February 2nd: Coffee Chats with Linda Sparks and Mike Mason
Linda Sparks, Facilitator of the Gatineau Anglophone Writing Group and Mike Mason, co-manager of Librairie Michabou/La Maison Anglaise (Gatineau) will join us on Thursday, January 26th at 10:00 am for our Coffee Chats. Join the conversation!
Linda Sparks started her journalism career writing articles for the Aylmer Bulletin and the West Quebec Post, including her own weekly column entitled the Faces of West Quebec, which won second place in the reader's poll as the most read column. Linda has also written several articles for the Internet, before taking scriptwriting and production courses. She has written several full-length feature films and stage plays and worked in the film industry as a location scout. One of her more memorable experiences was working on the Rolling Stones video shoot for the song Streets of Love. Linda was also a production coordinator for a movie of the week entitled Crossing Nirvana that was televised on cable television. A Pair of Brothers is her first complete manuscript for middle-grade readers ages 8-12 years old. Linda started the Gatineau Anglophone Writing Group, which she now helps facilitate.
Mike Mason began working in the book business in July 1976, as a part time employee of W. H. Smith on Sparks Street in Ottawa. After graduating from Carleton University in 1981 he became full time and quickly moved from store to store in the National Capital Region, ultimately managing W.H. Smith stores (which became Smithbooks) in Place du Centre, Hull; Rideau Centre, Ottawa (the 2nd or 3rd largest in sales in Canada); and finally the store in the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, Ottawa. At this point Chapters was born in 1994, out of the merger of Smithbooks and Coles, and Mike was given a package. After a year off Mike became a sales rep for Stoddart Publishing for 3 1/2 years, then a rep for McClelland and Stewart for 3 1/2 years and then a rep for HarperCollins Canada for almost 20 years. Mike retired as a rep at the end of 2021. In October 2022 Mike’s friend Guy Dubois, with whom he had been looking to work together, bought Librairie Michabou. Mike is now co-manager of Librairie Michabou/La Maison Anglaise (Gatineau).
