U of T summer course in narrative nonfiction . . . .
In the past couple of weeks, I have purchased two books written by folks who passed through one of my University of Toronto workshops. I would like to say that these publications are down to me. But I don’t dare. People would call me out. Put it this way: at least I didn’t get in…
Read MoreAt last we hear the ringing voice of an ex-Montrealer
At last we hear the voice and see the vision of a Montreal expatriate! Film-maker John Walker, who earned well-deserved kudos with his docudrama Passage, has worked magic again with Quebec My Country Mon Pays. Down through the decades, we have heard countless francophones and many an “anglo” speaking to the outside world from within…
Read MoreMeet Louie Kamookak: champion of the Inuit oral tradition
Wonderful to see that my friend Louie Kamookak — Inuit historian, Franklin expert, and public speaker — has set up a website (click here). I’m looking forward to catching Louie in Ottawa on April 12, where he will participate in a panel discussion about Franklin and the Inuit oral tradition. It will be hosted by…
Read MoreWe’re voyaging Into the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. Are we excited yet?
Three Facebook friends from different corners of the world have drawn my attention to a call for presenters aboard a celebrity sailing in the Arctic. While I really do appreciate their thinking of me, this does make me wonder if I haven’t made sufficient noise about how, this August, Sheena and I will be voyaging…
Read MoreA Real Canadian can pretend to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day
Gotta love a column by Peter Shawn Taylor that turned up today in the Waterloo Region Record — one week in advance of St. Patrick’s Day. Faithful readers will appreciate that I am a man without bias, ahem, but I do believe Taylor hits his stride when he invokes Celtic Lightning and, all right, paraphrases…
Read MoreAuthors for Indies set to party at Book City in the Beaches
It’s happening again. The Great Canadian Book Bash is coming to a bookstore near you. On Saturday, April 30, roughly 700 Canadian authors will turn up at more than 100 bookstores across the country. It’s called Authors for Indies and, yes, we do it to show our support for Canada’s independent booksellers. We want them…
Read MoreMFA Program in Creative Nonfiction is one of a kind in Canada
I’ve mentioned the low-res MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at King’s College in Halifax? One of a kind in Canada? I serve as a mentor therein, so I may be biased. But I think it’s spectacular. It may be cheating, since this is MY blog. But I’ll cede the floor to my colleague Stephen Kimber, who…
Read MoreCreative Nonfiction online? Through U of T? Still time to come aboard . . .
He’s back! And this time (see photo) he’s at the house of explorer Roald Amundsen, just outside Oslo. In response to a raucous clamor, the Dr. Jekyll in me has clawed his way onto your screen to announce an online course in Creative Nonfiction. It’s called The Art of Fact: An Introduction to Writing Nonfiction,…
Read MoreEnough about me. Let’s talk about YOU. What do YOU think about me?
Looking back as the year winds down, I discover that this has been a great month for the ol’ blog. Second highest number of visitors ever. Yes, we are talking thousands. No big mystery, of course: people were keen to read about our Adventure Canada voyage Out of the Northwest Passage. And let’s not kid…
Read MoreNorthwest Passage voyagers make history . . . maybe next time?
[Here endeth our Adventure Canada voyage Out of the Northwest Passage. . . .] DAY SIXTEEN Sept. 20 Today we visited what is arguably the most picturesque community in Greenland. The settlement of Itilleq is 49 km south of Sisimiut on a small island at the mouth of Itilleq Fjord. Inhabited by about 100…
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