Dear Santa, Edited by Samuel Johnson OAM
Dear Santa is a collection of 160 pages of surprising and often hilarious letters to Santa from some of Australia’s most notorious and best-loved grown-ups.
Edited by Samuel Johnson, featuring Grant Denyer, Myf Warhurst, Rove McManus, Helen Garner, Shaun Micallef, Molly Meldrum, Natasha Stott-Despoja, Brian Mannix, Missy Higgins, Deb Mailman and many more.
A few words from Sam –
I hated Christmas. Connie loved Christmas. It was a thing. For a long time. Connie always got a bit shirty when I missed a Christmas get-together, and I missed plenty over the years…
Thing is, I used to have a proper panic at the thought of opening a present in front of others. What if I didn’t react properly? I would blush fiercely, hang my head to hide and ask to open it later. Inevitably, people would start chiming ‘open it now, open it now!’, compounding my anxiety.
Then Connie got sick and Christmas slowly changed. It became…more about getting around Connie and having a laugh. It actually became fun. Now I love Christmas.
It was never Santa’s fault. Or Connie’s.
So I decided to write a letter to Santa. As an adult. To clear the air. Then I read my letter to a few mates and it went down a treat. A couple of high-profile friends said they would write one (turns out I’m not the only one with festive complexes), then everything went bezerkles!
I reached out to our publisher. I lied when I pitched it, telling her I had “heaps” of celebrities who had already submitted (I had none). She gave me a ‘green-light’ within 24 hours (unheard of), I asked how long before print-deadline and she said ‘two weeks’.
Holy reindeer balls.
Natasha Stott-Despoja wrote her letter while attending a global summit in New York. Deb Mailman punched out a feisty one during a family crisis up north. Grant Denyer found time between his 20 billion new shows in development. Brian Mannix and Tim Rogers submitted same-day (not very rock’n’roll). Missy Higgins delivered between feeding her bubs and then John Williamson, Myf Warhurst, Shane Jacobson, Helen Garner, Molly, Rove, Micallef – they just kept coming!
Unlike Christmas, it cost nothing. All letters were donated. Given my long-standing bah-humbugedness, you can imagine how sheepish I’ve been feeling! I take it all back….Sorry Connie.
Sam will do a week of press and publicity on this ‘Dear Santa’ experiment at the end of the month (in bookstores on 27 November 2018 ), but he is spilling the beans early so that every villager who wants a copy can get one.
PREORDER YOUR COPY HERE
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Love Your Sister website.
What: Dear Santa
When: Available for pre-order – shipping from 27 November 2018
Where: Love Your Sister website & selected Bookstores
Who: Everyone
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Image Source: Love Your Sister Facebook page.
SUBSCRIBE
Want to get all the latest events and activities straight to your inbox?
Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter below to keep up to date with our latest posts and find out all the best events & activities for Adelaide families. Newsletters are only sent once a week, and you may sometimes get a special offer exclusively for our subscribers only!
