Everyone at McClelland & Stewart and Random House of Canada was thrilled to find out that author Judy Fong Bates’ memoir, Midnight at the Dragon Café was to be the Toronto Public Library’s pick for 2011’s “One Book” campaign, a city-wide book club, run by the TPL, that invites all Torontonians to read the same book and then come together to discuss it at events across the city in April.

Midnight at the Dragon Café tells the story of a young Chinese girl growing up in small town Ontario, where her family owns the lone Chinese restaurant.

I was Judy’s publicist last year, helping to get the word out about her most recent book, The Year of Finding Memory, a memoir about Judy’s quest to understand remarkable and terrible truths about her parents’ past lives (available March 29 in paperback). Judy is a wonderful self-promoter - smart, warm, outgoing and a hard worker - all qualities a publicist loves in an author, so it’s always great to see her books get the recognition they deserve.

The TPL (the world’s busiest urban public library system) launched this year’s program with a splash - teams of celebrities, got up early on Monday, February 28 to hand out books along the route of a specially wrapped “One Book” Queen streetcar, traveling westbound on the late morning commute.

The launch included CBC Radio’s Laura Di Battista and Matt Galloway, The Toronto Star’s Richard Ouzounian, Geoff Pevere and Catherine Porter and Dwight Drummond and Anne-Marie Mediwake, hosts of CBC News Toronto.

A hugely creative and fun way to get the word out!

What an amazing couple of weeks it’s been since The Best Laid Plans was somehow crowned the 2011 Canada Reads winner. I’m still reeling from the news and don’t expect to touch back down for some time yet.

In the aftermath of Canada Reads, one of the comments I’ve often heard usually goes something like this:

“You must have had so much faith and belief in your book back in 2007 to podcast it and self-publish it, even when agents and publishers didn’t seem interested. You must have known people would like the novel if you could just get it into their hands.”

Well, I hate to burst that bubble, but the idea to podcast The Best Laid Plans had little to do with any confidence I had in the story. Quite the opposite, in fact. When I finished the manuscript, I honestly had no idea whether I’d written anything worthy of anyone’s time. I really didn’t know. When you labour over a manuscript for months, virtually immerse yourself in it, your perspective and judgement on what you’ve written can abandon you. Mine certainly did. Podcasting was simply a way to get a sense of whether people liked it. In short, I podcast The Best Laid Plans not because I believed in it, but rather because I didn’t yet. It was only after I received so much encouraging feedback from listeners that I felt comfortable moving ahead with the self-publishing process. I now understand, and am grateful, that many readers seemed to enjoy The Best Laid Plans, but I certainly didn’t know or expect that back in 2007. That just makes the events of the past month that much more surreal and gratifying. MORE…

We are delighted to announce that Knopf Canada has acquired the long-awaited new novel from the Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jeffrey Eugenides. The Marriage Plot will be published in October 2011.

Louise Dennys, Executive Publisher of the Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group said, “Readers will love this spectacular novel. Set in the early ‘80s about a generation beginning to grow up, it is a triangular love story that is as surprising, illuminating, entertaining and humane as one could hope for from the author of the beloved Middlesex. With wit, irony and an abiding understanding and love for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides has created a story so contemporary that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.”

Jeffrey Eugenides’ second novel, Middlesex was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Medicis, and has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. It was also an Oprah Pick.

We are also very pleased to announce that Jeffrey Eugenides’ now classic novel The Virgin Suicides (made into a haunting film by Sofia Coppola) will join Middlesex on the Vintage Canada list in October 2011. A brilliant, funny, and heartbreaking novel about the vicissitudes of young love, it has for years had a devoted fan base of readers, and we will be giving it full publication in Canada for the first time. The e-book of Middlesex will also become available in Canada at the same time from Random House of Canada.

We made an exciting announcement at the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario yesterday! Canadian libraries, schools, and colleges will soon have access to thousands of eBooks from Random House of Canada and McClelland & Stewart through OverDrive. Libraries will be able to offer their customers digital books from award-winning authors including Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Judy Fong Bates, and Vincent Lam, as well as international best-selling authors such as P.D. James and Salman Rushdie. To see if your public library is a member of the OverDrive network, visit http://search.overdrive.com.

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British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction - Canada’s largest non-fiction prize - was awarded in Vancouver yesterday to John Vaillant for his book, The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. The jury cited The Tiger as as “a page-turner that in the end brings us to understand the tiger, probably the most intelligent super-predator in the world. Superbly written and highly enlightening, this is a gripping story about man in conflict with nature.”

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Christian Lander came to Toronto for media for his very funny new book Whiter Shades of Pale. I’d worked with him on his first book, Stuff White People Like, and since Toronto is Christian’s hometown, we’ve worked together often. He’s as smart and funny as his books, so the media schedule was very good - two full days of interviews, events and bookstore visits.

Anyway, he flew into Toronto from New York in the morning on a Wednesday, one of the busiest travel days of the year due to the impending holidays, which was made even busier with the introduction of the infamous body patdowns (don’t touch my junk) or full body scans. MORE…

These are exciting times in the world of eBooks! It’s hard to find a top 10 gift list that doesn’t include an eReader, so there’s no doubt that the iPad, Kobo, Kindle and Sony Reader will be hot gifts this holiday season. In celebration of this digital explosion, we’ve launched www.eReads.ca, a brand new website to help you find the bestselling books you will want to read.

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Driving to Fredericton, I had a smile on my face despite that fact that we’d been caught without winter tires in the season’s first snow storm. We’d just returned from a holiday in the tropics, and the world had changed from a place of flaming sunsets, turquoise waters, and yellow hibiscus to a dark world of spinning flakes.

Yet I was filled with delight. That night, I would receive the Lieutenant Governors Award for Excellence in English Language Arts. We passed Old Government House, stately amidst snow-covered lawns, and went to a nearby hotel. Our son and his family soon arrived and checked into the room next to ours. I changed into a jacket appliquéd with gold, scarlet, and pink roses. The men tweaked ties, we women applied lipstick, and together we went down to the dining room. Here we met the other award winners - Calixte Duguay for music, Chantal Cadieux for dance. We ate quietly, without fanfare, as if surrounded by a large family. The room was warm, intimate with low lights. MORE…

We couldn’t be more thrilled with the Canada Reads big reveal!

CNN correspondent Ali Velshi announced that he would defend Terry Fallis’ The Best Laid Plans!

“This is a funny book that could only have been written by someone with firsthand knowledge of politics in Canada, including its occasionally absurd side. This is a great read for anyone thinking of running for office, and especially reassuring for those who have decided not to” - The Hon. Allan Rock, former Justice Minister and Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations

Corner Gas star Lorne Cardinal announced that he will defend Carol Sheild’s Unless!

“Unless” is a signal word, curious, a warning and a sign. As this is a signal novel, profound and resonant, written with the virtuosity and understated brilliance that is distinctive to Carol Shields. Quite simply, Unless is a masterpiece. Brava! Brava!” — The Ottawa Citizen

Decorating guru Debbie Travis announced that she will defend Ami McKay’s The Birth House!

“From the beginning of Ami McKay’s debut novel, The Birth House, we know we’re in for a bit of magic…. The Birth House is compelling and lively, beautifully conjuring a close-knit community and reminding us, as Dora notes, that the miracle happens not in birth but in the love that follows.”

—The Globe and Mail

We were also pleased to hear that Essex County by Jeff Lemire will be championed by Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara. Athlete and activist Georges Laroque chose The Bone Cage to round out the top 5. You can follow all the Canada Reads action on CBC.ca

We can’t wait for the debates to air in March. Happy reading, Canada!