September
04
Bringing Walls to the People
My new book, Walls: Travels Along the Barricades will be released this month and I will be touring the book through Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton this Fall. If you are anywhere near any of these cities in the next little while, please drop by.
My tour schedule is as follows:
On September 16th, in Toronto, I will present Walls at the Globe & Mail/Ben McNally Books Authors’ Brunch. Also on the bill that morning are Doug Saunders, Sandra Martin and Annabel Lyon. Details for the event can be found here.
Also in Toronto, on September 17th, I will be reading from the book at Dora Keogh Irish Pub. Considering I spent much of my Belfast ‘research’ in pubs like this, Dora Keogh seems an apt venue for a reading. The event is part of Ben McNally Books’ The Fine Print Series and is billed as “a boundary-pushing evening of discussion and reportage.” Details are here.
I will be in Montreal on September 18 and will give a noon presentation at Marianopolis College in Westmount. Phillip Dann, a writing professor at the College, has been inflicting my last book on his students for a few years now and I am looking forward to meeting them. (Details to follow.)
On September 19th, I will give another Montreal presentation, this time at Café l’Artère. I am especially excited about this event as l’Artère is located only a few blocks from the l’Acadie fence: the “Great Wall of Montreal” which I write about in the final chapter of Walls. This event is being hosted by the Park Extension Historical Society whose members generously assisted with the research for the chapter. The event takes place from 7pm to 9pm at the café.
I return home to Calgary for the official launch on September 20th. As I mentioned in my last post, Pages will supply the books and Crown Surplus will host the event in their barbed-wire fence enclosed yard. Bring a jacket.
In October, I’ll be bringing Walls to two Alberta book festivals. First up is Wordfest in Calgary. I will be part of the nonfiction storytelling event called “This Really Happened” on October 9th. I’ll host a panel called “Name Your Sources” on October 10th and will be a featured author at “Stories Cities Tell” on October 12th.
Finally (for now), I will be part of Edmonton‘s fantastic festival of nonfiction, LitFest. I’ve been wanting to be part of LitFest since the festival was first launched in 2006. I have three events at the festival: “Borderlines” on October 26th, a noon-hour interview and reading at CBC Centre Stage also on October 26th, and a wine-and-Italian food event called “Savouries” on October 27th.
Hopefully, I will be bringing Walls west later in the year. Watch this space for details.
Elsewhere 