Fall 2008 Book Tour Dates

To celebrate the release of our new book, Jay Allison and Dan Gediman are touring the country.  Locations confirmed so far include:

By Dan Gediman

July 11, 2008 in Barcelona

I’ve come to Spain to speak at iFest, an international conference designed to inspire entrepreneurs and business leaders – sort of an Aspen Institute for the Spanish-speaking world.  The presenters and the audience comprise an incredibly diverse variety of professionals including scientists, artists and other creative people who share a curiosity for all things new.

Leading up to my speech on Friday, July 11 was a whirlwind of press interviews including an hour-long conversation on COMRadio, the public radio service for the Catalan region.  I was on a show is called “Tal com som,” which features serious discussions about politics, philosophy, ideas, etc.  Despite my not speaking Spanish, and doing the program through an interpreter, it was one of the best interviews I’ve ever had about This I Believe.

This I Believe executive producer Dan Gediman speaking at iFest in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Kedume.

There were also interviews with two major Spanish newspapers, ADN and La
Vanguardia; for the latter I was interviewed by a journalist who we are told writes the most-read newspaper column in Spain. I was also interviewed by the web division of a Catalan public television station based in Barcelona
and by a national TV network from Argentina. Doing photo shoots for the newspapers was a trip – I’ve never had such star treatment.  The publisher of our Spanish book, Plataforma, did an excellent job of scheduling these media visits.

My presentation at iFest went over very well.  The audience was genuinely interested in This I Believe, and one man came up afterward and said he cried when I played excerpts from two essays.  I talked about our plans to create a place for Spanish This I Believe essays. We’ve started a collaboration with Infonomia (the entity that puts on the iFest conference) to do this and essays are already coming in to the website.  (If you know anyone who speaks Spanish, please encourage them to submit an essay!)

Barcelona is a beautiful city and a wonderful place to visit.  I’m thrilled that it is the launching pad for our international ventures with This I Believe.

Contact Dan