We Met Neil Gaiman!
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Backstory Part 1: Neil Gaiman is a fantastic author. He has written so many great things in so many genres that it makes me wonder what it’s like to live in his head. It must be quite crowded in there. American Gods and Neverwhere are on my list of favourite books, and have been since the end of the second chapter of each.
Backstory Part 2: Esther contacted me and told me (she knew from Britain, I didn’t know and it was 2 miles from my house) that a local bookseller had a Hallowe’en party to celebrate the release of Neil’s The Graveyard Book, a retelling of the Jungle Book story set in a graveyard. Bookstores across the continent had parties and documented them so Mr Gaiman could choose his favourite and visit that bookstore for a reading. We didn’t attend the party, but Winnipeg was chosen as a winner anyway. On the tie between Decatur, Georgia and Winnipeg, Neil had this to say:
I wondered if I could legitimately award points for climate, or for whether I actually wanted to go there or not, (suddenly throwing Octavia Books in New Orleans into the lead), or deduct points for it being probably rather cold in, say, Winnipeg, in the winter.
In the end he declared a tie and went to both.
End of backstory. The point of the post is that on December 15, 2009, Neil Gaiman came to Winnipeg and we went to see him, along with about 800 other people:

He read a good-sized section of Odd and the Frost Giants and answered a number of questions from the crowd. He read and spoke at a podium in the center of the large crowd, and we were fortunate enough to be right in front of him:


He was a witty and intelligent speaker, as one would expect from his writing, and he has a deep voice and a not-too-strong British accent. I think he should be required by law to narrate everything. Yes, everything.
Afterwards he went over to a seating area and signed books. Staff was walking around throughout the evening handing out slips of paper with random 1-to-10 numbers on them, and people were to be called in numerical order. All the 1′s first, then the 2′s, etc. We were in the middle somewhere (6, I think) and we were ready for a long wait, and it was after 9pm by this time. Then, in a wonderful show of empathy and class, Mr Gaiman announced that he has kids and he knows how difficult it is for kids to sit for things like this, so anyone with small children would be taken first, before anyone else. I think this took the handlers by surprise, but it was wonderful news for us. (Thanks, Neil!)
He was surprisingly open, and he chatted with the kids for a minute. A very pleasant guy. We discussed the origins of our name and his (they are very similar) and he drew a picture in The Graveyard Book and signed the others with little comments.


Here’s me looking like I’m going to leap over the table and attack him:

Here’s McNally Robinson’s writeup of the event, with more photos.
A good time was had by all, though it was a little late for some:

And, as a sad footnote, that McNally Robinson Bookselller was closed very shortly after in a cost-saving measure for the company. :(


