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Dear George Clooney

If you are a fan of Susin Nielsen’s writing, you are going to love her latest book, Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom. I just finished reading it and thought it was sensational!

It’s the story of 12 year old Violet, whose father has run off to LA with a young, blond woman and started another family. Violet is miserable now that her father has seemingly traded in his old life for a new one. And since he left, Violet’s mother has had a series of unfortunate boyfriends — the latest being Dudley Weiner. (Can you read that without laughing?) Violet spends much of the novel getting into trouble and coming up with crazy schemes to snag George Clooney, desperately hoping that he will replace Dudley in her mother’s affections.
It’s a very funny, tightly written novel with many great characters and touching moments of poignancy. There are also lots of wonderful Vancouver references. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
If you’d like to hear Susin Nielsen in person, she’s having a launch at Kidsbooks in a couple of weeks. Is George Clooney going to make an appearance? You never know! Check out Susin’s website here and launch information here.
Happy Reading!

Book Launch Thanks!

Thank you to all the kind folks who turned up at our launch last week. We know that many people are on holidays at this time of year, so it was extra-good of you to show up.

It’s been a great August with many opportunities to talk about my new book, but as September approaches, it’s time to get back to my regular work — which means less time talking to people and more time in front of the computer. I’m looking forward to starting the research on the next book and preparing my talks for some upcoming presentations. Suitably, the rain is back to keep me company as I work.
May you all have a happy long weekend! See you in September. (Isn’t that a song?) And thank you for reading this blog. 🙂
Cheers!

You Grow Kid

Thank you to the wonderful folks at yoyomama for their review of Up We Grow! My daughter, the mother of young twin boys, is an avid reader of yoyomama — an online magazine “keeping moms on the go in the know.” You can imagine how thrilled I was when they got in touch with me about the book. To read the review, You Grow Kid, go here. Thank you, yoyomama!

And thank you to Sheryl McKay of CBC Radio’s North by Northwest for interviewing Brian Harris (photographer for Up We Grow!) and I on her recent show. To hear a podcast of the show, go here. (Our segment is a few minutes in. It runs for about 15 minutes.)
Finally, sincere thanks to you for continuing to read this little blog during the PR blitz. A return to regular programming coming soon. 🙂
Cheers!

Up We Grow! on CBC Radio

A big thank you to Sheryl McKay, host of CBC’s show North by Northwest for interviewing photographer, Brian Harris, and I about our new book, Up We Grow! If you’d like to hear the interview, please tune in on Sunday morning (Aug. 22) just after the 7:30 am news.

If you’d like to listen at a different time, the show will be posted on the North by Northwest website as a podcast.

Cheers!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Very soon, I promise, I will be posting about great books I’ve read or other writers’ news, but for today, I am participating in one final act of shameless self-promotion. Here goes.

You are all invited to my first-ever book launch! (After 15 years of writing, this feels like a momentous event. 🙂 Please check out the invitation (above) and come to see me talk about my new book, Up We Grow! A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm.

My personal guarantee: the food will be local, in season and good!
Hope to see you there.
Cheers!

Braving the Rain!

A big thank you to all the folks who bravely stepped out on a rainy Saturday morning to come to the Trout Lake Farmer’s Market and stop by our table to pick up a copy of my new book, Up We Grow! It was great to meet you all!

I have long been a farmer’s market shopper, but never before been a vendor. It was fascinating to arrive early in the morning and watch all the farmers set up their tables, unload their food and get ready for the rush of shoppers. It was such a congenial atmosphere! But, clearly, it’s also so much work. It requires a real dedication to the cause of growing and selling local food.
Thanks again to everyone who stopped by! It was wonderful to chat with you. I hope to run into you at the market again. (Next time, I’ll be there wandering the stalls and filling my cloth bag full of yummy, local veggies.)
Cheers!

Glen Valley Farm and My New Book


In these beautiful summer days, I’m thinking about the farmers who are growing our food.
The ones I think about most often are the farmers at Glen Valley Organic Farm Cooperative in Abbotsford, BC. (See their photo above.) They are the folks I visited multiple times over the course of a year to write my newest book: Up We Grow! A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm.

If you’d like to know more about sustainable farming and the Glen Valley farmers, check out their blog here. They are some of the nicest, hardest working people I know. A big thank you to Chris, Paige, Jeremy and everyone else at the farm! The goats!
And, if you’re interested in hearing about how my book was written and seeing its beautiful photos (shot by Brian Harris), you might consider coming to our launch at the Trout Lake Farmer’s Market on Aug. 7 at 10:30 am. We will be there for the entire market to chat and sign books.
If you can’t make it to Trout Lake, come to Kidsbooks on W. Broadway on Aug. 26 for another launch. The time is: 7-9 pm and, besides a book talk, there will be local food and drink. Delicious! I promise!
Love to see you there!
P.S. If you can’t make it to either launch and you’d like a copy of Up We Grow, ask for it at your local bookstore or check for it online.

Summer Bliss

I’m glad to report that we Vancouverites are basking in the beautiful sunshine. It came later than any of us wished, but now that it is here, we are blissful!

Lest you think I’m spending all my days in a lawn chair, sunglasses on, and book in hand, I will let you know that I’m wrapping up a book with one last photo shoot tomorrow, and then — hooray! — off to the printer it goes. It’s a book on urban agriculture, and in order to keep my writing in rigourous, truthful shape, I’m tending to a backyard garden. The young children in my family are helping (!) me pick raspberries, peas and strawberries as they come ripe, and we are enjoying gobbling up these bites of summer.
When I do take a moment in my lawn chair (did I mention bliss?), I’m reading a lot of wonderful books. A great one that I just finished is called C’mon Papa: Dispatches from a Dad in the Dark by the talented Ryan Knighton. It’s the story of how he copes with the challenges and joys of becoming a first time dad — a handful for anyone — but on top of the usual struggles, are those imposed by his visual impairment. He’s legally blind. It’s a compelling story, by turns poignant and sad, and then very, very funny. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be very glad you read it. It’s a masterful piece of work.
And that’s my summer reading recommendation for today.
Cheers!

Excellent News!

Have you heard the news? A new independent bookstore is opening in Vancouver. Hooray! It’s called Sitka Books and Art and is owned by the former manager of Duthie Books, Ria Bleumer. It’s going to be located two blocks away from where Duthie’s resided on 4th Ave. Read more about it here.

It’s been a sad time for book lovers in this city ever since Duthie’s (which had been in operation for 53 years) closed last February. For the past few months, I’ve been slinking around trying to fulfill my book needs by sneaking into Chapters and secretly ordering from Amazon online — but I never felt good about it. (It’s hard having a rabid book habit.) I upped my book requests at the Vancouver Library, but the reading material didn’t come fast and furious enough for my liking.
Of course, the wonderful Kidsbooks on West Broadway has a great (possibly the greatest) selection of children’s books. I will always be loyal to them.
And now Sitka Books will provide me with an excellent place to find adult books. If the store is anywhere as good as Duthie’s was, I will be very, very happy.
Congratulations, Ria! I can hardly wait for the opening.