Laurence of Africa last
Here is the last excerpt from my essay, “Laurence of Africa,” which brings us to the end of it. The focus is on the novel, This Side Jordan, which is […]
Laurence of Africa 2
This continues last week’s post, with excerpts from my essay, “Laurence of Africa.” Nearly a decade later, in her 1970 Preface to A Tree for Poverty, Laurence regrets that she […]
Margaret Laurence
Yes, the Margaret Laurence whose books they forced you to read in high school, which they really shouldn’t have done. The Margaret Laurence who wandered far from her home in […]
Respirer et écrire
I have been thinking about Sara Jeanette Duncan lately. I should be thinking about her work, but I’ve been thinking about her. OK, when I cough (a lingering cold), I […]
Sharing
I thought I would share with you some of the great resources I come across in my research for Canadian Writers Abroad. I found the two below while doing photo […]
Would it be best for you if you left the country?
I thought I would follow up on Margaret Atwood’s comment in the last post, that up to the 1960s, if you were a writer in Canada who wanted an international […]
Douglas LePan
Startled by George Monbiot’s dire observations on the melting of Arctic ice in “The Heat of the Moment” in the Guardian this morning, I have decided to post a poem […]
A Little Light Reading on my Vacation
When I was book editor for the Varsity newspaper at the University of Toronto, I reviewed a dictionary. This outraged the Review editor so much that I still remember his […]
The Innocent Traveller
July 2021. Towards a celebration of the upcoming tenth anniversary of Canadian Writers Abroad, check out this post from July 2012. There is nothing quite like poking about second-hand bookshops […]
The Future Margaret Laurence Wanted
Are you disappointed by the results of Rio+20, the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development? Here are some uplifting words from a wise woman who once lived in Knightsbridge, not far […]
Love Literary London
There are many things to love about London, but my favourite is its celebration of literature. Besides theatre, Sherlock and Doctor Who. Dead authors appear on blue plaques on walls […]
T.C. Haliburton and the Olympics
The London Chapter of the Haliburton Society is joining the Olympics, in the same way that the Cultural Olympiad is running in parallel with the London 2012 Olympic Games. It’s […]
Jubilee and Dialect
In my last post I tried to start a discussion on the use of dialect and idiom in fiction. I expected people to exclaim Faulkner! and James Joyce! in the […]
Once You Break
Once You Break a Knuckle by D.W. Wilson has twelve stories and for that simple reason I will make twelve points in my review. This book is a must read. […]
The Orange Prize for Fiction
At the end of this month, the last winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction will be announced. The prize has been around since 1996, and is given to celebrate […]
2 on 1
Two Canadian writers on the same page this morning in the Guardian Review. The first is a very positive review by John Burnside of D.W. Wilson’s Once You Break a […]
Sara and Edward
I linger’d; all within was noise Of songs, and clapping hands, and boys That crash’d the glass and beat the floor; Where once we held debate, a band Of youthful […]
Screenplays and Scriptwriters
How did I get here? I don’t even write film scripts. Well, I haven’t written my Wilson book review, and I haven’t done my Smart research, so I was searching […]
Le Mas Blanc and Isabel Huggan
I am happy to be able to offer you this interview with Isabel Huggan about her writing retreat at Le Mas Blanc. A Canadian writer of fiction, essays and poetry […]
Big and Small
By big and small I don’t mean the play of the same name with Cate Blanchett. I mean Tuesday, when I went to the oversized London Book Fair at Earls […]
D.W. Wilson
Remember this aside from my “Masterclass”? (Hmm, University of East Anglia rings a bell. Ah yes, that’s where the Canadian who won the BBC short story competition was studying. Who […]
Sat down and
Think of a Canadian love story gone sad and who do you think of? The federal budget of 2012 has made a cut to the CBC of $115 million over […]
