Author Event: David Nicholls

“This is where it all begins. Everything starts here, today.” 

-David Nicholls, One Day

Lovelies,

This past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a special event at the HarperCollins Canada Toronto office once again to meet David Nicholls, author of the beloved One Day. His second novel, Us was released late last month (much to my excitement). I could not wait to meet Nicholls in person!

He was as every bit charming, funny, witty, and nice as I hoped he would be. Laurie Grassi was there to speak to him about the book, touching upon everything from the characters, to his writing habits, and funny travel stories along the way.

"I liked the idea that everything in the book is spot on, real places that exists...so you can re-enact this book and, hopefully, have a happier time!"

A couple of really neat moments throughout the Q & A:

Fruit Flies: Nicholls had a babysitter who was working her PH.D in fruit fly studies and on one occasion, had invited him, his partner, and two children to her lab.  As a result, this event got written into the book, specifically during Douglas' courtship with Courtney when he took her to see the fruit flies.

Travel:  There are instances in the book where Douglas takes the train as his primary means of transport. In order to make certain scenes in the book as genuine as possible, Nicholls ended up taking the train from Paris to Amsterdam and from Munich to Verona where it crossed through the Alps. Gosh. I need to add that to my bucket list!
One things for sure: "You can never predict what you might pick up from your research!"

(David Nicholls and I. Was squee-ing on the inside. Clearly, it showed)

Later on, when I asked him about his writing habits, he remarked that he tends to write early in the morning, where his creative juices are at its highest: he would aim to write at least 2000 words a day. Now that's something I need to work on!

 Great time all around. A very lovely bonus that I got my copy personally signed. Many thanks, HarperCollins Canada!

Us is out in bookshops everywhere: it would make a wonderful gift for your bookish loved ones- it's never too early to think about holiday gift-giving!