An excerpt on Jack Hodgins on the Canadian Encyclopedia blog

Jan16 by JK

Your weekly dose of Stories About Storytellers continues at the Canadian Encyclopedia blog. This week, Doug guides us through his relationship with Jack Hodgins and Vancouver Island. To read the excerpt, head over to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

(Have you missed the previous excerpts? You can still read the selections on R.D. Symons, James Houston, Morley Callaghan, Paul Martin, Barry Broadfoot, Brian Mulroney, Mavis Gallant, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, Stephen Leacock, and Alice Munro.)

Stories About Storytellers on stage: Charles Ritchie

Jan13 by JK

Thanks to Candida Paltiel at Mining Stories Productions and her team, we’ll be featuring weekly snippets of Doug’s one-man stage show. In this week’s clip, we see Doug talking about Charles Ritchie.

For upcoming performances of Stories About Storytellers the show, head to the events page. For more on Charles Ritchie, see chapter 11 of Stories About Storytellers.

Editing Tips from Douglas Gibson (#9)

Jan11 by JK

Every two weeks we’re sharing tips for editors from the desk of Douglas Gibson. Good for those starting out or old hands who need a reminder, these reminders form an engaging guide for sharp-eyed wordsmiths.

Tip #9

Precise copy editing and proofreading are both very important, as “Dr. Douglas Victim, The rapist” will tell you, with some bitterness.

Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #3, Tip #4, Tip #5, Tip #6, Tip #7, and Tip #8.

Stories About Storytellers on stage: Paul Martin

Jan6 by JK

Thanks to Candida Paltiel at Mining Stories Productions and her team, we’ll be featuring weekly snippets of Doug’s one-man stage show. In this week’s clip, Doug talks about Paul Martin.

For upcoming performances of Stories About Storytellers the show, head to the events page. For more on Paul Martin, see chapter 18 of Stories About Storytellers.

Another Bookstore Lesson

Jan5 by Douglas Gibson

I dropped in on Book City’s Danforth Avenue store, fresh from buying a Big Carrot tofurkey for the vegetarian troublemakers around our Christmas table.

The elder statesman of the Toronto chain, the eminent Frans Donker, happened to be in the store, and greeted me warmly. He urged me to sign the two copies of my book, then went looking for a third copy out on the shelves. He returned, shaking his head over that copy. The flap had been carefully folded over to mark a place two-thirds of the way through the book. Some anonymous browser had apparently been working his or her way through the book, and was nearing the end — without any messy expenditure of dollars.

I’m torn between pleasure that this discriminating reader would sacrifice a part of lunch-hour each day to drink in my stories — and outrage that the book is being devoured for free. I’d love to meet the culprit. We could have an interesting conversation.

As for the life of a bookseller, who could have predicted this?

— Douglas Gibson

An excerpt on Peter Gzowski on the Canadian Encyclopedia blog

Jan3 by JK

Excerpts of Stories About Storytellers continue to roll out at the Canadian Encyclopedia blog. This week, Doug offers insight into his relationship with legendary CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski. To read the excerpt, head over to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Praise from Political Insider James A. Coutts

Dec23 by JK

The well-known political insider Jim Coutts has read Stories About Storytellers with admiration. He has given us permission to quote from his letter to Doug Gibson:

Dear Doug,
I’ve not been surprised by the wonderful reviews your book has received over the last month.
I’ve read the book with a critical eye, as I know several of the people whom you edited – Paul Martin, Pierre Trudeau, W.O.Mitchell, Brian Mulroney and Peter Newman. You simply get it right every time, catching the flavour of each individual, exposing their weaknesses with loving care and celebrating their strengths. I’m glad you’ve written this book. It was an important thing to do. . . .”

Warm regards,
Jim Coutts

Back in Toronto

Dec22 by Douglas Gibson

On November 30th (St. Andrew’s Day, a big day for haggis-eaters everywhere), I was lucky enough to be the first speaker in a lunch series hosted by the Literary Review of Canada and the Gardiner Museum, which provided the venue. At the top floor’s southwest corner we all gathered in a pleasant room with tables and chairs arrayed before the screen.

While people munched through their paper-bag lunch (yes, it was a brown bag), I whizzed through the Tony Jenkins caricatures, then asked the audience for suggestions about which authors they’d like to hear about. The questions came thick and fast (they always do) and I was able to be a polar bear gutting James Houston’s husky or Morley Callaghan knocking down Ernest Hemingway, and so on.

At the end I signed a dozen copies or so. As I was leaving my signing place, compliments still ringing in my ears, I was approached by an elderly member of my audience. I stooped graciously to accept her comments. “I notice,” she said, severely, “that frequently you use ‘who’ when it should be ‘whom.’ ‘Who’ is the subjective, and ‘whom’ the objective case.”

I thanked her, as objectively as I could.

Editing Tips from Douglas Gibson (#8)

Dec21 by JK

Tip #8

Any time an editor says, “Wow, you should have seen what a mess that manuscript was before I fixed it!” you know quite a lot about that editor. You know, for instance, that he or she has failed to absorb the most basic rule of the profession . . . that you are in the business of invisible mending, and of keeping your role secret. Discretion and modesty are basic editorial requirements, and to boast is to break faith with your author.

Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #3, Tip #4, Tip #5, and Tip #6, Tip #7.

Barnstorming, Day 3: Guelph

Dec20 by Douglas Gibson

The London morning starts with a visit to “the oldest brick house in London,” now occupied by our friends Robert Collins and Mary Lake. Not only did they take our gang to dinner last night, they bought 10 copies of my book, and I’m delighted to spend much of the morning signing them. Then a London lunch with friends and relatives Judy and Peter Castle, before we hit the trail to Guelph.

First destination was the University Art Gallery, where Judy Nasby, knowing of my James Houston-inspired love of Inuit Art, took us around a behind the scenes Inuit display. An interesting gallery.

Downtown we park near The Book Shelf, and Jane starts the set-up with Dan, who runs the show there. I return from the car with the computer hearing Jane’s voice saying, “One, two, three, testing, testing . . . ” She really is into the “techie”( even the “roadie”) role!

The theatre setting there is in the upstairs café, and the stage is about two paces wide. But I am now an old pro, Dan is very helpful on the sound system and the show goes on, in front of an audience that includes Daniel, son of Alistair MacLeod (and I claimed that I had to tone down my criticism of his father, due to his presence); Jacquie, daughter of Max and Monique Nemni; J.R. Tim Struthers, the critic; and Stephen Henighan (ditto, and an interesting writer on the publishing world, as I’m pleased to tell him). Above all, the crowd of perhaps 50 includes my old friend, the distinguished editor Jonathan Webb, who writes an unexpected review of the show that pleases me a lot. I’m especially amused by his description of me as a “self-deprecating, self-assured Scot.”

The Guelph evening ended with kind words from Dan and a fine dinner in the café, courtesy of my old friend Doug Minett. And so, back home, arriving just before midnight.

This bookselling business is hard work.

— Douglas Gibson