ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

So many people right across Canada helped me with this book that I’m certain the list that follows will be incomplete. My apologies. You know who you are, and how you helped, and that I’m grateful.

Province by province, I was helped and encouraged by hosts, guides, advance readers, and friends, including authors quoted here who may not have been aware of the help they were giving. Special thanks go to my volunteer readers and advisers, Silver Donald Cameron, Andreas Schroeder, Don Nichol, Trevor Herriot, Gordon Sinclair, Mark Abley, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Hal Wake, and above all, Jack Hodgins. All remaining errors are my own.

“The Story Begins”: Dorothy Colby and the Sleeping Giant gang, Miriam Toews, Richard Scrimger, Paul Inksetter and Penny, R.H. Thompson, Molly Thom, Bill Houston, Charles Gordon and Nancy (the Business Manager), Gordon Sinclair, the late George Swinton and Don Starkell, and Jake McDonald, who took me to see the bush planes heading north from Selkirk.

“Hogtown Heroes”: Stuart Woods, Antanas Sileika, Judith Skelton Grant, Jennifer Surridge, Peter Paterson, Matie Molinaro, William Toye, Don Gillies, Martin O’Malley, Jack McLeod, W.J. Keith, Cathleen Morrison, Bruce Cockburn, Jonathan Manthorpe, James Bartleman, John Gordon, Ruth Panofsky, my hip surgeon Dr. Earl Bogoch, Rev. Doctor Malcolm Sinclair, Mike Spence and the Arts and Letters Club, Bob Missen, Janet Inksetter, George Fetherling, Ben McNally, Aaron Milrad, Mark McLean, Betty Kennedy, Doug Knights (another of Jane’s cousins!), Peter Kent, Anna Porter, Margaret Atwood, the memory of Larry Gaynor, Helen Walsh, and Alistair Chan and the other Literary Review of Canada people.

“Saskatchewan Pioneers”: The Robertsons from Arelee, Ron Graham, Frans Donker, David Carpenter, Nik Burton, Stuart Houston, Bill Waiser, Sherrill Miller, Gail Bowen, Maggie Siggins, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Ken Dryden, Harold Johnson, John Vaillant, Jalal Barzani, Bob Currie, Trevor Herriot (and the white-faced ibis), Bob Luterbach, Kam and Megan at the Weyburn Library, and Jamieson at W.O.’s boyhood home, and Joanne Bannatyne-Cugnet.

“Alberta and the Mountains”: David Cheoros, Jean Crozier, Sharon and Steve Bodnarchuk, Scot Young, C. Anne Robertson and the Fairview family, Pauline Gedge, Bella Pomer, Fred Stenson, Noah Richler, Peter and Heather Brenneman, Sherrell Steele, Myrna Kostash, Erna Paris, Peter Oliva, Aritha van Herk, Anne Greene, Ken McGoogan, Stephen Smith, Sid Marty, Brian Brennan, Roddy Doyle, D.M. Thomas, Lynn Krause and the Elephant Mountain organizers in Nelson, Anne DeGrace, Gail Bowen, and the Mosaic Books people in Kelowna.

“The Coasts of B.C.”: Hal Wake, Alma Lee, Bill Richardson, Anne Giardini, the late Carol Shields, Jim Douglas, Scott McIntyre, Howard White, Jean Baird, Paul Whitney, Jim Munro, Robert Wiersema, Ralph Hancox, Alan Twigg, Jane Davidson, Sally Quinn, Jack and Dianne Hodgins, Andreas Schroeder and Sharon Brown, Graeme and Ann Young, Angie Abdou, Caroline Adderson, Maude Barlow, Pauline Holdstock, Derek Lundy and Richard Wagamese, Debbie Frketich and her Denman gang, Stewart Giddings, Del Phillips, John and Marion Dillon, Peter Karsten, Richard and Nancy Self, Noel Wotten, Susan Musgrave, Jane Austen, and Angus Wilson.

“Alice Munro Country”: Alice Munro, Lena Jordebo and Sven-Ake Visen from Sweden, Elizabeth Waterston, John and Monica Ladell, David Worsley and Mandy Brouse, Martin Dowding, Ross Procter in Wingham, Rob Bundy in Clinton, and Mary Swan and Mary Brown in Bayfield.

“Hugh MacLennan’s Country”: Bill Weintraub, Dick Irvin, the shrewd folk at Paragraphe Books, David Wilson, Mary Friesen, Charles Foran, Andrew Westoll, Lynn Verge, Simon Dardick, Mark Abley, Patricia Claxton, Desmond Morton, Ted Phillips, Gregory McCormick, in Quebec City Elizabeth Perreault, Peter Dubé, Neil Bissoondath, Peter O’Donohue in the Eastern Townships, Pat and Norman Webster, Ruth McKinven, Alison Pick, Michael Ogilvie, Graham Fraser and Barbara Uteck, Linda Morra, and Michael Goldbloom.

“In the Middle of Canada”: Lawrence Hill, Anita MacLeod and the family, Dan Wells, Alana Wilcox, Paul and Sheila Martin, Nino Ricci, our Sarnia hosts Sue Brighton and Chris Curran, Paul Wells, Susan Chamberlain and her staff at The Book Keeper, Peter Edwards, Peter Stokes, Barry Penhale and The Other Jane Gibson, Sheila Lui and her London Library colleagues, Mary Lake and Robert Collins, Anne Dyer-Witherford and Nick, Doug Minett and the folks at The Bookshelf in Guelph, Jonathan Webb, Dorothy Scott, Tim Struthers, Stephen Henighan, Elizabeth Ewan, Graeme Morton, Daniel MacLeod, Tom King, Richard B. Wright, and William Thomas.

“The On-to-Ottawa Trek”: Linwood Barclay and Neetha, Ian Elliot, Richard Bachmann, Bryan Prince, Andrew Pyper, Terry Fallis, Shelley MacBeth, Jonathan Vance, Lewis MacLeod, Stephanie Forrester and the Lakefield Festival people, Orm and Barb Mitchell, Norman Jewison, Kathleen Winter, Lauren B. Davis and Ron, Linda Spalding, Jane Urquhart, the rowdy ghost of Al Purdy, Carolyn Smart, John McGreevy, Charles Wilkins, Steve Heighton, Phil Hall, Christopher Moore, David Baker and Birthe Jorgenson, Mary Lou Fallis, Molly Stroyman, Flora MacDonald, Sean Wilson, Amanda Hopkins and Mary Osborne, Jeffrey Simpson, Eddie Goldenberg, Charles Gordon, Amy Castle, Diana Carney, David Dollin, our Ottawa Valley hosts Dave Stein and Alison, Gwen Storie, Doyne and Frank Ahearn, Roy MacGregor, Araby Lockhart in Thornbury, and Hope Thompson and Phil Haines next door.

“Good Times in the Maritimes”: Silver Donald Cameron and Marjorie Simmins (who gave us a Halifax base), Graham Pilsworth and Jamie Pratt (ditto), John Houston and Ree Brennin, Jim Lorimer, Suzanne Alexander, Lesley Choyce, Ami McKay, Christl Verduyn, Chris Paul and Krista in Sackville, Dawn Arnold and Danielle LeBlanc in Moncton, Andrea Schwenke Wyile, Herb Wyile, the late Alex Colville, Alexander MacLeod, Harry Thurston, Brian Flemming, Harry Bruce, Philip Slayton, Cynthia Wine, Calvin Trillin, Marq de Villiers, Sheila Hirtle, Bob Whitelaw, Kiloran German, Stephanie Tompkins (our perennial Bridgewater hostess), Lewis MacKinnon, Corky and Andrew Horwood, Dyanne and Alex Frame, Arthur Herriott, Will Ferguson, Duncan McIntosh, Wade MacLauchlan, Karen Smith, Doug Smith (and his St. F.X. students, and especially the elderly audience member who remembered Brian Mulroney’s inflammatory debating style), Richard Lemm, Don Desserud (cousin alert!), Norman Finlayson and Heather, and, of course, Maxine Delaney.

“Rock Talk”: Don Nichol, Richard Gwyn, Michael Enright, Gary Green, Bill Evans, Cedar Bradley Swann, and Bill Williams of Adventure Canada, Gordon Pinsent, Michael Crummey, John C. Crosbie, Claire Mowat, Steve Brunt and Jeanie MacFarlane, Shelagh Rogers, Gary Noel, Des Walsh, Rex Murphy, Donna Morrissey, George Goodwin, and many kindly ghosts.

For this very Canadian book I’ve been encouraged by the interest shown by friends in Scotland, especially my sister-in-law Amanda, and Kate and Robert and Richard, and by Keith Christie and Cynthia (a B.C. girl!), and Janet and Walter Reid. In Mexico (Hola!) Jane and I were pleased by the enthusiasm of Doug and Janet Clark, and by Alison Wearing and Jarmo (who once showed us a tree adorned by five different types of oriole).

At home, more general thanks go to all the friends and neighbours (“How’s the book going?”) who were encouraging, and to supportive friends like Bill Harnum and Kathy Lowinger, Brian and Nancy Anthony, Michael and Jennifer Barrett, Bob and Sally Lewis, Avie Bennett, Diana Massiah, Marc Coté, and dozens of old publishing colleagues astonished by the spectacle of a publisher dog walking on two legs.

As with Stories About Storytellers, I am working gratefully once again with my friends at ECW Press. As always, I was expertly treated by my suitably demanding editor, Jen Knoch, who ushered the book through to completion. In this she was assisted by the keen-eyed copy editor, Nathan Whitlock, who is learning to love puns; proofreader Steph VanderMeulen; and the ECW team, led by Jack David and his distinguished successor, David Caron, including Rachel Ironstone and the production group and Erin Creasey and the sales gang. Once again I was pleased to have Sarah Dunn handle the publicity for this new book by a shy and retiring author.

As with the previous book, I’m delighted that I persuaded the brilliant Anthony Jenkins to enrich my work by providing his superb portraits of some of the major authors featured here. He really is a national asset, and I hope that this book will help to spread his fame.

Above all, I thank my family … Meg and Lauren and Lindsay and Alistair, and Katie and Cindy, for their support and understanding while I was touring and writing.

As for Jane, “my lovely and talented assistant,” techie, travel planner, fellow traveller, driver, dresser, gentle critic, and fond companion, words fail. But it’s all been such fun, we’ve got to keep on doing this.

Onward!

DOUGLAS GIBSON

Toronto, Christmas Eve, 2014