Nobody’s Father in Vancouver

Just in time for Father’s Day, the Robson Reading Series is hosting an event with some of the contributors to Nobody’s Father.

The reading will take place Thursday, June 25 at the UBC Library/Bookstore at Robson Squre, starting at 7 pm, and will feature Richard Van Camp, Lou Parsons, Julian Gunn and my co-editor, Lynne Van Luven.

Unfortunately, I won’t be there, as much as I’d love to be. But I hope some of Nobody’s Father’s west coast fans will be able to attend, as the guys are all fanastic readers and storytellers, and it promises to be a great night.

Remembering Derek Weiler

Like a lot of people, I was shocked to learn that Derek Weiler had passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 40. “Shocked” is one of those words that is usually over-used, but in this case, it was entirely apt.

 

I worked closely with Derek since I started freelancing in 2002, as he was one of my very first clients (if memory serves, he assigned me a news story about a memoir by the drummer of Rush of all things). That said, I can’t say that I knew him all that well; I met him in person only once, and most of our correspondence was work-related. Still, we got along quite well, and I always liked working with him; the only reason I did so less often in the past few years was that I was getting better-paying offers from elsewhere.

 

I always found him to be a thoughtful and sensitive editor and one who always made me look smarter than I am (which, really, is the best kind of editor, I think). Even in emails, Derek came off as a sweet, kind guy, and he sent me a very nice note not too long ago when my first book came out, saying that even though the reviews editor had passed on it, he was going to dig it out of the pile to read himself, which I found very touching.

 

I was surprised to read in his obituary that he was 40, as I’d assumed he was younger than I was. The only time I met him in person, I was surprised by how youthful he looked—enormously tall, but all gangly elbows and arms and a big, open, friendly face.

 

Q&Qis hoting a memorial party for Derek tomorrow night at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto that is open to all who would like to celebrate his life and his many achievements.

Shoe violations and The New Yorker

Every year at about this time, I start debating whether I should let my subscription to The New Yorker lapse. Certainly, it is a fine magazine, and the Canadian subscription price of a little more than $100 for 47 issues is a steal compared to the newsstand price of $5.99 an issue.

And yet, I often find (as I’m sure most subscribers do) that the issues tend to pile up before I’ve had a chance to go through them, and before long, my house is littered with piles of New Yorkers. I like to think I make an effort to read all of them before they head to the recycling box, but often I just end up scooping them up and dumping them in the bin to get rid of the mess and hope I haven’t missed anything really great.

Inevitably, I wind up extending my subscription and promising myself that I’ll do a better job of trying to read each issue–or, at least the cartoons–before I recycle them. And I’m glad I do: not only are they nice to have around when I feel like something quick to read or when I’m in between books, but I shudder to think of all the great writing I’d miss if I didn’t keep up with them.

For instance: in the latest issue delivered to my door (March 23), there’s a great piece by Nancy Franklin,one of my favourite critics who usually writes about television. This time, however, she’s written a Talk of the Town piece about attending the Madoff trial, which is every bit as sharp as her reviews and full of great details, like this:

The proceeding was scheduled for 10 A.M., and anyone could attend. It was in many ways a normal day, albeit with a little more electricity in the air and more guards in the lobby. They were on high alert, but were also chatty; when a woman set off the metal detector, a guard told her to take off her shoes. “Shoe violation,” he said. “Shoe violation?” she said back. The guard then sang the words “shoe violation” to the melody of “She Works Hard for the Money.”

It just doesn’t get much better than that. I know that we’re supposed to love The New Yorker for its long-form writing, but for me, it’s just as often the short pieces filled with great, unexpected details that keep me renewing year after year.

Benefits for writers — update

Just before the holidays, I wrote about the ongoing project to develop a benefits package for writers in Canada. This past weekend, the Globe’s James Adams wrote a great piece on the same subject that looks at why even a bare-bones extended health-care package could make a big difference in the lives of writers, editors and other artists:

According to Statistics Canada, a Canadian scribe on average makes only between $18,000 and $22,000 annually from his or her writing – and this includes royalties from book sales as well as income from grants, giving readings and workshops, writing, say, reviews for magazines and newspapers, and earning a yearly stipend from the Public Lending Right Commission.

It is, in short, a hard life, fraught with long, lonely hours of work, occasional feasts and many famines (in 2005, an estimated 3,000 Canadian authors – 11 per cent of the total 27,500 who identified themselves either as self-employed or salaried writers – reported no earnings from their writing), not to mention the agony of public indifference.

According to Adams’s piece, the plan will be rolled out by the ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society in May, and organizers are hoping for at least 300 people to sign up initially. That sounds like a pretty achievable goal to me, given how many book, magazine and technical writers and editors there are across the country, but I suppose it’s the yet-to-be-announced fee schedule that will be clincher for most people. Let’s hope it’s reasonable so the plan has a chance of getting off the ground.

Meet the readers

Things are coming together nicely for the Toronto launch of Nobody’s Father at Ben McNally Books next Tuesday, and it’s shaping up to be a great night of readings.  To whet your appetite, I thought I’d tell you a little about the writers who will be sharing their work:

Brian Day will read from his essay, “Fatherhood and Me.” Day grew up in Mission, BC, and now lives in Toronto, where he teaches at an elementary school in the inner city. He is the author of two books of poetry, Azure and Love Is Not In My Blood.

Ray Jones will read from his essay, “The Most Beautiful Child in the World.” Jones is a former newspaper editor whose short stories have been published in several countries. In 2006, he received the Storyteller’s Award at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. He lives in Toronto.

Bryan Steinnagel will read from his essay, “An Unwinnable War.” Steinnagel makes prosthetic limbs at a children’s rehabilitation facility and enjoys the irony of doing so. He likes the idea of being a kid, he just doesn’t want one of his own. He lives in Toronto, close to his ever-extending family.

And, of course, I’ll be reading too. But you already know all about me.

Nobody’s Father: Toronto reading

I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve finally set a date for the Toronto launch of Nobody’s Father. It will take place Tuesday, February 24th, at Ben McNally Books (which has to be one of the best and loveliest shops in the city). Readings will begin at 6 pm.

We’re still working out all of the details, so I’ll post more information as soon we confirm which of our contributors will be reading–besides me, of course! It should be a great event, though, so mark your calendars now!

Vote early, vote often

Good news from the west coast: Nobody’s Father has been nominated for an M Award, as voted for by readers of Victoria’s Monday Magazine. We’re up against some stiff competition, including David Leach’s Fatal Tide (a great read), so we’re encouraging everyone we know to cast a vote, as residency in Victoria is not a requirement.

So, as they say in electoral circles, vote early and vote often. You can find a link to the M Awards ballot here (the link is a bit tricky to find — it’s near the beginning of the fourth paragraph).

The Tyee picks Nobody’s Father

I was delighted to see that Nobody’s Father made The Tyee’s holiday book list this year. Legislative Editor Andrew MacLeod recommends it for “any guy unlikely to go forth and multiply,” noting that

This is not a book to give lightly to just any man who hasn’t gotten around to breeding, adopting or otherwise finding someone to parent. True, with 23 essayists contributing their tales, most readers will find someone with whom to identify. Explanations range from too busy to too gay to “life didn’t really work out that way.” Some are happily childless, some sad, some resigned. “I don’t see myself as father material,” writes Aaron Shepard, simple as that. “I don’t feel compelled to be a parent. It’s neither my loss nor my gain. It’s my identity.”

I, of course, also think it makes a swell gift.

ACTRA to offer health benefits to writers

Some interesting news from Quill & Quire: ACTRA, which represents TV and film workers, will be offering health benefits to writers and authors beginning in 2009. According to the story by Stuart Woods,

The Writers’ Coalition Benefits package will be “a basic, no-frills plan,” says AFBS president and CEO Bob Underwood. Initially, it will target members of participating organizations, which include The Writers’ Union of Canada, the Periodical Writers Association of Canada, and the Playwrights Guild of Canada. There is talk, however, of expanding the program to a broad base of industry professionals, such as freelance agents, self-employed authors, or employees at small publishing houses and distributors.

Underwood says monthly premiums have yet to be decided, but they will be 20% to 30% more competitive than comparable packages offered by commercial insurers, which he says can cost up to $1,500 per year. A model plan will be rolled out by early summer at the latest, he adds, consisting of extended health-care benefits (including prescription drugs, vision and dental care, and hospital visits), limited life and accident insurance, and critical illness benefits. The AFBS is also looking into the feasibility of a disability program and opt-in home and auto insurance, as well as small-business insurance for those who maintain a home office.

As someone who has lived mostly without the benefit of health insurance since deciding to become a freelancer in 2002, I think this is good news. There have been other attempts to offer insurance packages to writers over the years, but one of the sticking points has been finding an insurer willing to provide a decent plan at a reasonable price. For plans to be appealing to an insurer and affordable to members, you need a fairly large, diverse group of people to sign up so that the higher costs of a few are counterbalanced by the modest cost of the many. Finding that mix can be a challenge, especially when you’re dealing with tens, or even hundreds, of people as opposed to thousands.

So, while I’m surprised to see this deal coming from ACTRA, it does make sense in many ways: ACTRA has a large membership base (21,000) and experience in working with freelance artists, so it makes more sense for them to offer it rather than for writers’ groups to interest an insurer in developing a new, reasonably priced package for a few hundred, or a few thousand, writers.

Nobody’s Father in the Edmonton Journal

It looks like the Edmonton Journal ran a story about Nobody’s Father yesterday. From what I can tell online, it looks like a reprint of Katherine Dedyna’s story that originally ran in the Victoria Times Colonist, but hey, I’m not complaining! Any publicity is good publicity.