After a very successful inaugural reading and launch party in San Francisco, it was time to take Wander the Rainbow on the road – and north of the border – to my native hometown, Montreal.

Following a weekend of family events, I paid a visit to Bibliophile, a compact indie bookstore tucked into Montreal’s West End, for a reading & signing event replete with white wine, San Pellegrino, and Belgian chocolates – most fitting considering the subject matter!

In addition to my entire immediate family – all together in town for the first time in years – the event was attended by a respectable number of Montreal’s English-speaking community… including, among others, a young local librarian who seemed most curious about this city’s native-son-turned-world-traveler-turned-indie-author.

I read some selections from the book that had been well received at previous events, but mixed it up a little for World Cup season by including portions of my chapter on Cape Town, South Africa. It’s been nice to see locales I’d visited almost two years back receiving their fifteen minutes of fame on the world’s airwaves these past days and weeks, and the crowd seemed to respond well to my take on these spots at the other corner of the globe.

This reading also offered a unique challenge care of some special guests of honor: two of my five nieces and nephews – to whom the book is dedicated – showed up. This meant some skirting of the more juicy parts of the book – no tales of Berlin sex clubs here – but it also, surprisingly, led to a lively question-and-answer session: both Jackson and Lola, now aged eight and seven, respectively, asked remarkably adult questions about their uncle’s wanderings and book-writing odyssey – happily none that involved explaining things they’re a bit too young to understand. Those bits will have to wait a few more years.

All in all, another stellar success – we filled the place up and sold almost as many copies as we did in San Francisco… no mean feat on a sultry post-holiday Monday in a city with an English readership barely larger than some U.S. college towns. To all Montrealers in attendance, a hearty thanks. And to those in other cities, hang in there: after some more San Francisco appearances, the Wander the Rainbow road show will continue!

Tags: 1 Comment