150 Canadian authors illuminate a triple-whammy extravaganza
OK, this one has me clasping my head. We’re looking at a multi-media project two years in the making. It’s going to showcase photo-portraits of 150 Canadian authors. Yup: 150 from across the country! The photographer, Mark Raynes Roberts, traveled 20,000 km to take 22,500 photos . . . and the story hasn’t hit the…
Read MorePortrait of Evan Solomon as a thirty-one-year-old novelist
(Big shout-out to Linda Richards at January Magazine. She went into her files and turned up an interview she did back in the day with Evan Solomon. Made me think, gee, in 1999, I spun a yarn myself when I was working as a literary journalist and Solomon published a novel called Crossing the Distance.…
Read MoreTurns out history is happening in Canada. It’s the next big thing.
It’s not much to look at, this modest paperback, especially with the stickies hanging out the side. Oh, and the Toronto Public Library bar code laying across the first word of the title. But, well, dare I say it? I find Canadians and Their Pasts, an academic study by The Pasts Collective, subversive and exciting.…
Read MoreRed Cross certifies Our Hero as set to sail in the Northwest Passage
I know, I know: I shared this on Facebook already. But it’s not every day that a guy gets Red-Cross certified. So for the Enduring Record that is this blog (?): yes, I can do CPR. I was all over that dummy yesterday. In truth, the course is no walk in the park: 9 to…
Read MoreHats off to the Irish! And to the witty genius who led the charge . . . .
Hats off to Ireland, the first country to recognize gay marriage by popular vote. Following an emotional campaign, the Irish voted 62.1 per cent favor of this move, which signals a social revolution. Overnight, Ireland has become a model of inclusivity and tolerance. Yet I would suggest that this transformation could have been foreseen. Faithful…
Read MoreExplorer John Rae turns up in latest Ripcord Adventure Journal
A lovely bit of mix-and-match turns up in the latest Ripcord Adventure Journal. The illustration above, found as a double-truck on pages 21 and 22, combines the new Stromness statue of John Rae with the Hall of Clestrain in which the explorer grew up. Based in Ireland, backed by the World Explorers Bureau, Ripcord is…
Read MoreWho really discovered the Northwest Passage?
Gotta love the latest issue of Canada’s History. Check out the portrait of Arctic explorer John Rae by contemporary artist David Seguin. The question they asked me was: Who discovered the Northwest Passage? Editor Mark Reid writes that, in answering that question, I have “set the record straight” and sorted “the contenders from the pretenders,…
Read MoreU of T summer course in narrative nonfiction . . . .
First, the good news. We’re almost two months from starting (July 13) my one-week intensive course in narrative nonfiction (aka creative nonfiction) and a good number of folks have already registered. That is also the bad news, if you’re still weighing options. BUT: more good news! U of T is offering a $50 discount for…
Read MoreNext time out, divers will probably find human remains on the Erebus
What happens next with the Erebus? I’ve been thinking about this because tonight will find me just north of Toronto, speaking to roughly 120 women about Searching for Franklin: The Lost Ships, the Discoveries, and the Woman Who Created a Legend. The occasion is the celebratory May Dinner of the Aurora/Newmarket branch of the Canadian…
Read MoreAlberta election? Forget the valium. Break out the champagne!
So how about that Alberta election? And where is Terry Mosher (aka Aislin) when we need to be told, “OK, everybody, take a valium.” Political change on this scale? Here in Canada? The last time it happened was thirty-nine years ago. November 15, 1976. That was when Quebecers elected their first Parti Quebecois government, led…
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