Posts Tagged ‘50 Canadians Who Changed the World’
Creative Nonfiction micro-readings underway at King’s College MFA
Micro-readings are the only way to go. We saw that again tonight at University of King’s College in Halifax. Writers involved in Canada’s only MFA program in Creative Nonfiction took the stage at the University Club. All right, it was in the pub downstairs. Five minutes each, that was the rule. And it worked. Ten…
Read MoreSaying goodbye to Chapters in downtown Montreal
So here, in a single image, is what we’re losing. OK, fair enough: here is what, as a Canadian writer, I’m losing. Sheena took this shot of Our Hero at Chapters in downtown Montreal last November. Faithful readers will recall the VIA-Rail, Cross-Canada, Ocean-to-Ocean, Book-Tour Extravaganza? Montreal provided highlights, notably a fantastic books-and-breakfast event organized…
Read MoreGive this man a microphone, a podium, and an audience . . .
You have been wanting to catch Our Hero in person. You know you have. . . Friday, Jan. 31: The Burns Supper at Hart House. Toast to The Immortal Memory of Robert Burns. Saturday, Feb. 8: Canoe & Wilderness Symposium. 2 p.m. Fatal Passage: Return to Rae Strait. Tuesday, Feb. 18. McGill University Community for…
Read MoreAnd the $5,000 VIA-Rail Travel Voucher goes to . . .
My all-time favorite moment as a hander-out-of-prizes came late last year. At the Toronto launch of 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, I was honoured to give The Best Little Boy in the Whole Wide World Award to James P. McGoogan, who by good luck happened to be in the audience. That would be James…
Read MoreIn defence of Celine Dion (thanks for asking)
Re: 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. I very much appreciate the spirited review that turned up in today’s National Post. Vit Wagner makes some good points (see here). He’s right to mention Lester B. Pearson. I’m a great admirer of Pearson, and I was sorely tempted to include him even though he was born…
Read MoreLegendary Different Drummer plays host to 50 Canadians
This morning took us out to Burlington to talk about 50 Canadians in the Different Drummer Book & Author Series. Would you believe that this series has been running since 1975? It may well be the oldest bookstore-based reading-talking-and-seriously-buying series in Canada. The only contender I can think of is the Books-and-Breakfast series operated by…
Read MoreGotta love how The Morning Show goes beyond the conventional
Wow! So that was different . . . and especially fun. Hats off to the folks at Global TV Toronto who put together The Morning Show. In the past month, thanks to VIA-Rail and HarperCollins Canada, I’ve done half a dozen morning shows across the country. And this one, I can tell you, was unique…
Read MoreWhy CTV’s Canada AM is this country’s top-rated breakfast show
They did their homework. That was the first thing I noticed. When we chatted in the Green Room, before entering the broadcast studio, I could tell that producer Katie Johnson had read the book. Same with host Beverly Thomson, who, a few minutes later, interviewed me on air: she had a welter of yellow stickies…
Read MoreVIA-Rail, ocean-to-ocean, 50 Canadians: this really happened!
One month ago, we boarded a train called The Canadian in Toronto. We were bent on celebrating 50 Canadians Who Changed the World – the majority of whom are alive and thriving — by following in the footsteps of those who created this nation by running steel rails across it. We called this endeavor The…
Read MoreThree reasons why I hate Montreal
–> Some might say that Montreal is over-represented in 50 Canadians. And, yes, within its pages we do find Leonard Cohen, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Guy Laliberte, Louise Arbour, Oscar Peterson, Jacques Plante, Michaelle Jean, Romeo Dallaire, and Celine Dion. But I only included them because they made me do so. Fact is, much as I…
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