At Dundurn, we publish the Quest Biography series, profiling prominent Canadians. I started browsing through the biography section of our website to see who was missing.

Mary Pickford? June Callwood?

Personally, I’ve always been fascinated with Hazel McCallion. I grew up in Brampton, neighboring McCallion’s Mississauga. While I don’t completely agree with her politics, I find her to be an intriguing and strong woman. Not only has she served as Mayor for 31 years, she’s also talked a man down from suicide, walked away after being hit by a car, and has been a strong advocate for women in sports (especially hockey!). There are definitely a few stories in there.

And, while I’m completely against vanity license plates in most situations, McCallion definitely deserves hers:

MAYOR 1

So, let’s take this to the comments. Which famous Canadian woman needs to have a Quest biography? Who do you find fascinating.

Tell us about your book.

Memories of the Beach reveals a part of Toronto, now described as “trendy”, which hasn’t changed much in appearances in the last fifty years. The boardwalk, the sand and the lake; Beach fixtures such as the Leuty Avenue Life Saving Station, Balmy Beach Canoe Club, Nova Fish and Chip Store, the Beaches Public Library, Kew Beach skating rink, Glenmanor ravine; these were the touchstones of my early years. I recall the time when play originated in the imagination, when life on the streets was safe, when commitments were firm. My coming-of-age was influenced by the movies, music and books of the day, the lessons learned observing my relatives and my parents’ fun-loving friends, and the experience of growing up with a soul mate in a tight-knit community that time forgot. Those who were lucky enough to live at the Beach, surrounded by the same neighbours, living by the same standards, formed a bond that would last a lifetime.

How did you come up with the title?
I originally wanted to call it “On the Boardwalk” but it turned out there was another book with a title too close to that, so we settled on Memories of the Beach. The subtitle, Reflections on a Toronto Childhood was to indicate that the book had a wider scope historically and geographically than just that one district of Toronto.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?
The hardest part was to figure out what to put in and what to omit to enable me to strike a common chord with a reading audience. When your book is based upon your own life experience – which is what a memoir is – you have to “sift” though your life as to what is relevant to the reader as well as to yourself. The entire premise upon which a personal memoir is built is that it will evoke memories and emotional and rational responses in the reader, even though the situations that evoke those responses will be different from the author’s. In other words, all human experience has a universal quality to it, and it’s up to the author to focus on those to which readers can respond.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a writer?
The best advice I received is to keep on writing even when you get stalled. Worry about editing later. The important thing is to get the story out! However, an equally important step is to belong to a writing group or find a mentor or writing program to which you can submit your (weekly, monthly) work for constructive critiques by people whose writing judgment you trust!

What are you reading right now?
Three Cups of Tea, Aristotle’s Ethics on Friendship, Ann of Green Gables, and my actor-comedian-author son Harland Williams latest book, What You Don’t Know You Don’t Know.

Memories of the Beach will be available from your favourite bookseller and library in April.  Lorraine O’Donnell Williams lives in Markham, Ontario.

Starting my position, I knew there was going to be quite a bit to get familiar with: working in a completely new industry full of technical jargon to which I was completely oblivious; new responsibilities and adjusting my skills to suit the field; a new routine; new office equipment…

Perhaps the most daunting of all the “new girl adjustments” was getting familiar with Dundurn’s extensive catalogue of titles. As a publicity assistant, I am speaking to media and other individuals to hopefully garner some coverage for our books. How can you convince someone to write about a book, or interview the author, if you don’t really know anything about it? As Dundurn publishes close to 80 titles a year, you can imagine the shellshock I experienced my first few days in the office.

I focused immediately on getting up to speed with the titles I’d be working on: Combat Journal For Place D’Armes , A Great Lakes Treasury of Old Postcards, and the books that were just released under Dundurn’s new imprint, The Genealogist’s Reference Shelf . 

But far more challenging has been finding time to read all of the books that Dundurn has already or recently published that I may not be working on directly, but for which I will certainly be assisting authors with requests, attending events, or speaking to outside contacts about at tradeshows. There are a lot, and even some that I’ve wanted to read just for my own interest, and while getting settled at work it’s been hard to make doing this a priority.

This week I finally started delving into the stack of books I’ve been accumulating on my desk. With the benefit of a 45 minute commute to and from the suburbs each day, I tackled two titles from our Young Adult authors: Free As A Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber (which actually made me cry on the Go Train, no joke… the man sitting across from me must have thought I was a bit crazy) and the Silver Birch award-winning, The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan.

It’s a bit biased for me to say that I loved them both (it’s true, though!), but reading our catalogue is encouraging me to read even more of our titles, and I have a feeling that the more titles I read, the more I will plow through my stack, and in no time I will be up to speed.

There is a hidden benefit to all of this, of course. A very nerdy, “social-media lovers will understand!” hidden benefit.

I keep a Visual Bookshelf application on my Facebook profile. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s basically a feature where I can add all of the books I’ve read, and my Facebook friends can check out what I’ve been perusing. I have about 120 books (and yes, I’ve read them ALL) collected and now, as I’m reading Dundurn’s books, I can add more to my virtual shelf. The more I read, the more I can add to my shelf, and the more books I have on my virtual bookshelf, the cooler I feel.

Although I’m sure having a visual bookshelf is the very opposite of “cool”.

But while I add books to my shelf, I’m also indirectly promoting our titles. Maybe one of my friends will be interested in The Silver Anklet (which I just started) or Something Remains (which I plan to start afterwards). Maybe they’ll read it and enjoy it and pass it off to someone else to read. Maybe that person will do the same. And then that person, and the next, and so on and so on.

I still have much to read and learn about the publishing universe,  but the longer I’m at Dundurn, the more the book/PR/social media nerd in me is emerging.

Grammar is important to all of us in publishing (well, most of us in publishing). And we consider the The Chicago Manual of Style as the zenith of good grammar. Yet, it is wholly unknown to the majority of advertisers who plaster the subway system. I digress. My own advertising writing is abysmal without the help of our editors.

And so we should all turn to our editors, the assistant editors, and copywriters and say a big thank you. Thank you for being so picky, so obstinate, and such a stick in the mud, and thank them for making our words and works intelligible.

That being said please pick up a copy of our Canadian standard to good grammar. The Canadian Style will make your writing so Canadian every sentence will contain either beaver, mountie, or canoe. It will also help you spell “check” the right way, the hocky way. Unless you’re talking money and then you spell it “cheque.”

I keep it by my desk. I have as soon as I came into the office because I have bad grammar. And I will admit it today. And I will thank all of our editors: Michael Carroll, Shannon Whibbs, Allison Hirst, Cheryl Hawley, Jennifer McKnight, Nicole Chaplin, and Matt Baker.

This morning started with issues with my computer (now fixed), followed by news that Girl on the Other Side, a YA novel written by Deborah Kerbel, was, as of yesterday, shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book Award. She’s in excellent company, as the other nominees include Shane Peacock, Arthur Slade, Janet McNaughton, and Carrie Mac, amongst others. The award will be announced on June 3rd, in Edmonton. I had the distinct pleasure of contacting Deborah to inform her of her nomination (the first she’s had for one of her books).

Next came a scheduling issue with Phil Edmonston, author of the Lemon-Aid Car Guide series. Phil and I have worked together over many years so we’re a great team – I’ve asked him to do some crazy interviews (I’ll tell you the story about Phil at the Toronto Airport someday). Tomorrow he’s scheduled to talk to the Toronto Star, CBC Montreal and Goldhawk Fights Back on Zoomer radio…two on location, the third as a phoner…all within a two hour time frame. Can he do it? We’ll find out.

Advance reading copies of some fall titles just went out the door to the top ten media contacts, and now I’ve got some time to contemplate my presentation next Wednesday night for CANSCAIP (a children’s author and illustrator assocation), I’ve been invited to talk about the marketing and publicity process for children’s books…no sweat, right?  Except that I’m presenting along with Arthur Slade (on Skype)…that’s HUGE! Check in next Wednesday for a preview of my presentation!

Got any questions about how the publicity train works? Let me know and I’ll get back to you!

The first day that I started seems so long ago; yet, at the same time, the past 3 months have gone gone past in a flash (I still can’t seem to remember to write 2010).

So, for my one year post, the top 6 memorable things about my first year at Dundurn (in chronological order):

1. Mahtab Wins the Silver Birch Award

I couldn’t have asked for more fun for my first mid-day field trip. Erin and I set out in the morning to videotape the readings and awards. Despite the rain, the Harbourfront Centre was crowded and with mini book lovers. I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the kids and was jealous that I didn’t get to attend this rock concert for books when I was a young bibliophile. Mahtab’s sequel, The Silver Anklet, is out now and my fingers are crossed for another nomination next year.

2. Bookcamp

Before I had even started working here, I had signed up for Bookcamp. As I saw the description come across my twitter stream, I knew it would be my kind of heaven: “A conversation about the future of books, writing, publishing, and the book business in the digital age”. I learned so much and met so many fantastic people. I’m looking forward to this year’s event and hope to pitch a session of my own this year to share some of the things I’ve learned at Dundurn.

3. Blood and Groom Launch

One of the books I had the most fun with this year was  Blood and Groom. Jill Edmondson was so much fun to work with and I was constantly blown away by her creative ideas for promotion; both offline (tattooed flowers!) and on (I was thrilled to see her FaceBook page reach 1000 fans today!). The entire staff had a great time attending the wedding-themed launched party — and many of us were the last to leave the bar! I’m excited that Dundurn will be adding another title to the Sasha Jackson series and I’m already looking forward to seeing how Jill will top the last book!

4. Chocolate Fountain!

Dundurn had a hugely successful Christmas party this year with lots to celebrate. We had a great year with lots of wonderful books and authors. Our amazing publicist Karen arranged for some yummy food and wine, and our offices were so packed with people that it was hard to move. Our chocolate fountain was discussed all afternoon on twitter, with the (embarassingly mispelled) hashtag #chocolatefountainmagesty trending in Toronto publishing circles. Also, I had a lot to celebrate personally, having just received a promotion from Web Marketer to Manager of Digital Development.

5. KIRBC

Like most people, I wanted to get into publishing because I was in love with books. And the books are great — I think my collection has doubled over this past year. But if I were to say the best part of my job today, instead of the books my answer would be the community. Everyone is so open, so friendly, and so smart. The publishing community is close-knit in Toronto and between book launches, conferences, YPC nights, and BPPA we all see a lot of each other. Through some new publishing besties, I was invited to join the Keepin’ It Real Book Club, which is always the highlight of my month.

6. Tools of Change in New York City

Most would love a trip to New York but there are few who are even more excited to spend 3 days in the Mariott Hotel discussing XML, eISBNs, ePub, and untangling eBook contracts. Falling in the second camp, I am definitely in the right job. I came back from NYC with lots of great ideas and I can’t wait to get started and make this year even better than the last.

How did you come up with the idea for this work?

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your book.
Although about microcredit, my book is also a glimpse into the Indian side of an unsung Third World Women’s Movement of grassroots women working for a more egalitarian and flourishing world. Women I met were, for example stopping child labour and child marriage, in one case by forming a village youth group that young couples had to consult before their wedding could take place. Under the NGO Gram Abhyudaya Mandali, cooperatives of Dalit women were running a sand contract and getting ready to launch a full-fledged dairy. High-caste male bureaucrats, goons and rival contractors tried to destroy them but the women came up with brilliant solutions to outfox their adversaries, made money, and showed that they were first-rate entrepreneurs that could overcome.

Preserving their community during a political crisis was the work of poor Muslim women in a handicraft cooperative under an organization called Confederation of Voluntary Associations providing microcredit to the poor in Hyderabad. In full burqas, the women formed a chain to stop a potential riot provoked by Hindu police against their husbands and sons after Friday prayers at a mosque in the Muslim quarter of the old city of Hyderabad.

How did you research your book?
During four trips to India I knocked around Indian villages and city slums mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat where I met poor but dynamic women taking microcredit loans for small businesses. To witness their lives up close, I sometimes lived with them in their huts. Feisty and fun to be with, many joined cooperatives that burst into the mainstream economy by starting a dairy and creating cutting-edge ventures in construction and embroidery. Not content to be left behind, street vendors in the Self Employed Women’s Association were setting up malls in the city of Ahmedabad and selling highly-valued organic produce to an up-scale market.

In your own work, which character are you most attached to and why?
Puriben is an illiterate women who was starving in the desert with her husband and family because of no work on the land due to drought and natural disasters. Under the Self Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat she became a “barefoot manager” and village leader organizing production of first-class hand-embroidered merchandise now selling on Indian and world markets. A born activist, she fought and won against male elders in her village who at first tried to stop her and her team of artisans from travelling outside the village to sell their embroidered clothes. Later, when the municipality failed to provide water to her village, she made them deliver after she led 200 women balancing empty clay pots on their heads on a 70-kilometre protest march from her village to the municipal water board. To show-case her embroidery skills, on behalf of her company, Puriben made regular sales trips to Delhi and cities in the West. But she was never seduced by the attractions of the urban consumer society and continued to value community life in her small Indian village of Vauva.

Describe the most memorable response you’ve received from a reader.
The most memorable response about my book came from the leader of one of the major organizations I profiled in my book. When he read the chapters that involved the women in his NGO, he said: “You have made literature out of the lives of the women.”

Saris on Scooters will be available in April.  Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos lives in Montreal.

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?
Yes—anyone curious enough about their roots to ask questions about ancestors; anyone who started dabbling with the family tree in a child’s birth book; anyone turned on by the flurry of ancestor-related TV programs; anyone who thinks the Internet holds all the answers; anyone who collects family names and information without benefit of communication and exchanges with like-minded groups; anyone already deep into it, seeking guidance for checks and measures of their progress. In other words, anyone who becomes captivated, perhaps not realizing there are guidelines and standards for satisfactory work. Serious family historians will want to do their best, stretching themselves regarding research and writing, to create a tangible, lasting testament.

Describe your ideal writing environment.
No noise, no phone, no emails, no doorbell, no food; just long coffee-fueled hours, me and my computer!

What was your first publication?
The Ontario Genealogical Society first published Genealogy in Ontario in 1984 when it was 64 pages. The book has evolved through four editions up to 2008 with 332 pages. Some colleagues refer to “GIO” as the bible for ancestry research in Upper Canada/Canada West/Ontario. The sales reached 5,000 many years ago.

What are you reading now?
I try to diversify a bit from genealogical journals and magazines, and my love of crime novels:
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
After the Falls by Catherine Gildner
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

Genealogical Standards of Evidence, part of the Genealogist’s Reference Shelf is available now.  Brenda Dougall Merriman lives in Toronto.

The highlight of my week was getting to assist one of our authors as he came to our city for a speaking event. Glenn Dixon, author of Pilgrim In the Palace of Words, flew in from Calgary to participate in the Ben McNally Traveller’s Series event as part of Authors at Harbourfront Centre this past Wednesday night. My responsibility while Glenn was in town was to make sure he arrived at his arranged destinations while in the city and handle any last minute shifts in his schedule that may arise.

I’ve been looking forward to Glenn’s visit since I started at Dundurn about a month ago. Glenn’s was the first book I read after I accepted my new position and began to familiarize myself with our catalogue. I’m sure my views are a tad biased, but it’s a fabulous book that I really enjoyed reading (in fact, I enjoyed it so much that I’ve read it twice!). When I heard that I would be the “go-to” person for Glenn’s visit, I was excited to meet the man behind the incredible stories, and a little nervous to handle my first author visit, too.

With the week all over with, I must highlight two of the best parts:

First, the event itself was fabulous. Glenn was paired with two other travel writers, all of whom offered entertaining, humourous, insightful snapshots of their worldly experiences and their published works. They were each so different, but perfect complements to one another; each with a different focus but all a common idea – seeing the world and learning more about themselves.

Second (and this is the PR nerd in me coming out), I was able to escort Glenn on Thursday morning to CityTV where he appeared on Breakfast Television for a live interview about his book. Having never been to Breakfast Television as a guest, audience member, or publicist, it was both an invaluable learning experience as a newbie communications professional and an amazing opportunity for Glenn and his book. The interview went really well – and not just in my opinion! A few family and friends heard I would be escorting an author to the show and tuned in that morning, all to rave reviews.

It was both wonderful to spend last week learning more about one of our authors while also proving to myself that although I may be fresh meat in the publishing world, perhaps I’ll be able to handle the type of events that will come my way.

How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.
Genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies in Canada.  It is  a hobby that attracts people with a keen interest in history, which has always been one of my interests.  It is a hobby which tends to bring people to libraries and, as a professor of library and information science, as well as a law professor, I am naturally drawn to an area that involves supporting library use.  However, from a legal perspective, it appears that the law is evolving in Canada in ways that increasingly can impinge upon the genealogist.  The genealogist is naturally curious about other people.  Privacy and personal data protection law increasingly tends to block one from access to information about other people.  Thus we have a growing group of people engaged in information work and supporting information-centred institutions and yet laws related to information seem to increasingly discourage those involved in this hobby.  In this book, I have set out the law that creates this paradox.  If those involved in genealogy agree with my observation that this is a paradox, they may wish to speak to governments about it.

Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote your book?
Over several years I was invited to speak  branches of the Ontario Genealogical Society in many parts of the province.  I was also invited to write a series of four articles for the Families journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society which were published in 2007.  However, it is not always easy to get to a talk or find a given journal article when you want it and so, when it was suggested that this book might be helpful, I saw the project as a chance to expand and update the information I had previously provided in the Families articles and make the information more readily available to genealogists working in Canada.

How did you research your book?
I have been supported in my research over the years by a number of grants, including grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  I have worked with issues involving copyright, moral rights, other aspects of intellectual property, personal data protection, professionalism and professional ethics, and so on, from many different perspectives.  However, becoming acquainted with the information needs of genealogists provided me with a insight into the unique perspective of the genealogist and this allowed me to bring together a number of otherwise disparate threads of research.

What is your next project?
I am involved in leading a project which seeks to explore ways of bringing accurate legal information (particularly information about intellectual property and other information law problems) through trained and supervised law students in Canadian law schools to those in situations where it is not practical to seek legal advice directly from practicing lawyers.  This work is funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario.  I am also working with the Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership at The University of Western Ontario on questions involving the legal regulation of information in the context of health.

Genealogy and the Law in Canada, part of the Genealogist’s Reference Shelf, will be releasing next week.  Margaret Anne Wilkinson lives in London, Ontario.