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On Book Trailers, Tel Aviv, and My Friend Elsin

While I was in Israel this fall, my friend Elsin Davidi and I started working on a book trailer for The Best Place on Earth. Book trailers have become more popular in recent years, probably due to our obsession with visual stimulation and our love of sharing kitten videos on social networks. Elsin and I watched many book trailers in preparation:  they varied in style, tone, length and quality. Some commercial works of fiction have book trailers that resemble Hollywood movie previews: short and sleek, always with a man’s voice ominously reading abstract phrases and words like REVENGE, LOVE and…

Advance Reading Copy

I came home from the AGO and there it was, in my mailbox, looking innocent, like a regular piece of mail. My advance reading copy!!! It hasn’t left my side since. I know it’s “just” an advance reading copy, and it still has some errors in it, and the pages are thin and the cover is soft, but it looks like the real thing and I am in love. That’s all.

Readings in Vancouver (Also: a Love Song to East Van)

I love Vancouver. I lived in this city for eleven years, eight of them in East Van. There is nothing quite like East Van anywhere, and for someone like me, that sense of community and belonging in a city half a world away from my home was not something to take for granted. My life in Vancouver was very contained: I worked on Commercial Drive (at Yogis, then at Clove), met Sean on the Drive (drinking coffee and smoking outside Napoli cafe), lived off the Drive (Charles Street, William Street, Napier Street, and Semlin Drive). My favourite coffee shop had…