Doug Saunders is European bureau chief and an award-winning columnist for The Globe and Mail in Toronto. His new book, Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World, tells the hidden stories of perseverance and success in the slums on the outskirts of the world’s major cities. Before discussing the importance of these “arrival cities,” he answered a few questions in our Green Room.
Q. What is your cocktail of choice?
A. Dirty gin martini, olives.
Q. What time do you start working on an average day?
A. 8:30.
Q. How long do you go without checking email?
A. Sometimes as long as 25 seconds.
Q. What’s your favorite technological gadget?
A. The $20 Nokia.
Q. Who is your favorite literary character?
A. Bertie Wooster.
Q. If you had a different profession in another life, what would it be?
A. I’d run the telegraph office in a medium-sized city in the United States around 1925.
Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
A. Make a soufflé.
Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. My grandfather’s running trophy from 1906.
To read more about Saunders’ lecture, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.