Don’t Call It A Book Tour… Just Save These Dates

Don’t call it a book tour, because it’s not.

It’s just me running around with my debut memoir, My Fighting Family, introducing my best work to new audiences, and signing copies for all the early adopters. I told you all earlier this year that I’d be much more aggressive marketing the book this year than I was in 2024, which explains how some of this stuff came together.

This Friday and Saturday (May 2 and 3), I’m at the Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton, which is a big deal for Canadian book nerds. Year 10 for the festival, and the most prestigious event of my short career as an author, so it’s a milestone for everybody.

Friday night I’ll be at the Rose Theatre in Brampton, performing a few pages from My Fighting Family as part of The Great Readception. If you’ve read the book I’m sure you’re curious which pages, and if you’re that curious I suggest you pull up. If not Friday night then on Saturday when I’ll join Mattea Roach, the host of CBC Radio’s “Bookends,” Amal Elsana Alh’jooj author of Hope is A Woman’s Name, and my former Toronto Star colleague Tanya Talaga, award-winning author of Seven Fallen Feathers and All Our Relations. We’ll be discussing how to navigate difficult conversations, but the decision to spend Saturday morning is simple.

I hope you all are looking forward to this as much as I am, because it’s always a thrill to discuss the process with other writers, and to introduce my book to new audiences. A rare opportunity to bring the craft and the business together.

Similar thing happened last week…

If you’ve been following along, you also know that the folks at Rakuten Kobo nominated me for their Emerging Writer Prize. It’s a much-needed vote of confidence for me, and a timely boost of marketing momentum for my memoir. I’m just over here trying to keep it rolling.

If you’ve been here before, you might remember that the Indigo Erin Mills book signing was originally scheduled for May 10. Since I’m inviting you to save dates, please circle May 24, because that’s when I’ll be in Mississauga with my purple sharpie, ready to sign.

And if you can’t make that event, you’re invited to A Different Booklist (779 Bathurst St., Toronto) on May 9. That night they’re hosting a conversation between Matt Morris, author of the highly readable memoir Black Boys Like Me, a deal that arose from a coffee shop jersey swap, and a genuine desire to amplify each other. 

So yes, save those dates.

If they don’t work for you, stay tuned because more are coming…

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