Posted by: Cassandra Sadek - Marketing Manager, Digital Specialist, Random House of Canada

Have you ever taken a cooking class? It’s something that I would totally love to do some day - when I’m not working, reading, chasing a toddler, etc.

My super brilliant colleague Sheila Kay dropped off Bonnie Stern’s School of Cooking brochure for Winter 2010 this morning, and what to our wondering eyes should appear? A Winterlicious - Julialicious class! We thought this was so fun:

If you loved the film Julie & Julia, you must have been inspired to head right home, don your pearls and prepare Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon. After taking this delicious class, you’ll be ready to do just that, as well as create other dishes for which Julia was famous.

Take home gifts include a copy of Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France and a pound of Gay Lea butter.

Instructor: Bonnie Stern
Dates & Times: Thurs, Feb 4/10, 6:30pm to 9pm
Or Sat, Feb 6/10, 11:30am to 2pm
Or Mon, Feb 8/10, 6:30pm to 9pm
Fee: $99

Visit BonnieStern.com for more details, and bon appétit!

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - National Accounts Marketing Manager, Random House of Canada

In my work in national accounts marketing, I help organize and attend tons of author events - especially at this time of year. I was thrilled to finally meet tennis great Andre Agassi who was in town last week promoting his new book Open. I have been raving about him since the summer, and now you can see what I was prattling on about.

Also a lot of fun to meet, and proudly Canadian, was Paul Shaffer who was in Toronto to promote his book We’ll be Here for the Rest of Our Lives. I loved all the musical connections this man possesses and he shared his newfound knowledge with anyone at the office who would listen.


I had the pleasure of being in Ottawa with Anne Murray earlier this week for her last event as part of her book tour in the Nation’s Capital and the place I call home. Over six hundred people came out to show their love for Canada’s first lady of song. She signed copies of her autobiography, All Of Me, and took pictures.


You’d never guess it was the last event of a fifteen city tour! That woman has more energy than I do!

From the event trail,
Jennifer

Posted by: Sheila Kay - Deputy Director, Publicity, Random House Canada

The date, Monday June 2nd, had been set MONTHS beforehand. The media schedule was, I thought, a model of balance and maximum coverage for maximum impact. (We publicists all dream of having the celebrity author to book media for, because it’s so “easy”, but in truth, in the end you make 5 or 6 people very very happy, and piss off a legion of others.)

The day had been planned to be respectful of how hard she’s worked to promote her book in the past month—just the previous Friday, she’d woken in Milwaukee, flown to Los Angeles to appear at Book Expo America (THE trade show for the publishing world)— signed books for an hour, attended one cocktail party, one dinner party and then caught the red eye back to New York!

So, wheels down 9:30 am— five interviews, and pre-sign books for evening event; with a lunch break, and another short end of day break before her evening event and flight home.

Well. After the second morning interview, Ms. Walters comments that there’s a long-ish lunch break - “let’s go somewhere for lunch—I almost never get to leave the hotel for lunch.” Ok—what would you like? It’s a gorgeous day—a patio, please, on a side street. We’re at the Soho Met, so Le Select is perfect. What a bonus—instead of just hustling her from one interview to next, here I am sitting with Barbara Walters on the first truly gorgeous day, having lunch on a patio.

Back to hotel to pre-sign books for Winter Garden event—Mike and Jennifer have a crew there to flap, open, slide, pull, box the books—it’s a well oiled machine. She’s asked where all she’s been on tour, what’s next, etc., and she answers “I can’t write and talk”. So we sort of chat around her. She finishes signing and says “Now I can tell you that I’ve been to 12 cities (rhymes them off, in order—I have the master schedule), and that I have to fly home tonight because I’m back on the View tomorrow for the first time in a month!”

After her last interview she decides she doesn’t need a rest before the event—let’s find another nice patio, have a small bite and a lovely coffee. Which we do, arriving at venue on time. The Winter Garden is sold out to the rafters, and word is that people are scalping tickets out front for $100!! She chats backstage with Heather Reisman, and then onstage with Heather Reisman, charming Heather and the audience.

The signing line after is incredible. So many women who get verklempt, saying they are in journalism because of her! Many people, aware that she has to leave, have bought presigned books, but still got in line for the chance to shake her hand!

She’s out the door at 9:15 pm, and in the air by 10 pm. And on The View the next morning at 11 am. And I am so glad I only had to try and keep up with her for 12-1/2 hrs—she is truly amazing!

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - Marketing Manager, National Accounts

What do you get when you bring a former Prime Minister and Rick Mercer together?

Good laughs is what you get! I was fortunate enough to be in Ottawa the day Rick Mercer taped a segment with the Right Honorable Jean Chrétien that appeared on his show this past Tuesday. As a HUGE fan of the Rick Mercer Report it was a thrill to see how his skits for the show come together behind the scenes. I was at the bookstore in downtown Ottawa where they prepared the pump jack that the Prime Minister was to pull and the table where the “sign off” would occur. The two of them seemed to be having a great time putting these skits together. Of course regular folks in the store who had come to shop were quite surprised to see Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Mercer just “hanging out” at a bookstore. Many pictures were taken and more books signed. The end result for the television show was fabulous. And of course, no Random House authors were hurt in the making of this production!

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - Marketing Manager, National Accounts

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a signing with Bret Hart at Chapters Pointe Claire for his book Hitman. What a fabulous time it was with over three hundred people coming ranging in age from three to thirty-three coming out to see their favourite wrestler. Some die hard fans had been waiting outside the store from 6:30am in the rain. People brought books, belts, magazines and DVDs. Bret was a pro and shook hands, signed books and took pictures with any one and every one who wanted one. On the way to the airport I asked him if he ever tired of the attention and he said that the fans were what made everything worthwhile. So I guess what they say is true: “Bret Hart is the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be.”

Bret “The Hitman” Hart ready to sign!

Bret and me!

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - Marketing Manager, National Accounts

Alan Alda made his only Canadian appearance last week in Toronto to promote his new book Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself. I dutifully listened to his audiobook on the six hour trip back from Montreal. Note to self: don’t drive and listen to Alan’s book on audio. He had me in stitches so many times I thought I would drive off the road. More than that, his stories were poignant and thought provoking as he struggled to answer the questions: What is a good life? What do I value?. A story that he shared about his childhood pets had me sobbing at the wheel. When we finally met, Alan Alda was everything I thought he would be: charming and gracious. And that’s exactly what he was to the crowd of 300 people that came out to see him. I had such a great time meeting him and can’t wait for his next book. But that one I’ll be reading from the safety of my sofa!

Posted by: Marion Garner - Publisher, Vintage Canada

My Wedding Dress is a book that really took me, and my colleagues, by surprise. When the proposal came in I fully expected a book about frills and flowers and romanticizing the idea of weddings. In short, not my cup of tea at all. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was full of intimate stories of women’s lives and loves, struggles and victories about their 1st, 2nd marriages, multicultural weddings, religious and secular, and dresses both worn and unworn. Even our male colleagues were won over by the breadth and depth of appeal.

The seed for this book was planted when co-editor Susie Whelehan started using this idea in writing groups she belonged to. She found that the words “Write about your wedding dress for 20 minutes-GO!” resulted in the most rich, personal accounts. Women loved writing and talking about their wedding experiences and even women who never married had a story about a dress, a family or a friend. Co-editor Anne Laurel Carter was in one of the writing groups and spurred on Susie’s idea to create a book of memoirs. So the original book proposal came in with 7 stories from around the writing table and 6 of them are in the final book.

Using the winning Dropped Threads formula, we worked to expand on the original 6, we strived to get a broad representation of women across Canada, and the book’s voices range from one coast to the other - there’s even a contribution from an Irish writer who lived in Canada for a time. Of the 26 writers in the collection, you will recognize some, and others will be fresh new voices to discover.

As the book goes out into the world in January 2007, we hope it will capture the hearts and imaginations of women from age 20 to 80!