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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Lit parade

Winnipeg authors hitting the big time at home and abroad

By: Morley Walker

11/01/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Andrew Davidson (MIKE APORIUS/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

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Daria Salamon's book was a breakout hit (PHIL HOSSACK/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Last January he was a complete unknown, an average guy holed up in his Crescentwood house doing final edits on a novel few knew anything about.

Today, Winnipeg-based Andrew Davidson, the publishing world's million-dollar man, is still riding the wave of notoriety following the initial release last August of his much-ballyhooed potboiler, The Gargoyle.

"It's been fantastic," said Davidson, 39, a Pinawa native who earned international headlines after he banked more than $2 million in advance sales to 20-plus countries.

"There have been big changes when you think of all the travel I've been privileged to do, thanks to this book."

Davidson wasn't the only Winnipeg novelist to amass money and air miles in 2008. Miriam Toews made the first-class compartment with The Flying Troutmans, which was a top bestseller in Canada and finally put her on the map in the U.S.

Following on her heels were David Bergen with The Retreat, Daria Salamon with The Prairie Bridesmaid, Joan Thomas with Reading by Lightning, David Elias with Waiting for Elvis, Christina Penner with Widows of Hamilton House, Michael Van Rooy with Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal and Allan Levine with Evil of the Age.

It was an unprecedented explosion of literary creativity, and prompted the Canadian publishing industry trade journal, Quill & Quire, to label Winnipeg the "hottest CanLit city" of 2008.

"It's not the weather that makes us hot; it's the art," said Salamon, 35.

"And it goes way beyond writers. Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg was just named best Canadian film by critics."

For most of the fall, Davidson was on the road (or in the air), doing promotion and attending festivals in the U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Croatia.

He spent the Christmas holidays quietly at home with his girlfriend. But he's slated to return to Germany for more promotion early next month and he expects to fly to Australia and New Zealand in the spring.

With luck, he'll also attend the British Book Awards in London in early April, thanks to The Gargoyle's being included on the short list, along with nine other English-language novels, for the 2009 edition of the U.K.'s televised Richard & Judy Book Club.

"Oprah is often referenced (as its American equivalent)," Davidson noted. "It's already had the very good effect of causing the movement of some books in the U.K."

Not all of Davidson's news, however, has been positive. In December, The Gargoyle was implicated in several U.S. reports about financial problems at the American division of Random House, Doubleday's parent company.

The Gargoyle "flopped," said the New York Times, referring to the U.S. Nielsen BookScan figure of a mere 34,000 hardcover sales.

A spokeswoman with Doubleday U.S. was cagey when asked about The Gargoyle, whose reviews ranged from the wildly enthusiastic to crazily dismissive.

"I can confirm that we announced a first print of 125,000 copies," New York-based publicist Alison Rich said by e-mail.

"I will also confirm that the novel appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. Beyond that I'm afraid that, as a matter of corporate policy, we do not release sales figures."

Basic math says The Gargoyle would have to sell more than 400,000 copies for Davidson to earn out his $1.25 million U.S advance. That's based on a standard royalty of 10 per cent per $30 book. But sales of the trade paperback, likely being released in late spring, will offset some of the losses.

Davidson says he has had no discussions with Doubleday, or his agent, Eric Simonoff, about the The Gargoyle's U.S. performance.

"I've read the same reports as you," he said. "The good thing about publishing is that it's a long-term game."

In Canada, the novel fared extremely well, according to Random House marketing vice-president Scott Sellers.

"We have been extremely happy with it," said Sellers, who would not release precise figures.

"It's lived up to expectations."

There were huge expectations for The Flying Troutmans, after Toews became a CanLit star in 2004 with her massive seller, A Complicated Kindness

Her Canadian publisher, Knopf (another Random House imprint), was initially disappointed when Troutmans, a wistful comedy about a flighty 28-year-old who takes her niece and nephew on road trip to California, failed to garner nominations for the country's top literary prizes, the Giller and the Governor-General's.

But that did not seem to deter buyers, who kept it atop national bestseller lists all fall and, in Winnipeg, made it the No. 1 fiction title, at least at the influential McNally Robinson chain.

"You can't imagine how many people wanted that book," said Chris Hall, senior inventory manager.

"Local authors and local stories do appeal to local people."

Fredericton-based Goose Lane Editions scored a critical hit with Reading by Lightning, and its first-time author, Thomas, has sold her followup, a historical fiction about an early 19th-century British woman who collects marine fossils, to McClelland & Stewart in Toronto for a spring 2010 release.

Salamon's Prairie Bridesmaid, an upscale chicklit story about a high-school teacher trying to dump her psychologically abusive boyfriend, was a breakout hit for Toronto-based Key Porter.

The company sold out its entire hardcover print run of 4,000 and has moved up the trade paperback release from the fall to March, when an additional 10,000 copies will be released.

"That kind of book usually does much better in paperback," said Judy Parker, the Winnipeg sales rep for Key Porter and H.B. Fenn.

"And Daria did an amazing job of promoting it herself. She is so charming and enthusiastic."

morley.walker@freepress.mb.ca

Book it

Here are some forthcoming titles from Winnipeg writers in 2009.

Puppet, by Eva Wiseman (Tundra Books, Toronto, January release) -- A young adult novel about a Jewish girl in late 19th-century Hungary.

A Virgin's Tale, by Sherri Smith (Simon & Schuster UK, January release) -- Women's historical fiction about a vestal virgin in pre-Christian Rome.

Automatic World, by Struan Sinclair (Doubleday, Toronto, March release) -- A debut literary novel told through the fragmented consciousness of a patient in rehabilitation from an accident.

From Out of Nowhere, by John Toone (Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, April) -- Poetry exploring the prairie and wilderness landscape from a man's perspective.

Mama Dada, by Jan Horner (Turnstone, April) -- Poetry collection about extraordinary women.

Without Fear or Favour, by Jack Tinsley (Great Plains, Winnipeg, spring) -- A controversial police officer's memoir.

Wolf Summer, by Rob Keough (Great Plains, spring) -- Young adult fiction.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 11, 2009 D1

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