blog), CKOM, and SHAW 10 are ran promos for the event. Posters were plastered about the city. A HUgeariety of in store promotions were used. And in the end, the numbers were there.
For Suzuki, I dropped his name a couple of times and 450 people crammed their way into the Broadway. Such is life. If Mistry was here on a new book and during regular U of S sessions, and keep in mind that this was by his own admission, he would have packed the house. He read at the Broadway for McNally 4 years ago to launch a new book and packed it. And I 100% guarantee that he will his with the launch of his next book will fill the Broadway to capacity.
Rohinton Mistry is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Quiet, understated, and dignified, it was nothing short of an honour to usher him around town and put this event on for him. I think my favourite moment of the night was Yann Martel taking Rohinton Mistry out for supper after and event in Saskatoon. Fantastic.
David Suzuki was also a fantastic person and, again, an honour for me to work with. He is so forceful in his beliefs and convictions that it hard to not respect him. Some people had said that they found him difficult to work with, even arrogant. NOT AT ALL. He is a professional who has fought more battles in his life than most can imagine. He was kind with his supporters and generous with those working with him.
What surprised me the most were the similarities between them. The passion David Suzuki put into the environment Rohinton Mistry has for PEN and freedom of expression. He works to give those who are in jail or exiled for expressing their beliefs the same rights many North Americans take for granted as they slowly vanish. If you do not know what PEN is, Google it. Trust me.
And I was interviewed on CBC Radio yesterday. It was a call in segment on Canadian Literature. We disscuses CanLit from a variety of areas, trends in it, and book selling and publishing in Canada. We took some calls and had a good time. Go team Ian!
So, yeah. This turned out much longer than I expected and I have neither the time nor the inclination to proof it. Conclusion; Both Rohinton Mistry and David Suzuki are fantastic people with deep convictions who have more than earned my respect.
Yeah...okay...let me wrap my mind around the last couple of days. Thursday night was my Rohinton Mistry event at the Broadway Theatre and Friday my David Suzuki event at the Broadway Theatre.
Naturally, David Suzuki sold out way in advance of the event. It happens every time he speaks in town. But the Mistry event...the Mistry event got off to a slow start. The tour was set up by his publisher in celebration of its 100th anniversary with the proceeds from this event going to PEN Canada. All that being said, it was still a hard sell.
Factors That Contributed to its Difficulty;
1)No new book.
2)Between university sessions. His has a very literary audience fueled by the U of S.
But in the end, it was a success. Almost 300 people ended up coming out for the reading which is fantastic. The key was I used every single area of promotion I had access to. CBC Radio, CFCR (I am not impressed with their attitude problem but that is a whole different blog), CKOM, and SHAW 10 are ran promos for the event. Posters were plastered about the city. A HUgeariety of in store promotions were used. And in the end, the numbers were there.
For Suzuki, I dropped his name a couple of times and 450 people crammed their way into the Broadway. Such is life. If Mistry was here on a new book and during regular U of S sessions, and keep in mind that this was by his own admission, he would have packed the house. He read at the Broadway for McNally 4 years ago to launch a new book and packed it. And I 100% guarantee that he will his with the launch of his next book will fill the Broadway to capacity.
Rohinton Mistry is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Quiet, understated, and dignified, it was nothing short of an honour to usher him around town and put this event on for him. I think my favourite moment of the night was Yann Martel taking Rohinton Mistry out for supper after and event in Saskatoon. Fantastic.
David Suzuki was also a fantastic person and, again, an honour for me to work with. He is so forceful in his beliefs and convictions that it hard to not respect him. Some people had said that they found him difficult to work with, even arrogant. NOT AT ALL. He is a professional who has fought more battles in his life than most can imagine. He was kind with his supporters and generous with those working with him.
What surprised me the most were the similarities between them. The passion David Suzuki put into the environment Rohinton Mistry has for PEN and freedom of expression. He works to give those who are in jail or exiled for expressing their beliefs the same rights many North Americans take for granted as they slowly vanish. If you do not know what PEN is, Google it. Trust me.
And I was interviewed on CBC Radio yesterday. It was a call in segment on Canadian Literature. We disscuses CanLit from a variety of areas, trends in it, and book selling and publishing in Canada. We took some calls and had a good time. Go team Ian!
So, yeah. This turned out much longer than I expected and I have neither the time nor the inclination to proof it. Conclusion; Both Rohinton Mistry and David Suzuki are fantastic people with deep convictions who have more than earned my respect.