Me with Natasha Lobanova, Yakovlev's grand-daughter, who lived with Yakovlev during much of his time as Ambassador to Canada. Lobanova was an enormous help to my research.
(Above and below) Signing your own book feels a little odd the first couple of times you do it. Then the trick is managing to hold a conversation with the person who is nice enough to ask you for a signature, while also figuring out a warm message to scrawl—or at least something that makes sense. I manage this trick maybe 50% of the time.
Natalie and I outside the University Club, after the dinner.
So The Soviet Ambassador officially went on sale on Tuesday and the last couple of days have been a heck of a lot more fun than I anticipated. It started on Sunday night with CBC Newsworld anchor Brian Stewart's remarkably insightful half-hour documentary about my book on Yakovlev -- he hit on all the important themes, in a manner both accurate and concise. As we watched the show, Myron kept pointing at the TV screen and saying, "Daddy, daddy." I think he was proud of me.
Next was Tuesday's dinner lecture at the University Club. We arrived just after six and the pre-dinner cocktails seemed like a maelstrom of introductions and handshakes. Natasha Lobanova, Yakovlev's grand-daughter, who lives outside Toronto, attended with her daughter, Anna. I also met a diplomat-turned-U-of-Toronto-prof, Doug Wright, who knew Yakovlev. Dinner was rack of lamb (very tasty) and then the speakers started.
Doug Pepper introduced George Cohon, who in turn introduced me. Cohon's introduction was a remarkable reminiscence of his relationship with Yakovlev. He started off describing meeting Yakovlev in 1976, then mapped out the ups and downs of Cohon's eventually successful quest to open the first McDonald's behind the Iron Curtain. He summed up by describing the role of mentor and consigliere that Yakovlev played throughout Cohon's 14-year quest. What especially came through during Cohon's talk was the warmth of Yakovlev's personality. Once he got to me he graciously talked about the fact that both Cohon and I (as well as Cohon's wife, Susan) are graduates of Northwestern University. Then it was my turn.
My nerves weren't as bad as I had feared. I started with a couple of conversational anecdotes -- one about how Cohon helped in the early days of my book research, another about the friendship that has developed between Natasha and I as I researched the book. From there it was onto my thesis, which argues that because Yakovlev over the course of his life evolved from a communist supporter of a totalitarian dictatorship into an enthusiastic advocate of freedom and democracy, his life forms a case study we can examine to discover clues about how to create other Yakovlevs inside other totalitarian groups -- the Taliban, Myanmar, North Korea, for example. So what worked for Yakovlev? I argue that what worked was the prototypically Canadian approach used by such figures as Trudeau, Cohon and Eugene Whelan during Yakovlev's 10 years in Canada as the Soviet ambassador. The Canadians engaged him in a non-judgmental, open and friendly manner that encouraged Yakovlev to learn by our example of stable democracy. Basically the speech amounts to an argument about the power of a prototypically Canadian approach to diplomacy.
There was more public speaking at the Pravda book launch on Wednesday night. Maybe 20 people were already in there when we arrived and the club's upstairs grew steadily more packed until it topped out at maybe 120 people -- far more people than I expected. It's good to have supportive friends and family, and I was impressed to discover that some attendees didn't have any personal connection to me; they came because they were interested in the book. Attendees you might know: Anne McDermid and Martha Magor (my agents), Chris Bucci (the book's editor), Andrew Westoll, Robert Wright, Linda McQuaig, Alex Shprintsen, Ben Kaplan, Jose Lourenco, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, Chris Nuttall-Smith. A great turnout.
This time McClelland & Stewart's associate publisher, Susan Renouf, introduced me -- she's also Farley Mowat's longtime editor, which makes her 20% cooler. Pravda has an elevated area at the back where we were going to do our speaking, except it wasn't elevated enough -- no one would have seen Susan. So we ended up standing on the bar at the front. Susan was really kind with her introduction, and then I whizzed through a five-minute description about why people who aren't interested in Soviet history still should read the book -- it's a parable about diplomacy, and what works in ending conflict, regardless of whether the conflict is between people, between nations, or between businesses. It could be about anything, in other words. It's also a really good story.
After, a bunch of us went out to dinner. Pretty swanky. Jeremy Busch, Mike Koen, Rob Bose and my brother, Mark, picked up the tab. Thanks boys. I really do have nice friends. Next up is the airing of a segment I taped for the Michael Coren Show, the public affairs roundtable, and next week there's a segment on Business News Network that will see Amanda Lang interview Cohon and I about Yakovlev. That should be a tonne of fun. Sunday I'm playing in the Media vs. Musicians soccer game at BMO Field for the NXNE music festival. Then a speaking thing at Nicholas Hoare Books' afternoon tea at the King Edward hotel. I'm also presenting the non-fiction book of the year at the CBA Libris Awards Sunday night. Next week I'll get back to Ottawa, and then I round out this little spate of publicity with a weekend in Windsor. Then things should calm down -- and I'll be able to return to working on the proposal for my second book.
Finally, a non-book-launch shot of Myron, not quite Tony Hawk, but possibly on his way.
it's been a great day!*
Posted by: coach bags | November 10, 2010 at 01:52 AM