I’m working on the Acknowledgements for River of Stars. I read an essay earlier this year (someone might find it and link?) that was an irritated assault on the very idea of acknowledgements. One aspect was the notion that a writer’s family and friends really don’t need citing in great numbers, nor does the music one listened to while writing. And there was a pretty funny riff noting that sometimes the writer is just bragging: ‘I want to thank my friends Rihanna and Margaret Atwood for support during many coffee sessions and twitter PMs, along with the always-loyal David Bowie and Junot Diaz.’

Right. Having said this, I still find my own Acknowledgements important for each book, and I spend some time on them. And, as it happens, I am one of those readers interested in the acknowledgements of other writers. (David Bowie? Loyal? Wow!)

For me the starting point is the writers and books that keyed my research. The trick is trying to balance steering readers to the works that were most useful, letting them chase down the material, without making a novel sound like a dissertation. The reality for me is that every book is built on a scaffolding of reading and correspondence and note-taking over a long period of time. It feels proper to show my appreciation for the books and people who are central to that.

Beyond that, we get into ‘you didn’t build that yourself’. Yes, of course, a writer writes his or her books, and usually in an intense and solitary way (not always, but usually?). The very stresses associated with that make it even more important if an author was braced and backed up by people in their lives. There is also a difference between a manuscript on a writer’s desk or hard drive, and a book that can be bought in a store (or downloaded). Production, packaging, editing, marketing … some writers are now doing this alone. Some of us are graced with publishing colleagues who put a lot of passion and skill into bringing the book to  readers. It seems ungracious (un-Canadian?) not to name at least some of them.

On the other hand, I am going to refrain from acknowledging the day-by-day support of my very good friend Derek Jeter, especially the morning after he broke his ankle and the Yankees of 2012 probably died.

On the other other hand, here’s a photo…