Head Tale

Tonight was the 25th anniversary of the Saskatchewan Book Awards so, as someone who first attended in 1997, has been at probably 15-20 of those ceremonies and has also served SBA in a variety of capacities from board member to gala volunteer to web site designer to A/V switcher, I thought it’d be fun to do a list of 25 Random Thoughts for the SBA’s 25th Anniversary to add to some of my other blogging about the awards over the years…

1. SBA Mascot?
When I started working at the Saskatchewan Publishers Group in 1997, about a year after completing my English degree, I was asked to sit on the SBA Board.  I still laugh thinking about how the board was 99% older women who I didn’t even realise were some of the most well-connected, powerful women in the city.  Meanwhile, I was a recent University grad who was their token male, token young person, and token long-haired neo-hippie! 🙂

2. Yann Martel
In the earlier years of the Book Awards, they always had a guest speaker which I usually enjoyed but which was eventually axed, both because of cost and also because of how it lengthened an already long program.  But I remember Yann Martel as one of my favourite guest speakers – his “speech” was basically him interviewing himself on stage with all the questions he regularly got as well as ones he wished he would get.

3. Alistair MacLeod
Speaking of making a long program longer, Mr. MacLeod goes down in infamy as perhaps the most long-winded SBA guest speaker of all-time.  How long?  In my SPG job, I was selling books at Agribition’s Exhibitor Trade Fair and figured there’d be no way to make it to the Gala after it closed for the night and I shut down our booth.  But I went anyhow, thinking that *maybe* I could catch the last couple awards or something.  Except when I arrived, Mr. MacLeod was *still* speaking and they hadn’t even begun giving out awards yet!

4.  Anna Porter
It took until 2008 until the SBA had their first person of colour as a guest speaker (Maria Campbell) but earlier, some of us thought diversity meant we should have a publisher as guest speaker instead of a published author. 😉  So we did find a publisher (to be safe, who was also a published author) and she gave a somewhat extemporaneous, rambling speech which all but guaranteed that there wouldn’t be any more “publishers” giving the speech anytime soon. 🙂  But one great takeaway was her somewhat backhanded compliment that we were “almost as good as the Gillers” with a heavy implication that she expected some two-bit awards program instead of the fairly fancy, well-organized event the Gala was, the equal of nearly any awards ceremony in the Canadian book industry (except the Gillers of course!)

5. “The Program Game”
To help the evening pass, I always play “the program game” where I try to guess who will win in each category by putting a check by their name in the program before the winner is announced.  I usually guess about 2/12 winners but tonight for some reason I was absolutely on fire, even picking the Book of the Year winner as a sentimental favourite instead of the person I thought would win and ending up being right!

6. A/V Switcher
As I said, I’ve had a number of roles with the SBA ranging from board member to Gala volunteer to web site designer.  Perhaps my scariest role was when I ended up running the A/V at one of the Galas.  I’m fairly comfortable with technology but was scared shitless that I would hit the wrong button and announce a winner early or screw-up in some other way.  Luckily I don’t think I did (or if I did, I’ve blocked it out of memory!)

7. Another Memorable Anniversary
I can’t remember what anniversary they were celebrating but it was cool one year when they blasted The Beatles “Birthday” then brought out cake for everyone in the audience to celebrate the anniversaries of Coteau Books and Thistledown Press who share a founding year.

8. Prayer Time
It’s funny how things change over time.  As an atheist, I tried to convince the board that we should skip the prayer we did every year before the meal. I was overruled (and to be fair, the board did have different kinds of prayers before the meal some years – one by an Indigenous elder, I have a memory that there was maybe one in Norwegian?)  Anyhow, maybe due to changing sensitivities or maybe just because the Gala switched to a buffet instead of a seated meal but there is no longer a prayer at the start of the Gala. Hallelujah!

9. Look At That Crowd!
I weirdly can’t remember if I have ever had occasion to get up on the stage at the Gala for any reason – even to just give the “five minutes to take your seat” warning.  I do, however, remember that I had to travel to Saskatoon for their brunch (held a few weeks ahead of the Gala) to say a few words about something – I think it was maybe in 2005 when the SPG was a partner in a promotion for readers to choose the “Book of the Centennial”?  Part of the reason I remember this so well was the drive back to Regina the next day, after a freezing rain, was one of the scariest drives of my life!

10. Spring Forward, Fall Back 
I feel like an old codger about a lot of SBA stuff now and the change from having the Gala in November to April is one of those changes I’m not a fan of.  I understand why they did it – to bring it more in line with typical publishing timelines and also, as noted in that last anecdote, to reduce the chances people from Saskatoon and other places outside Regina would have to travel in bad weather.  But I selfishly loved having the Gala in the fall – as a sort of year-end coming together and celebration of the year’s achievements and also because Christmas is the biggest book buying time of the year so the book table would do probably 10x the sales it does when they have the event in the spring.  (10x is a made-up number – I have no idea what it actually is.) 🙂

11. Venues
The Gala was held at perhaps the nicest venue in Regina, the Hotel Saskatchewan, during its first few years but eventually outgrew that space and had to look for another home.  I was part of a committee looking at alternate venues and all we looked at had advantages and disadvantages but we ended up moving to the Conexus Arts Centre where the Gala has been ever since.  (Full disclosure: I was in favour of moving to the Delta Hotel & Convention Centre.)

12. Glitches
The fact that I can’t remember any specific ones shows how important they ultimately are.  But every year, I’m sure there are glitches of one kind or another – everything from pronouncing names wrong to glitches with technology to typos in the program that are embarrassing but also sort of endearing.

13. Posters
One great way the SBA has captured their history is by having framed copies of every year’s official poster that can be displayed at the Gala.  I don’t remember if it was my idea but I do know that I did the initial legwork to find a shop that would frame the posters from the first few years of the Gala and that tradition continued with subsequent years.

14. Librarians Know How To Manage Books In A Couple Different Ways 
Like many small cultural non-profits, the SBA have gone through ups and downs with their finances over the years.  During a time when I was on the board, it was a librarian who was on the board (and who eventually became my first boss after I got my MLIS) who identified and then helped shepherd the organization through a financial crisis.

15. Is There A Doctor In The House?
There may have been other medical emergencies of one kind or another over the years (no heart attacks for winners unexpectedly hearing their name as far as I know!) but one memorable one was when a gentleman passed out at the back of the banquet hall at one of the early book awards.  A publishing rep who had originally trained as a nurse leapt into action and attended to the overheated man as the program continued on stage, unaware.

16. Most Memorable Meal?
There are a few contenders but one of the most memorable meals was when they had a menu inspired by the book “Courting Saskatchewan” by David Carpenter, using recipes that were included in the book.

17. Serve Yourself
Speaking of meals, in the early years, the menu was usually a set one where everyone would get the same thing (usually chicken).  Possibly for financial reasons, the Gala moved to having a self-serve buffet a few years ago but this is one instance where I think a change from previous practice has been an improvement as people can take what they want, how much they want (in my case, usually too much!) and there is usually a wider range of options then with a set menu (last night, you could choose between chicken or pork as a main meat – or both!)

18. Web Site
I took over maintenance of the SBA web site soon after joining the board (1997), transitioned the site to its own domain in 2001 (I think they were on the Sask Library Association’s web site before that?) and continued until 2007 or so when both my outmatched skillset and other obligations on my time meant it was best to hand it off.

I was there when we obtained a master domain (www.bookawards.sk.ca) which the SBA still uses and which allowed me to correct a mistake I made when securing the Sask Publishers Group’s first master domain.  At that time, I picked the somewhat redundant www.saskpublishers.sk.ca instead of the shorter, more accurate www.publishers.sk.ca.

As a webmaster, I had (have!) areas of weakness for sure but I also had a skill for organizing and archiving information, perhaps foreshadowing my eventual career in libraries?  In fact, it was a librarian who gave me some of the best feedback I ever received:

“You have the best – most informative – Web site for your book awards of any that I have seen. And, I have seen quite a few as we are compiling a listing of winners of Canadian literary awards (1923-2000) which will be published by the Canadian Library Association. – Suzanne Sexty, Information Services, Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland”

19. The Rivalry Continues
As long as the book awards have existed, the question of whether they should be in Regina or Saskatoon or rotate between the two cities has been around as well.  Ultimately, the board has felt that the logistical challenges of moving between two cities was too much and the awards have always been held in Regina (though board members have been drawn from both cities as well as across the entire province.)

20.  Danny Shapiro 
I feel like I might be mis-remembering this but for many years, the Book of the Year award was sponsored by NeWest Distribution who were represented by Daniel Shapiro (who was a lawyer by trade but maybe had some connection/ownership role in NeWest?)  Again, I may have that wrong but my point is that sponsor representatives get a few moments to speak before presenting the awards they’re sponsoring.  Some are better than others (rule of thumb: keep it short but if you don’t keep it short, make it funny and engaging!) and Danny Shapiro was a highlight year-after-year, often as one of the last speakers after a very long evening.  He’d always comment on the Regina-Saskatoon rivalry I just mentioned, chat about the Riders, make a few other jokes then hand out the big prize.

21.  Indian Head in the House
I’ve always felt lucky to be from a small town that seems to “punch above its weight” in being home to a number of accomplished individuals.  Although his book awards connection is tenuous, Mr. Shapiro’s law partner is Mark Brayford who is a very well-known criminal lawyer (his mom taught me in high school.)  Last night, I spoke to a prominent Saskatchewan resident who isn’t from Indian Head but is married to someone who is.  On top of that, the featured musical performer was Kara Golemba who makes her home in Indian Head and a person I graduated from high school with regularly got shout-outs from the podium for her editing work at a local press.  And of course, going back to long before the book awards were established, Indian Head was an early home for Canadian great, Sinclair Ross, who wrote about prairie life in a way that few before him had.

22. Jury Duty
I don’t think I ever served as a jury for the Sask Book Awards but I definitely did for the Manitoba Book Awards Non-Fiction category one year.  I also oversaw book awards juries – at a distance as an SBA board member and more directly as a Writers Guild of Alberta employee.  It was very interesting to see behind-the-scenes of the discussions and negotiations that happen which lead to every circumstance from a jury deciding they don’t find any book worth being qualified to be named winner (ouch!) to a very awkward situation at an early book awards ceremony where three shortlisted books were all named “co-winner”.  One of my favourite anecdotes of all-time is hearing that a group of three jurors all disagreed about the best book of the year but all agreed on a completely different book as their second choice.  That one was named the winner although, depending on you look at it, it meant the fourth best book was the winner (though obviously, all awards are pretty subjective to begin with.)

23. Sweet Hospitality 
Not sure if it still happens but at one of the earliest galas I attended (possibly even my first) I was invited to go to a Hospitality Suite in a hotel room on an upper floor of the Hotel Saskatchewan.  Two things made this memorable – a table full of free beer from sponsor, Molson and the sight of a bunch of authors and publishers *tearing* into a representative from a federal funding agency which I think had many just changed its granting rules or something?  (To be fair, he kept smiling and it wasn’t *too* aggressive – it mainly felt that way because he was vastly outnumbered.  Plus the free beer probably didn’t help people keep a level head!) 😉

24. Whining 
Speaking of free booze, depending on finances and sponsorship success, some years the Gala would supply a bottle of red and white for each table and other years you were on your own.  (I was always impressed by the gesture of those who would buy a bottle for the table when wine wasn’t provided though I only made such a generous gesture myself once!)

25. Silver and Gold
What else can I say?  Congrats to the Saskatchewan Book Awards and everyone involved over the years – from first ED Joyce Wells to current ED Courtney Bates-Hardy plus innumerable board members, volunteers, sponsors, attendees and so many others who help make the event a success year-after-year.  The Silver Anniversary was great and I can’t wait to attend the Golden one in another 25 years!