Tag: Atlantic Book Awards

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The Atlantic Book Awards Experience

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On May 14, I flew to Halifax for the Atlantic Book Awards. My novel, Braco, was nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. The award went to Keir Lowther for Dirty Bird.

Am I disappointed? Not at all. How could I be? To be one of three nominated for the award throughout Atlantic Canada is an amazing accomplishment for any first time novelist. From the moment I learned that Braco had been nominated, I felt the nomination itself was a prize and I’m honoured and very happy to have it. And the best part was the opportunity to go to Halifax and introduce Braco to people who otherwise may not have known about the book. Continue reading “The Atlantic Book Awards Experience” →

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Finishing up my Blog Tour with Valerie Francis

lesleyanne7 Comments

I’m in Halifax now awaiting the Atlantic Book Award ceremony tomorrow abanight. Tonight, I’ll be joining the other two authors nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award as well as three established authors for readings and a Q&A. The event takes place at the Keshen Goodman Library in Halifax starting at 7 pm. Should be a great evening.

Today, we come to the end of my five week blog tour. I’ve been honored to have been hosted by Kate Robbins, Paul Butler, Michelle Butler Hallett and Rati Mehrotra up to now and today we finish up the tour with Valerie Francis. Continue reading “Finishing up my Blog Tour with Valerie Francis” →

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The Blog Tour Experience

lesleyanne7 Comments

I’m halfway through my blog tour and I have to admit, it has been a great experience and a great way to celebrate Braco‘s nomination for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. The idea was first discussed in the writer’s group that I joined this past abaFebruary. Two members, Kate Robbins and Valerie Francis, already had a well established web presence and were very familiar with the concept of the blog tour.

And yes, they had to explain it to me.

My first thought was that it would be a monster to put together, but Kate held my hand and the tour got off to a great start with her post on April 17th. Valerie and Rati Mehrotra volunteered to take a week and they encouraged me to approach novelists Paul Butler and Michelle Butler-Hallett to do the other two weeks. I was thrilled when they agreed to host. Continue reading “The Blog Tour Experience” →

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The Book Club Experience

lesleyanne10 Comments

If you’re part of a book club, I imagine it must be pretty thrilling to have the author show up to answer some questions.Braco

As an author, I can tell you, it’s exhilarating to be invited to a book club to answer questions. Unlike readings or book fairs where I’m trying to sell the book to people who often know little or nothing about it, the book club is completely different. I don’t have to sell anything. They’re already sold.

Recently, I had my second opportunity to meet with a book club. Two members of my writing group, Kate Robbins and Melanie Martin, belong to this club and Melanie picked the book. They got together at 7 pm for a discussion and I showed up at 8:30 to an enthusiastic crowd of six from varied backgrounds including a nurse, a former reporter, a sister of two soldiers/peacekeepers and a historian. Continue reading “The Book Club Experience” →

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Braco Blog Tour

lesleyanne7 Comments

A few weeks ago, my debut novel Braco abawas nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. I was thrilled to learn of the nomination and plan to be in Halifax on May 16th when the winner is announced at the Atlantic Book Awards.

As Braco is a deeply personal story to me, I’m grateful others have connected with Atif’s story as well. I’m fortunate in that I’m surrounded by an incredibly supportive writing community and wish I could take them with me. As such, they’re giving me a pretty impressive send off.

In the time running up to the awards, some local writers have been kind enough to host me on a blog tour. My very first! What a strange new world we’ve embarked on. The tour will give you an opportunity to learn more about myself and my novel, and at the end, I will have two signed copies of Braco to give away. We will ask a question at the last stop on May 15th and draw for the two winners from a hat. The answer will be found in one of the tour posts.

The blog schedule is as follows:

17 April 2013 – Kate Robbins

24 April 2013 – Paul Butler

1 May 2013 – Michelle Butler-Hallett

8 May 2013 – Rati Mehrotra

15 May 2013 – Valerie Francis

This is all new to me and I’m excited to see it all come together. A heartfelt thanks goes out to the bloggers who will host me and I hope you can join us.