CanLitBooks

(left: scarcer UK ed. 1956 Victor Gollancz dj; right: more familiar 1956 Macmillan dj–Ismar David did cover design; photo on blurb by J. Atkin)

(signed 1968 Macmillan/Laurentian softcover; Harri Aalto: cover art)

(signed 1974 McClelland & Stewart dj)

Adele Wiseman (1928-1992) was born into the old North End area of Winnipeg. Like her friend, Margaret Laurence, she turned to writing and eventually produced the 1956 Governor General-winning The Sacrifice. It took her till 1974 to write her second novel Crackpot, which is a moral novel about a Jewish prostitute. She taught at U of MB, McGill, Trent U, U of PEI, U of Windsor, U of Western ON, and Sir George Williams. Wiseman also worked as a social worker in England, a teacher in Italy, and as an executive-secretary for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She also wrote plays, poems, and stories for children.

(flatsigned Talonbooks softcover, 1982; cover–right hand panel of a triptych by Jack Shadbolt photographed by John Evans; author photo by John Mastromonaco)

Victoria-born Phyllis Webb (1927-) is a brilliant Imagist poet who was educated at McGill and UBC. She went on to teach university English at UBC, U of Victoria, U of A, and the Banff School of Fine Arts. A poet, script writer, essayist, and reviewer, Webb also worked for the CBC as a program organizer and was involved in political activities. The Vision Tree collection of poems won the Governor General Award in 1982. She now lives on Salt Spring Island.

(left: 1960 St. Martin’s dj–design by Reynold Pollak; middle: same edition, blurb; photo P. Esterhazy; right: Macmillan 1961 dj, uncredited artist)

(McClelland & Stewart, 1963 dj, cover artist: BL)

(left: McClelland & Stewart, 1964 dj by Frank Newfeld; middle: Goose Lane/CBC cassettes; photo by blog-author in Neepawa cemetery of statue believed to be the inspiration for the stone angel figure)

(1969 McClelland & Stewart dj–cover by Paul Bacon; inscribed by Laurence)

(left: 1970 UK ed. by Macmillan; dj by Peter Kettle; middle & right: McClelland & Stewart 1974 pb flatsigned)

(left: Knopf 1970; dj by Warren Chappell; recommended WB movie adaptation by Paul Newman starring his wife Joanne Woodward; right: 1966 Popular Library pb–still from movie)

(must-see 1978 NFB documentary, VHS, directed by Robert Duncan)

(left: painting on cover of Vol. 1, No. 1 of the 1991 review by the Margaret Laurence Society; my elegy on right appeared on the inside back page)

(must-see tourist/fan shrine in Neepawa, MB, west of Winnipeg; the folks there have done a nice job of restoring the home and recreating the childhood home of the ‘big house’ featured in A Bird in the House–well worth the stop/visit. Souvenirs available. The Gabrielle House in St. Boniface, Winnipeg is likewise well worth a visit if you are in MB.

Born in Neepawa, MB, (Jean) Margaret Laurence (1926-1987) was the most significant prairie novelist of the 1960s and ’70s. She quickly gained a wide international following for her impressive work about women’s lives. While married, she lived on the Gold Coast (Ghana) and England before returning to Lakefield, ON where she lived till the end of her life.

Laurence had a strong awareness of the complexities of human consciousness and relationships which was reflected throughout her writing. Her novels set in the fictional town of Manawaka include A Jest of God, which won the 1966 GG award for fiction, The Stone Angel (1964), The Diviners (1974), and The Fire Dwellers(1969). I used to teach her excellent story collection A Bird in the House (1970), which I still consider to be her best artistically interconnected work.

She was a founder of The Writers’ Trust of Canada and was active in causes for world peace. She also wrote three books for children: Jason’s Quest (1970), Six Darn Cows (1979), and The Olden Day’s Coat (1980). NFB made an excellent 1978 documentary about her called The First Lady of Manawaka which reveals her personality and passion for writing. Laurence was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1972.

(Ryerson softcover, 1951, rare flatsigned)

(left: scarce title, Ryerson hb, 1954–cover J.E.H. MacDonald & Thoreau MacDonald; right: 1957 Ryerson hb, rare flatsigned)

(1969 Ryerson dj, flatsigned, as are most of my CanLit books)

(Dec. 17/71 Xmas card)

(left: Clarke, Irwin, 1972 dj–John de Visser cover; right: 1977 softcover Oberon–design–Michael Macklem, inscribed for Henry Kreisel)

(the only 2 books completed of Collected Poems, 2003 and 2004, Oberon softcover; both rare signeds by Brewster at Saskatoon’s; 1’s dj is from Picasso; 2nd’s by Egon Schiele)

A poet and story writer, Elizabeth (Winifred) Brewster (1922-2012) was born in Chipman, NB and attended Radcliffe College, King’s College, and U of London. She obtained a degree in Library Science and worked in libraries in NB, ON, BC, and AB. Brewster settled in Saskatoon where she was an English professor at U of SK. Her style was direct and simple and she wrote about ordinary people and situations.

Her first volume of poetry was published in 1951; her last in 2004. In all, she produced more than 20 books and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2001. I used more of her poems than any other Canadian writer in my various textbooks; she was a very accessible poet for high school readers.

(1948 1st ed. dj McClelland & Stewart; signed to Bill and Nancy Cutt)

(1st ed. McClelland & Stewart dj, 1964–dj design Frank Newfeld, signed)

(old Edmonton newspaper article about Kreisel slipped into above book)

Vienna-born Henry Kreisel (1922-1991) escaped the Nazis when they occupied Austrai in 1938. he was interned in England before coming to Canada and eventually settled in Edmonton where he taught English and was once the head of that department at the U of A. Kreisel was a significant writer about immigrant experience and his works allude to the plight of the Jews under the Nazis in WWII. His first book, The Rich Man (1948) was an instant success; then came another novel set in Edmonton called The Betrayal (1964). Kreisel modelled his writing on that of Joseph Conrad, another famous immigrant writer.

(one of a series of story collections; Macmillan dj, 1st ed. dj–dj design by Jack Ribik , signed to friends Doyle and Bill Klyn)

(letter to Bill after journalist-friend Doyle died)

(envelope for above letter from Gallant’s Paris home)

Born in Montreal where she was also educated, Mavis (Leslie de Trafford) Gallant (1922-2014), worked with NFB and the Montreal Standard,  then moved to Paris in 1950, preferring its freedoms, and never came back to Canada. She was a storywriter and novelist who wrote about exiles and expatriates; her work was published 116 times in The New Yorker magazine, and she was highly regarded much like Munro, Cheever, Richler, and Updike.

In all, the talented Gallant published 14 memorable collections of well-crafted stories, winning many awards in the process. She was ignored for a long time in Canada until the ’80s, and was later appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. The PQ government also awarded her the Prix Athanase-David.

(1959 dj, Little, Brown & Co–jacket by Samuel H. Bryant, photo Harold Horwood, signed for a friend Barbara)

(enclosed Xmas card for Barbara; Carlos Marchiori design, Hallmark)

(enclosed letter for Barbara as well)

(left: 1962 dj, Michael Joseph; drawings by Frank Newfeld, and wrapper by Bruce Drysdale; right; 1962 dj McClelland & Stewart; illustrated by Victor Mays)

(left: the 1963 Lewis Parker jacket Mowat disliked causing the book to be recalled by M & S; subsequently released with the right, red dj preferred by Mowat–rare signed by Mowat; the book was later made into a successful Disney movie directed by Black Stallion director Carroll Ballard)

(1972 dj, McClelland & Stewart, NF’s David Blackwood cover; another book turned into a movie–the 1981 Playboy/Playhouse/CBS/Fox/Lorimar VHS)

(from Mowat story “Walk Well My Brother'”, 2003 Lions Gate; Charles Martin Smith who starred in the Never Cry Wolf movie wrote and directed this one)

Born in Belleville, ON, Farley McGill Mowat (1921-2014) was educated at U of T, and wrote some 45 books which sold 17 million copies in 52 languages in 40 countries, making him our most financially-successful international author and most-read author for a long time.

Mowat was a controversial, ornery chap with strong opinions he seldom abandoned. He denounced Canada’s treatment of the Inuit in his first book People of the Deer, published in 1952. Mowat also sided with animals as can be seen in books like Owls in the Family (1961), A Whale for the Killing (1972), The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be (1957), and Never Cry Wolf (1963). He wrote books for children like his GG winning Lost in the Barrens (1956), many which made their way onto school curricula.

Mowat lived a full life and had few regrets. After he died in Port Hope, ON, Margaret Atwood and her husband Graeme Gibson took out a full page ad in the Globe and Mail saluting his unique character and many achievements. I admire the way he was “very much his own man” always.

(rare, valuable 1955 dj Andre Deutsch—cover by Heather Standring with rare signature)

(1960 dj Andre Deutsch, dj by Stephen Russ; later made into a Canadian movie with Robert Shaw as Ginger)

(the entertaining 1997 VHS movie version of Moore’s 1st book starring Bob Hoskins and Maggie Smith; Handmade films/Paragon/Anchor Bay, directed by Jack Clayton)

Brian Moore (1921-1999) was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and lived in Canada between 1948 and 1958, working for the Montreal Gazette before moving to California where he taught Creative Writing at UCLA. Moore was a master of the contemporary novel and he was interested in ironic, humorous portrayal of character, in particular. In California, he wrote the screenplay for a Hitchcock picture Torn Curtain. His Judith Hearne, The Luck of Ginger Coffey, and The Statement have all been popular novels made into movies likewise.

(Berton did a lot of media work; doing an LP for Arc was a natural since he grew up in Dawson and was well-aware of Service, later doing an interview with the author in France for CBC TV; cover by Windsor Art Studios)

(Knopf, 1956 dj by Herbert Bayer, uncredited photo on blurb)

(McClelland & Stewart, 1970–signed from the 2 book, slipcased set, 1977; Berton also hosted The National Dream CBC tv series)

(he took his family back to Dawson via boat; dj–signed, McClelland & Stewart, 1973)

(rare 1958 signed letter from his days at Maclean’s magazine)

Whitehorse, YK-born Pierre (Francis de Marigny) Berton (1920-2004) was a popular best-selling journalist, historian, and media personality. Along with Farley Mowat, he was quite likely our country’s most popular and best-known writer in the ’50s through to the ’90s and a prolific non-fiction writer. In all, he wrote 50 books and was a great popularizer of Canadian history with tales of Arctic exploration, the building of the CPR, the Dionne quintuplets sensation, and the Gold Rush.

Always ambitious, Berton started his career in Vancouver as the youngest editor of any Canadian newspaper, edited MacLean’s  (from 1952- 1959), was a dogged panelist on CBC’s Front Page Challenge, and hosted the Pierre Berton Show from 1961-1973. He won the Governor General Award three times for The Mysterious North (1956), Klondike (1958), and The Last Spike (1972). Berton had a passion for quirky anecdotes and stories which were often featured in his work.

(Intermedia 1978 pb–translated by Margaret Rose)

Hull-born Yvette Naubert (1918-1982) was a French-Canadian writer who earned a Bachelor of Music before living abroad in France. She wrote five novels and two story collections and was twice a prize-winner: Le Cercle du Livre de France (1968) and Concours Litteraires de Quebec (1969).

She also worked for CBC Radio from 1946 to 1952, and in 1980, she became Writer-in-Residence at the University of Ottawa. Contes de la Solitude–1967 was translated into English  (Tales of Solitude) by Margaret Rose in 1978, Intermedia (cover art: Fumiko Greenaway). I thought highly enough of her work to use two of her stories : “The Childhood Home” and “The Pigeons in St. Louis Square” in my senior high school English textbooks.