Home > Books & Magazines > Canadiana

Canadian authors, history, and culture well beyond separatism and maple syrup.

Primary Sites:
The Beaver puts on a new face *
Canada's oldest history magazine is staying up to date with a redesign. [More]

Anne made producer rich: family *
Sullivan, lawyer for Montgomery heirs spar in court over evidence in suit. [More]

Anne of green gavels? *
For the past 13 days, Ruth Macdonald has been wheeled into courtroom 410 in Toronto's Superior Court to take her front-row seat with her family, who are fighting a $55-million libel suit launched by a former business partner, Sullivan Entertainment. [More]

Backstage Vancouver: A Century of Entertainment Legends (Keyes review) ****
You don't have to be a Vancouverite to get a kick out of Backstage Vancouver, although certainly most of the book's buyers will be from the Lower Mainland, or else they'll be homesick ex-pat Vancouverites desperate to savour a slice of local history. [More]

Barry Broadfoot, 77 *
Noted Canadian oral historian and journalist Barry Samuel Broadfoot has died at the age of 77. [More]

By the look of things, this land isn't my land *
Last month, I received with my daily newspaper the premiere issue of the Canadian Tourism Commission's Canadian travel magazine, PureCanada -- 160 pages of bright, glossy features, photographs and maps designed to encourage Canadians to be tourists within our own borders. [More]

Canadian authors' fame spreads worldwide *
'There's a way that children's books are . . . telling people about Canada,' author Tim Wynne-Jones tells LUMA MUHTADIE [More]

Carol Shields: 'I liked to think that women had found one another' *
In an interview, Carol Shields says she was astonished by the success of Dropped Threads, an anthology of women's writing, two years ago. Now, volume two arrives... [More]

Cracking the code of Sir Francis Drake *
It was a whim that led former B.C. cabinet minister Samuel Bawlf to wonder if Drake might have sailed the coast of British Columbia before Captain Cook. As MARK HUME reports, it became a fascination [More]

Estates' rights in Canadian copyright re-examined *
MP seeks to strike controversial 'Lucy Maud Montgomery provision' [More]

Hipster history surprisingly straight *
However authorized their beginnings, many histories end up as unauthorized. The historian is attacked by grumpy peers and, as the years pass, his work is dismissed as racist, or eurocentric, or naive, and a new authorized version is embraced. The disclaimer here is a reference, presumably, to George Bowering being a novelist and poet rather than a historian. [More]

It's snowing metaphors *
English-speakers have a number of ways of saying the Inuit have a number of words for snow. The metaphor is always the same -- that people pay close attention to subjects that are important to them -- but nobody agrees on how many words there are supposed to be. [More]

June Callwood, Canadian icon, dead at 82 *
June Callwood -- social activist, journalist, broadcaster and writer -- died early Saturday at the age of 82 after a lengthy battle with cancer. [More]

JUNO: Canadians at D-Day - June 6, 1944 (Keyes review) **
Ted Barris's history of the events on Juno Beach, right smack in the middle of the Normandy Invasion, has been hovering toward the bottom of the country's various best-seller's lists, which, when you think of it, is a typically Canadian way to recognize an underwhelming achievement. [More]

Macfarlane Walter & Ross: From publish to perish *
Over the course of 15 years, Macfarlane Walter & Ross developed an enviable track record producing award-winning non-fiction by some of Canada's most talented writers. So why has it died? SANDRA MARTIN investigates... [More]

Maclean's at the crossroads *
On the eve of its centenary, the once-venerable newsmagazine faces sagging circulation, low staff morale and a fierce fight for advertising dollars, MICHAEL POSNER writes. [More]

Murder, Torture, Loss...Book Profiles Canadians Who Survived it All *
Based on Paula Todd’s widely viewed television show Person 2 Person, an intimate biography program about human behaviour, A Quiet Courage shows us that it is often ordinary people who have something extraordinary to teach us. [More]

Nothing More Comforting (Garber review) ****
Dorothy Duncan's ode to Canada's Heritage Food wins kudos . . .and four stars from Anne Garber. [More]

Pierre Berton dies at 84 *
Canadian author and broadcaster Pierre Berton, one of the country's most recognizable and beloved media personalities, has died at age 84. [More]

Pierre Berton obituary *
Journalist, author, pundit, personality — for more than 30 years Pierre Berton dominated print and broadcast media in Canada. [More]

Press conference rigged, producers say *
The producers of the heartwarming Anne of Green Gables TV shows alleged in court yesterday that author Lucy Maud Montgomery's heirs deliberately set out to torpedo a public offering by Sullivan Entertainment four years ago. [More]

Readers, please scour your attics *
By now, everyone must realize that something powerful and paradoxical has transpired in recent years in the realm of Canadian nationalism. [More]

Separatist sagas *
Neither the FLQ nor the October Crisis figures largely in Canadian arts and letters. Now, writes SANDRA MARTIN, three novels are tackling one of the most disturbing chapters in our history [More]

The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Garber review) *****
Art historian Silcox, a wonderfully lucid stylist, describes The Group of Seven as "socially responsible, serious, fervent, egalitarian, and sensitive to the concerns of ordinary people," even though they failed to accept women artists as their equals, and expertly chronicles their mission to create an "all-Canadian art." [More]

The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake (review): 'The boldness of this low man' *
Author Samuel Bawlf demonstrates that Francis Drake, best remembered as an Elizabethan privateer, explored the northern Pacific coast of North America in 1579 -- two centuries before James Cook and George Vancouver, who are usually regarded as the first to accomplish that task. [More]

Western exposure: Artist Robert Smithson **** 1/2
Artist Robert Smithson had a taste for the magnificence of nature, SARAH MILROY writes, and British Columbia fit the bill. A current exhibition tells the tale of his four visits [More]

Secondary Sites:
'Malicious strategy' cited in Sullivan case *
A news conference held four years ago by the heirs of Lucy Maud Montgomery was part of a malicious strategy to extract more money from Sullivan Entertainment, the company that produced two Anne of Green Gables films in the 1980s, court was told yesterday. [More]

A novel approach: More Reviews of Contemporary Fiction *
I find myself in a bizarre position. I'm reviewing a book that consists of reviews of books that are first presented as lectures biannually in Montreal and Toronto to sold-out crowds. So I'm reviewing a collection of written reviews that were first presented orally. It's hard enough getting people to read book reviews, yet Robert Adams gets them to stand in line to listen to them. [More]

A Passion for Food: Conversations with Great Canadian Chefs *
ISBN:1551280701
Author:Gerry Shikatani
Publisher:Mercury Press
Openly sharing their ideas and feelings about food with intimacy, insight and humour, 12 of Canada's leading chefs make A Passion for Food an uncommonly textured look at life's culinary pleasures. [More]
Buy from Amazon

Amazon dot ca (Amazon.ca) *
Amazon.ca offers fast shipping (often within two business days), and no border hassles for Canadians -- shop in Canadian dollars, too. [More]

Being Canadian: FIRST MOMENTS *
For some, it's hearing their child speak English. For others, it's selling a painting. Seven recent immigrants describe when they realized they were Canadian [More]

Birth of a new ethnicity *
The Canadian identity has undergone a remarkable transformation in the past half a century, says MATTHEW MENDELSOHN [More]

Canada Day celebrations at Granville Island *
Celebrate Canada's Birthday by visiting Granville Island and taking part in a wide assortment of culturally diverse activities. [More]

Canadian books on 'best-loved' list *
Canadian author Carol Shields's latest novel Unless made it on to the top 10 of the United Kingdom's 50 best-loved books written by women in a list compiled by the Orange cellular telephone company. [More]

Canadian Wine for Dummies **** 1/2
ISBN:1894413180
Author:Tony Aspler & Barbara Leslie
Publisher:CDG Books Canada, $27.99 (CAD); $19.99 (USD); Paperback - 384 pages (December 8, 2000)

This is probably the only comprehensive guide to Canadian wine released in last spring's book season. They have not only written a good book, but they have done a real service to Canadian wine...

Buy this book from Powell's:

Canadian Wine for Dummies [More]
Buy from Chapters

Copyright bill passes *
An amended version of the so-called "Lucy Maud Montgomery provision" has been passed by a vote in the House of Commons. [More]

Death in the family *
The Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian public policy, awarded at a lavish dinner last week, is an award I have, in the past, unkindly dubbed "The Giller for Nerds." But I have also defended it on the grounds that, although almost all of these books are virtually guaranteed to go unread except in specialized circles (academics and bureaucrats), they are important contributors to the whither Canada? debate. [More]

Doctor Earle's diagnosis *
Singer Steve Earle, no stranger to rehab himself, has a few prescriptions for an ailing America, ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN writes [More]

Giants and behemoths: Abebooks *
Some months ago I wrote a column wondering why the Internet, which was supposed to foster competitiveness, is being dominated by behemoths with few or no competitors - Amazon, eBay and Google, for example. [More]

Hammond World Travel Atlas (Keyes review) ****
Hammond's clever cartographers have come up with a coffee-table tome that marries detailed maps with small photographs illustrating 14 or so sites worth seeing on each area depicted. [More]

Letter to the editor by Louis Riel unveiled in Regina *
It's a few lines on a small piece of paper but its significance is large. [More]

Literary Day, Monday May 27, 2002 *
Monday, May 27
Literary Day -- Vancouver International Children's Festival, Vanier Park
[More]

MWR slated to close by month's end *
Doug Gibson, publisher of McClelland & Stewart, announced late yesterday that no buyer has come forward for Macfarlane Walter & Ross, the elite nonfiction house M & S acquired in 1999 from Jack Stoddart's now defunct General Publishing conglomerate. [More]

New children's book by Dianna Bonder helps with literacy *
Author appearance, Saturday, April 21, 2007, West Vancouver, BC. [More]

Paperbacks for Summer Reading *
Alison Gzowski's selction of your 2003 summer's best bets... [More]

Report on Business magazine grabs three awards *
The Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine took three honours at the 26th annual Canadian National Magazine Awards held Friday at Toronto's swanky Carlu lounge. [More]

Sanity Savers: The Canadian Working Woman's Guide to Almost Having it All ****
ISBN:0075605392
Author:Ann Douglas
Publisher:McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., $21.99 (CAD)
This comforting and humorous book is full of innovative solutions to help balance busy days. Offers advice from more than 200 diverse professionals plus tips and anecdotes from real life working women. Ready to hit the panic button? This book's for you!

Buy this book from Powell's:

Sanity Savers [More]
Buy from Chapters

Steven Galloway: Excelling at Young Writer 101 *
A self-described 'stupid punk' from Kamloops, BC, finds himself with two acclaimed novels and a university job teaching writing. [More]

The 'Lit-fest': Poets rush in where Atwood fears to tread *
The really famous authors who attend the spring and autumn literary festivals never show up at the hospitality suite, and I'll tell you why. Simple economics. They can afford to pay for the minibar in their room, whereas the rest of us non-Atwoods and non-Ondaatjes are forced to suffer one another's company in the name of free beer and endless bowls of corn nuts. Thus begins my exposé of the seedy underworld of that most genteel of book-season rituals, the lit fest. [More]

The lives of Larry, and Daisy, and Jane *
Larry Weller is an ordinary guy born in the 1950s, who is adapting to society's changing expectations of men as he journeys toward the millennium. He moves through the spontaneity of the seventies, the blind enchantment of the eighties and the lean, mean nineties, to complete his quiet, stubborn search of self. Published in 1997, Larry's Party won the Orange Prize. [More]

The red-haired girl goes to court *
Sullivan Entertainment squares off against the heirs of the Anne of Green Gables author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, in a $55-million defamation suit [More]

Translators drop off book fronts *
House of Anansi has stopped crediting translators on book covers in hopes of attracting new readers. The translators, RAY CONLOGUE writes, are not amused [More]

What do these two things have in common? *
In time for Canada Day, 11 of Canada's design gurus pick the country's iconic objects, from a cookie to a felt bag [More]

Will The Walrus float? *
The newest, and arguably richest, kid on Canada's magazine rack will need its namesake's thick skin to survive. Others ventured where The Walrus wants to go, MICHAEL POSNER writes, but few have made it and none got rich trying [More]