Graeme TRUELOVE
Visit Graeme on social media
  • Home
  • News / Blog
  • Un-Canadian: Islamophobia in the True North
  • Svend Robinson: A Life in Politics
  • About Graeme
  • Contact

3 of the toughest...

8/28/2013

2 Comments

 
Some interviews are like university lectures, others are like storytelling, and a few are like conversations with a friend. Then, there are those that are more like chess. Brian Mulroney, Herb Gray and Olivia Chow were all very gracious interviewees, and were certainly willing to provide their points of view. However, they are all master politicians, and if I wanted to get at anything more controversial, I was going to have to dig a bit...


1. Brian Mulroney:
He told me a lot, but usually in generalities. He did share some specifics (a private conversation with Ronald Reagan, for example), but I'm pretty sure anything he shared with me, he'd planned to in advance.


2. Herb Gray:
As Jean Chretien's deputy Prime Minister, Gray was known to opposition MPs as "The Gray Fog" because of how difficult it was to trap him into saying anything controversial. Let's just say I can relate. 


3. Olivia Chow:
Of the three, Chow was the only sitting politician, which put her in a very different position. She and Jack Layton were among Robinson's closest friends, and she was quite willing to share stories of their friendship. But when it came to political matters, she had to be a lot more careful.


I'm grateful to all three for taking the time to be interviewed. In each case, I came away with some great stuff that eventually made its way into the book.


There are some surprising revelations in this book, and some involve prime ministers. But they definitely weren't gift-wrapped and handed to me; they had to be gleaned from interviews with others. If I had any dreams of interviewing, say, a former prime minister and having a major, headline-making Frost/Nixon moment...well, it'll have to wait until the next book.
2 Comments
Janine link
8/27/2013 11:42:49 pm

This is something I never thought about, but is now obvious, it must have been difficult getting information from people who have spent a career not revealing too much in an interview. Great job. Frost/Nixon coming up....

Reply
Judy
8/31/2013 07:03:06 am

The chess game analogy is perfect! Luckily you're good at chess! Of the four kinds of interviews, which kind did you actually enjoy the best?

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Graeme TRUELOVE

    Here Graeme blogs about whatever he's working on.

    Feel free to leave a comment.


    Archives

    December 2019
    September 2019
    July 2018
    September 2016
    July 2016
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art
    BC Book Prizes
    David McGrane
    E.M. Delafield
    Family And Friends
    Svend Robinson
    Writing Process

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.