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July 27, 2010 - We are thrilled that The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick has been awarded an Honourable Mention, Biography/Autobiography, in the 2010 Hollywood Book Festival! http://hollywoodbookfestival.com/winners2010.htm The Little Coat joins Never Give Up: Ted Jaleta's Inspiring Story, which I wrote and co-published in 2006, as a recipient of this important award for "titles worthy of greater attention from the film, TV and multimedia industries." Never Give Up received an Honourable Mention in the same Biography category from the Hollywood Book Festival judges in 2007! July 2, 2010 - We're exploring the new world of e-books, checking out options for publishing the award-winning, best-selling Never Give Up in that format in the very near future. DriverWorks Ink is also working on three new titles for the coming year - a book of humour columns and two fascinating biographies. Stay tuned! June 17, 2010 - I had fun at a book signing tonight at Coles Northgate, Regina, with author Alan Buick. We always meet the most interesting people at these events - those who love to read, those who love to buy books for others to read, and one or two people who are interested in talking about the book they are working on and are wanting advice on how to go about publishing a book. We have some fascinating discussions, and one of those chats from a few months ago will likely lead to a collaboration of writing and publishing in the next little while. Stay tuned! June 13, 2010 - Alan Buick, author of The Little Coat, just returned from Winnipeg, where he presented a cheque for $2,000 to the Royal Canadian Legion's Dominion Command Poppy Trust. One dollar from every The Little Coat book sold is being donated to the Poppy Trust. We are pleased to support this charity while sharing this important true story of war, love and hope. May 28, 2010 - Saskatoon author Mary Harelkin Bishop was in Regina this week as part of a reading tour in schools to promote her latest title Moving Forward: The Journey of Paralympian Colette Bourgonje. On May 26, Mary and I and author Alan Buick had a fun time signing our respective books (Moving Forward, Prairie Pilot, The Little Coat) at Chapters Regina. May 20, 2010 - It's amazing what an appearance on Canada AM can do to bring attention to a wonderful book! DriverWorks Ink has been extra busy since author Alan Buick's interview about The Little Coat on May 5, Liberation Day! We are receiving many requests from people in the Netherlands as well, since the Dutch documentary appeared there on May 4. Now all we have to do is connect with a Dutch publisher or distributor who wants to get the book into stores there. We're working on it! May 4, 2010 - Alan Buick and I had a wonderful time in Saskatoon last night honouring Canadian veterans who were Dutch Liberators 65 years ago. Alan was invited by the Honorary Dutch Consul for Saskatchewan, Judie Dyck, to attend the gathering and to address the group of veterans and their families. We were pleased by their response to The Little Coat story/book and we were honoured to be there. One veteran in the room was particularly memorable. At age 91, he had a smile on his face and a skip in his step and he spoke eloquently about his memories of the war - not all of which were bad. He recently told some teenagers from Waldheim, SK who were heading to Holland for today's Liberation Day ceremonies that: "I still have some old phone numbers in my wallet. Of course, those women are all in their 80s now." This morning's Canada AM interview with Alan Buick can be seen on today's edition of www.ctv.ca/canadaam. May 3, 2010 - Author Alan Buick will be a guest on CTV Canada AM on Wednesday morning (at 6 a.m. Saskatchewan time), in honour of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. Our friends at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have made arrangements for Alan to be interviewed along with Bob and Sue Elliott, who will be connected from the Netherlands, to tell the remarkable story of 'the little coat,' which we published in book form last November. We are very excited! April 22, 2010 - I received an email from author Alan Buick : "Ottawa was great today. I landed here at noon and was able to check into the hotel right away. Met with Hans and Anna (from the Dutch Embassy) at the Canadian War Museum at 3pm. Spent most of the next 2 hours with film crew. They took footage of me arriving, entering the museum, interviewed with "The Little Coat," etc. All the time, Hans was taking high-resolution pictures, this he continued to do with the Dutch Ambassador, and he even got a small video of the ambassador talking about The Little Coat." Alan reports that the little coat was the only item on display in the lobby of the Canadian War Museum. Alan was overcome with emotion when he saw the coat there. It has been five and a half years since Alan first saw the coat at the Olds Legion and four years since the Elliotts asked Alan if he thought they should donate the coat to Canada's war museum. April 20, 2010 - Alan Buick is heading to Ottawa on Thursday. He's been invited by the Dutch Embassy to attend a private reception at the Canadian War Museum honouring Canadian veterans who liberated the Netherlands in the Second World War. Alan is anxious to see the little coat on display again and is looking forward to talking to the crew filming a Dutch documentary about the coat and the Elliotts for the 65th anniversary of VE Day. He also has a media event on Friday and two book signings. It should be fun! I wish I was going with him! Maybe next time. April 15, 2010 - Bob and Sue Elliott of the Netherlands went with a Dutch film crew to the town of Alphen two days ago, where some of the most significant events of their lives (captured in our book The Little Coat) occurred. The crew interviewed some local people about that era and one woman remembered Bob from 65 years ago, when he was a young 'tall, handsome soldier' who helped liberate their country. She remembered that Bob gave her bars of chocolate during the war. It must have been a moving experience for Bob and Sue to reconnect with her. April 14, 2010 - Next week, the Dutch Embassy and Canadian War Museum in Ottawa are hosting an event to honour veterans who liberated the Netherlands 65 years ago. Author Alan Buick is travelling to Ottawa to be part of those April 22nd celebrations. Alan's interest in the 65-year-old 'little coat' that he saw hanging in the Olds Legion prompted the coat's owner, Sue Elliott, to donate this precious garment (given to her by Bob Elliott and his crewmates) to Canada's War Museum in 2006. DriverWorks Ink published Alan's book about the coat and Bob and Sue Elliott in November 2009. The coat will be on display in the War Museum from April 22 to May 12. Alan is excited to spend some time with the coat again and to hopefully be interviewed for the Dutch documentary (clips are being filmed that night at the event). April 12, 2010 - The Moving Forward and Other Prairie People Stories book tour in west central Saskatchewan with Mary Bishop was a lot of fun! We met some wonderful people during our three-day trek and informed a lot of Saskatchewan people about the books published by DriverWorks Ink. It was especially great to meet people in Porcupine Plain and elsewhere who either grew up with, were either related to or went to school with Colette Bourgonje. We had a lot of laughs and many touching, special moments sharing our slide show and stories from our experiences at the Paralympic Games. The trip ended on an interesting note when we became storm-stayed in Foam Lake, SK as a wicked wind and snowstorm passed through and closed the highway. Sleeping in a small but clean room (community bathroom down the hall) in Willy's Hotel was a unique experience to add to the memoirs (hypothetically speaking). |
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©Deana Driver |
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