Day 6 and 7 with Linda Olsson, Seattle & Portland, Oregon

18 and 19 March

Going north, the weather has changed from summer in LA, full spring in SF and hesitant grey spring in Seattle. So, I am even more grateful that my suitcase has followed me this far. A glimpse of Seattle – a settled nice city with a tangled web of elevated roads and unusual buildings, including the Participatory Museum of Music designed by Frank Gehry.

Went straight from the airport to the lunch event at the Swedish Club. A pleasant, relaxed atmosphere with an audience of about thirty, mostly women, many Swedish or with a Swedish connection. Book sales by a local book store, organised by ‘Books and Wine’. Good name!

Afterwards I am taken for stock signings at a few stores around town – all had good stock – then back to my hotel for a short rest.
The evening event is in Bellingham. My escort, Susan, smiles and says: ‘In New York they have no idea it’s a good two hours drive from here.’ Bellingham proves to be a wonderful town right on the water and surrounded by wilderness that reminds me of Sweden. The event is surprisingly well attended (where do they all come from?) by an alert and interested group of guests. The hosting store, Village Books, is another wonderful independent bookstore on two floors with spaces to sit undisturbed and read, think and dream.

Driving back in the evening I again have the privilege of a surprisingly personal and interesting conversation and the two hours pass quickly. I send a grateful thought to my publisher who has provided these very special people to escort me on my journey.
Back at my hotel there is time to check my e-mail, read for a little while and then turn out the lights. I have ordered a pick up for 6.30am. So much for seeing Seattle.

Getting off the small aircraft at Portland airport the following morning I finally need my winter coat that I have carried with me all the way. It’s cold, but wonderfully dry and clear.

I am met by my next escort, Sandra (I am glad I am keeping this diary, because already my escorts are mixing and blurring a little) and we drive straight to my first meeting – a radio interview for KBOO-FM, a weekly show featuring interviews with locally and nationally known authors of both fiction and non-fiction.

Jim Schumock takes me down into his basement (!) and I ask if I should be afraid. ‘Yes, very,’ he says and heads down the stairs into the darkness below. I follow. His studio proves to be very professional, though, and the one hour interview goes in a flash. I am delighted at the passages he has chosen for me to read, including the Polish poem ‘A Lesson of Silence’ by Tymoteusz Karpowicz that opens my novel. It’s the first time I read it aloud to an audience.

As we say good bye Jim says he once unsuccessfully applied to University of Otago. He sighs and looks at me with a touch of envy, then opens his arms and gives me a big hug. ‘See you in New Zealand one day,’ he says and smiles a sad little smile.

We carry on from here to do stock signings. All stores have at least a dozen copies of Sonata for Miriam and a few of Astrid & Veronika, and Powell’s book store (my evening event will be in their other store) has over 80 (!) copies. We arrange a conveyor belt with Sandra on my right opening the books, me in the middle signing and a member of the staff to my left putting stickers on the books.

Back at my hotel I am met by Jeff Baker who is the book editor with the Portland Oregonian, the main daily paper. We conduct the interview in a quiet corner of the lobby.

Again, I am a little nervous at first, then stunned when I realise that an hour has gone and we are done.
Back in my room I eagerly check my e-mail for signs of life, but there isn’t much. So, I google myself (just to see if I exist) and come across a wonderful review of Sonata for Miriam on http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/, apparently a publication associated with The Economist, so very respectable I presume. Here is the link: http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/blog/linda-olssons-melancholy-sonata.

Time for a short walk before Sandra comes to pick me up for the evening event.
Back from that now. Again, well attended and well organized. This the other Powell’s store is huge. They have many wonderful services, including an office that organizes sales and swaps of used books. It’s a very much alive place with activities going on all over the place. I sign stock before I start my performance and Sandra counts 66 copies of Sonata for Miriam and 12 of Astrid & Veronika. The population of Portland is about 650,000.

I am back at my hotel around nine and have a wonderful supper – for once. I mean I have a supper for once. Salad with local crab, avocado and mango. And a glass of local Sauvignon Blanc. Just to compare with the NZ kind. Portland has some 150 vineyards producing mostly white, and some Pinot Noir. The population of the state is about 3,5 million. Perhaps a good sister to New Zealand?
I am sad I don’t get another day or so. Mainly for two reasons. There wasn’t time to visit the store where I spoke last time, Annie Bloom’s. And I am staying in the best hotel ever. Remember the name: The Heathman. Superb.

on tour in the US