Where I Belong by Alan Doyle...Interviews and book reviews...

This post is a collection of my favourite Alan Doyle interviews, newspaper articles and book reviews from the book tour to promote “Where I Belong”. There have been plenty of interviews on radio and television, newspaper articles, writer’s festival appearances, meet and greets in book stores, fan stories and photographs. My favourites have been professional interviews either on the radio or in the newspapers where he has spoken for himself and/or with his family and are included here. These are from the east coast Canadian section of the tour.

“When the job came for the some dude to sing in a band like Great Big Sea, it turned out I was ready…you know…all the other stuff I loved doing and worked hard doing…it turned out that I was the right guy for the job, one of the right guys for the job… and I had no control over the opportunity that came my way and when it came I was ready…that was luck…” Alan Doyle to Shelagh Rojers at the Writers of Woody Point Festival.

My favourite interview is the Alan Doyle and Shelagh Rojers radio interview from the Writers of Woody Point Newfoundland. This was Alan’s first appearance as an author in his home province of Newfoundland. Alan provides a beautiful description of Petty Harbour and some of the changes that have occurred there since he was a child. He talks affectionately and with humour about friendships, first kisses, Catholic and non-Catholic girlfriends, the characters of Petty Harbour, working in the fishing industry and his early years in Great Big Sea. The interview was a long wait for fans between the actual event and the airing on radio but well worth it. This interview is available as a mp3 podcast from TheNextChapter website.

(From cbc.ca Canada.No copyright infringement intended.)

Adam Walsh @adamfwalsh @alanthomasdoyle “Mom; When he quit his job to go with the band I thought “Oh my god” #doyleAM

Another favourite was the radio interview on the SJ Morning Show on CBC Radio, St Johns which also featured his family including his mum Jean, dad Tom and his sister Kim on the 10 October 2014. As I live overseas I couldn’t find the links to access the interview, however, the radio station provided one of the most brilliant social media Twitter feeds with comments and photographs as the interview occurred. There were lots of laughs and love as the family shared stories from their days in Petty Harbour, raising children and growing up. There was Jean Doyle’s famous home-made bread and preserves.

(From @sjmorning Twitter #AM Doyle tweets. No copyright infringement intended.)

There was the professionally filmed interview between Alan Doyle and a well-respected Canadian journalist Peter Howell. The interview was conducted in front of a packed house at the Toronto Library on the day the book was released October 14 2014 and was exceptionally good. The interview is approximately an hour and twenty minutes long and is available on the Toronto Library official YouTube site soon after the launch. 

“Usually the smell of something roasting in our oven started in the late afternoon. By five, we’d all be salivating at the thought of that roast and the gravy Mom would make from it to pour over boiled potatoes and some canned peas or corn”. Alan Doyle in the Globe and Mail.

Throughout Alan Doyle’s book tour there have been a number of newspaper reviews and articles. There was an article in a national Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail titled “A hot, buttered slice of fond memories from Alan Doyle” published on 27 October, 2014. The review was a section of the book about food and meal times, his mother and a wonderful conversation between a son and his mother about making bread. There is a lovely black and white photograph of Mrs Doyle in her kitchen in St John’s cooking. The article has been copied with permission from the publishers.

 

 

(from www.theworldofgord.com at the Toronto library. No copyright infringement intended.)

“I miss how busy Petty Harbour and other fishing towns like it were in the later ’70 and early ’80s. With fishing boats coming and going, processing plants running two shifts, six days a week, trucks humming in and out of town, the place was bustling. I loved the energy of so many people in a tiny place all working on the same thing”. Alan Doyle, National Post, The Afterword Reading Society: Where I Belong by Alan Doyle. 29 October 2014

In the Canadian National Post Alan Doyle answered questions submitted by the readers about growing up in Petty Harbour, how being a child is different today than it was back then, his music idols, what to do if you find yourself in Newfoundland and future projects including acting and music. When asked about providing advice Alan suggested young people should figure life out for themselves. However, he also said young people should be ”good” and “be ready…you’ll love yourself if you are”. Great advice.

 

Meet and greet at Chapters book store in Dartmouth Nova Scotia Canada on 21 October 2014

(I didn’t watch any bootlegged videos. Alan Doyle has stated he is making an audio book. In my opinion bootlegged recorded read passages without permission from the book tours are in direct competition to this. They also may breach the copyright  act. ‘Where I Belong’ is copyright to Skinner’s Hill Music. The copyright notice on page 6 and states “All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher-or reprographic copying, licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.”).