OUR ENVIRONMENTAL HELPERS:  FOR THE TOUR
Many thanks to all who have advised us, worked with us as professionals, and contributed in so many ways to the tour. Your enthusiasm and energy have been astonishing! See also the full Tour Schedule for those helping with individual events.

FOR OVERALL PLANNING WITH THE TOUR
* Phoebe Larmore, Los Angeles, Margaret’s agent since 1971. Phoebe did the Music Page and arranged the CD design and pressing, and worked with James O’Reilly of the Lavin Agency to set up the U.S. Events. And for setting up the Earthly Ark Music Company.

* To the Larmore Literary Agency’s right -hand woman — Jennifer Porzio, of Venice, California — who masterfully assisted Phoebe on her website work, the CDs, and the U.S. Events.

* Susan Dworski, graphic designer of “the blue one” studio in Venice, Ca. for her superb designs for the CD “Hymns” album for the U.S., Canada, and the UK. And for incorporating the illustrations from Victoria Snowden for the UK cover.

* Vivienne Schuster of Curtis Brown, London, Margaret’s UK agent since the late 70s. Pitched right in and gave major consultation and support to this project all the way through. Beyond Agenting!

* To the O.W. Toad staff – Sarah Webster, Anne Joldersma, and Laura Stenberg – who fielded details and caught dropped objects; and Penny Kavanaugh, who runs the books.

* Alison Rich, of Random House,  New York – thank you for your help and for understanding this unorthodox approach.

* Ashley Dunn of McClelland and Stewart, Toronto – thank you for so efficiently arranging the Canadian tour, and for helping with the Events programme design.

* Fiona McMorrough, of FMcM, London, UK, for taking charge of all aspects of the tour on behalf of Bloomsbury. Fabulous Fiona!

* Betsy Robbins of Curtis Brown, London, Margaret’s Foreign Rights agent – thank you for your assistance in arranging the tours in Germany and Holland.

* Carsten Sommerfeldt of BerlinVerlag, Berlin, Germany, for enthusiastically agreeing to have a German portal and for taking charge of it.

* Stefanie Leimsner of Berlin Verlag for her assistance in organizing the German tour.

* Aartje Greven of Prometheus /Bert Bakker for organizing the Holland tour.

* The Lavin Agency, Toronto and Boston, for helping to set up the US Tour Events. With special thanks to James O’Reilly.

* Sydney Goldstein of San Francisco Arts and Lectures. Always wonderful!

* McLean Greaves of Toronto, Geek Friend, phone and communication-tech coach, and Prince of Twitter: and the Twitter Royalty, Jason Calacanis, Amber Macarthur, and Kris Krug. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and space!

* Joyce Barrass for her infinite patience and expertise in all things travel-related.

* And finally to Orville Stoeber, singer and composer, whose immersion in the material was astounding to behold.

FOR HELPING TO GREEN THE TOUR:
* Electrical energy for Margaret’s computer supplied by BullfrogPower, and by two solar panels on tiny flat roof.  Margaret’s own energy while writing was boosted by Endangered Species Chocolate Bars and various organic coffee brands, including Kicking Horse, Ethical Bean, and Cameron’s from Port Perry.

* Thanks to CANOPY, especially to Nicole Rycroft, for her paper advice, and to Bruce Walsh for his assistance.

Canopy safeguards our forests, species and climate by harnessing the power of the marketplace and changing business practices. Specifically, we drive North American demand for green paper products by shifting heavy paper consuming sectors away from unsustainable sources. We work primarily with the book, newspaper, magazine and print industries to phase out their use of endangered forests from around the world. Best known for the greening of the Harry Potter series globally, Canopy has brokered innovative environmental solutions such as the Wheat Sheet and worked closely with ally organizations to translate companies’ environmental policies into landmark conservation gains in BC’s Great Bear Rainforest and Canada’s Boreal forests.
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*Thanks to Ron Dembo and Zerofootprint, for calculating the carbon footprint of the tour, for helping us do the offsetting to bring it to neutral, and for providing their One-Minute Calculator for the website.
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*Thanks to Cunard, for starting the pre-tour on the Queen Mary 2, where the first Year of the Flood reading will take place. Thanks especially to Caroline Mathieson, to Julia Young, and to Tim Wilkin for making this possible.
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FOR THE UK. EVENTS
* To Alexandra Pringle of Bloomsbury, for her dedication and understanding, and to Katie Bond as always.

* To Lennie Goodings of Virago, for the green rabbit and for Oryx and Crake help.

* To Rosa Bosch, intrepid Producer of the London events, and to Irina Brown, the amazing Director; and to all the U.K. actors, directors, organizers and singers, and event booksellers, who will appear on the Tour Blog and the Full Schedule; and to all the Book Festivals participating.

FOR THE CANADIAN EVENTS
* In addition to Ashley Dunn of M&S and Random House – already noted under Overall Planning — special thanks is due to Merilyn Simonds, who with the Kingston Ontario group leapt in with huge energy and efficiency; and to Shannon Hengen of Sudbury, who took an early chance.  The directors, producers, organizers, singers and event booksellers will appear on the Tour Blog and in the Full Schedule.

* To Louise Dennys of Knopf and to Maya Mavjee of Doubleday, for all you have done.

* And to the editor of the book, Ellen Seligman of McClelland & Stewart – as always.

FOR THE U.S. EVENTS
* To Nan Talese of Random House, my editor there for many years – thanks for all your positive support.

* To Alison Rich of Random House, for helping so much.

* To LuAnn Walters of Anchor, for everything over the years.

* To James O’Reilly of the Lavin Agency in Boston, for helping to set up the U.S. events.

* The various organizations, directors, readers, actors, singers and event booksellers will appear on the Tour Blog and on the Full Schedule.