This weekend on The House

A preview from Max Paris, Senior Producer for The House on CBC Radio One:

Happy Boxing Day! It doesn't have quite the same ring as: Merry Christmas! Still... I think we put together a show that most listeners would be overjoyed to find under their Christmas tree or in their Boxing Day... er... box.

The tradition at The House around Christmas is a book show. In seasons past, that meant the host sat down with a bunch authors and talked with them about  their books. Well, last year we began a little experiment. We let guest interviewers talk with authors about their books. Now the interviewers weren't just any Joe or Jane Shmoe off Sparks street. They were people with a keen interest in the subject matter of the book. If at all possible, we found someone who was involved in the subject matter. A good example from last year was former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps interviewing Andrew Cohen about his biography of former Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

The experiment was such a success that this year we decided to do the whole show with guest interviewers. So here's what we've got: three books, three authors and three guest interviewers. Thomas D'Aquino, President and Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives has a jovial chat with Buzz Hargrove, former president of the Canadian Auto Workers, about his autobiography "Laying it on the Line." Judy Erola, former Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs in Pierre Trudeau's cabinet, gets into it with John English about the second and final volume of his Trudeau biography, "Just Watch Me."
And to top it all off, Senator Hugh Segal, once the chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, hams it up with Peter Mansbridge, host of CBC TV's The National, about his book, "One on One," based on interviews he did in his other show of the same name.

There you have it... our Christmas present to you! I hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as I enjoyed producing it.