Alice Munro and the 2013 Canadian Booksellers Association Awards

Writing Life: 7

Somehow over the years, I seemed to have stumbled into a recurring role as Master of Ceremonies at various events. It may well have started in my university days when I was heavily involved in student politics. One year I was Speaker of the Student Representative Assembly (SRA). In other words, I was essentially the “emcee” of each SRA meeting, ruling on procedural challenges and generally keeping the meetings running smoothly—I wasn’t always successful. That same year, 1981, I also chaired the annual conference of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario held at McMaster.

I’m on the left chairing the opening plenary of the CFS-O conference at McMaster in 1981.

This led to several gigs as emcee of various weddings of friends and family. Having a sense of humour helped. In my professional life, I also emceed a few Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) Digital Dialogue conferences in Toronto, among many other events over the years.

Hosting the annual OMDC Digital Dialogue conference. Yes, I know, that is one big forehead.

This apparent affinity for keeping the trains running on time at various events continues to this day. Earlier this month, I again served as emcee for the annual Meet the Authors event as part of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour gala weekend.

A less than flattering shot of me last Friday evening emceeing the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour Meet the Authors night.

At any rate, back to the point of this post. In 2013, the Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) invited me to emcee their annual dinner and awards night at the Toronto Congress Centre out near the airport. (Unfortunately, the CBA and these awards are no longer around in the same form.) Needless to say, I was honoured and agreed.

A few weeks before the June event, the CBA unveiled their Libris award nominees in multiple categories. As I perused the nominations, I was shocked to come across my own name up for Author of the Year. I looked back in my blog archives and discovered the criteria. The award is given annually to a:

“Canadian author of an outstanding literary work published in the previous year that makes a significant contribution to Canadian culture. The work must combine readability with strong sales. The author should be one who has offered strong support to the bookselling industry.”

I suspect I snuck onto the list more for the last criterion than for the first two. My third novel, Up and Down (read about the novel’s backstory here) was published in 2012 and I’d been quite busy giving book talks throughout the year, 130 engagements to be precise. And at most of them, I’d invited a local independent bookseller to attend to, yes, sell books. So I’d managed to build strong relationships with independent booksellers across the province and in some cases, the country, which may have helped elevate my profile among those booksellers voting for these awards.

Quill and Quire’s reporting on the Libris Award nominations for just the first two categories.

The others nominated for Author of the Year were my pal, three-time Leacock Medal winner, Will Ferguson, Nancy Richler, and the grande dame of Canadian literature, Alice Munro. When I saw who else was up for the award, I thought to myself, “well, at least it was nice to be nominated.”

The event was quite the affair with a big stage, video screens, and music. The dinner beforehand was wonderful, too, particularly since I was seated next to Alice Munro and my editor, Douglas Gibson—Doug was Alice Munro’s editor, too. As you might expect, she was lovely and kind as I tried to form complete sentences and avoid any messy mishaps in my fork’s journey from plate to mouth.

Alice Munro was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement award.

(L-R) Yours truly, CBA president and good friend, Mark Lefebvre, Alice Munro holding her Lifetime Achievement Award, and my editor for my first six novels, Doug Gibson.

As for my emceeing duties, it all seemed to go reasonably well without too many glitches. I spent a good part of the night shuttling from backstage to the podium, introducing each award and the resepctive presenters. When it came time for the Author of the Year category, I was quite happily backstage as reigning CBA President, Mark Lefebvre took the stage to rip open the envelope (yes, they actually do the whole “…and the winner is…” routine accompanied by dramatic music) and announce the lucky name.

I was fully expecting to hear one of the other stellar writers’ called up to receive the award, when Mark distinctly announced my name. It took me a moment to find my jaw on the floor—it was quite dark backstage—before I wobbled back onto the stage. I thanked the many independent booksellers with whom I’d worked over the preceding years, paid tribute to my wonderful McClelland & Stewart publicist at the time, Frances Bedford and my literary agent, Beverley Slopen. Then I offered my deep gratitude to my editor and friend, the incomparable Douglas Gibson. Finally, I closed by saying that there had never been a more grateful recipient of this honour—which was the unvarnished truth. Then gathering myself, I switched back into emcee mode with my knees still knocking, noted that we were “now returning to our regularly scheduled programming,” and introduced the next award. Well, the show must go on!

Then I darted backstage to hyperventilate until I had to return to the microphone once again to welcome the next presenter and generally keep the show running on the rails. Believe me, I was very thankful for the distraction of my emcee duties. As I said in my closing remarks that night, “when I think back, years from now, on the 2013 CBA Libris Awards, I suspect I’ll remember very little about my duties as emcee.” And that is certainly true.

Quill & Quire reports on the 2013 Libris Award results.

What I’ll likely remember even more vividly that night was having dinner next to CanLit royalty, Alice Munro. Later that year, Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Libris Award for Author of the Year sitting in our library where I write.

That’s enough fond—even self-indulgent—reminiscing for this week. Stay tuned for another post in seven days. Here’s hoping you’ll subscribe if you haven’t already. Thanks, all.