Stories About Storytellers

by Douglas Gibson

  R.D. Symons: I am grateful to David Carpenter who asked me to contribute an entry on Bob Symons for the fine book he compiled, A Literary History of Saskatchewan (Coteau, 2011). A salute also to my friends at the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild, especially my old pal Guy Vanderhaeghe, and to Trevor Herriot, whose birding trip around Regina was so memorable. Even better, his helpful reading of this chapter introduced me to Dr. Stuart Houston, with his unforgettable story proving that laughter really can be the best medicine.

  Harold Horwood: My thanks to Doubleday Canada for allowing me to quote from Death on the Ice and White Eskimo, and to the magical nature writer Harry Thurston (another Horwood admirer) who helpfully read and commented on this chapter. J.M. Sullivan’s Globe and Mail obituary was notably helpful. Thanks also go to our Halifax hosts, Silver Donald Cameron and Marjorie Simmons, to Clive Doucet, who helped to make me an enthusiastic Acadian, and to the gallant Russell Jukes, who long ago drove me down to the Annapolis Basin to launch Dancing on the Shore, a classic now available through Lesley Choyce’s Pottersfield Press.

  Barry Broadfoot: Allan Fotheringham supplied some fine old Sun newsroom stories here, and the chapter was read and helpfully corrected by Vancouver’s Alan Twigg, and by my lively historian friend Christopher Moore.

  Morley Callaghan: Special thanks must go to Morley’s younger son, Barry Callaghan, whose book, Barrelhouse Kings (1998), perfectly catches his father and that Rosedale house, and who helped me to recall the Dixieland music at Morley’s memorable funeral. Thanks go also to the literary critics who are mentioned by name in the course of the essay, and to the Canadian Author and Bookman, which once hired me to write a tribute to Morley.

  W.O. Mitchell: Special thanks here to my Peterborough friends Barb and Orm Mitchell (authors of the classic two-volume biography, W.O. and Mitchell), who read and corrected this chapter, to my many Calgary friends who loved W.O. and Merna, and to the Globe and Mail, who invited me to write W.O.’s obituary.

  Robertson Davies: Similar thanks go to the Globe and Mail, for similar reasons, while special thanks are earned by Jennifer and Brenda Davies, who read this chapter so helpfully, and by John Fraser, the keeper of the Massey College flame. Of course, I owe Val Ross a lot for her richly informative book Robertson Davies: A Portrait in Mosaic (2008). As always, like all Davies scholars, I am indebted to the work of the official biographer, Judith Skelton Grant, for her Robertson Davies: Man of Mystery (1994).

  Jack Hodgins: I am grateful to Ray Fazakas for his comprehensive book, The Donnelly Album, and to Robin Robertson for amassing the anthology Mortification, which contains such unspeakable examples of cruelty to authors. Jack Hodgins’ publishers are to be thanked for the quotes given here, as he is for his kindness in checking the text.

  James Houston: I owe a lot to Matthew Swan of Adventure Canada, whose generous invitation allowed me to see James Houston’s Arctic for myself. Through the warm hospitality of James and Alice, I visited and enjoyed their homes in Stonington and in Haida Gwaii, where Jane and I in due course got to know their friends like Barbara and Noel Wotten, thanks to the remarkable kindness of our Vancouver friends, Richard and Nancy Self. Special gratitude to Alice Houston and to John Houston (the maker of the fine documentary about his father) who both checked the chapter, which was to some extent based on the obituary that I wrote for the Toronto Star.

  Charles Ritchie: My thanks go to the publishers of Charles Ritchie’s remarkable diaries, and also of his correspondence with Elizabeth Bowen, Love’s Civil War (2008), edited by Victoria Glendinning. Silver Donald Cameron helped me track down the Bower in Halifax and the old Ritchie summer base in Chester. Welcome stories were provided by John Fraser, Colin Robertson, Bob Rae, and Roy MacLaren, and less welcome ones about secret revisions by Ramsay Derry.

  Pierre Trudeau: The Globe and Mail ran an early version of this memorial sketch, and it later appeared in Nancy Southam’s selection Pierre, published in 2005 by McClelland & Stewart. I am grateful for the experience of working with the late Christina McCall and her husband Stephen Clarkson on their fine two-part biography, Trudeau and Our Times (1990). After Young Trudeau (2006), Max and Monique Nemni’s ongoing intellectual biography of Trudeau will see the next volume, Trudeau Transformed, published by Douglas Gibson Books at McClelland & Stewart in 2011. He haunts us still.

  Mavis Gallant: I am grateful to many Montreal-based friends for their help with this chapter, including Margaret Lefebvre and Magda and Bill “City Unique” Weintraub. Special thanks go to Norman and Pat Webster of Montreal and North Hatley, who were notably helpful. I am grateful, also, to many shrewd admirers of Mavis’s writing, especially Janice Kulyk Keefer (author of Reading Mavis Gallant [1989]) and my versatile friend Linda Leith. I received great help from Timothy Taylor and Lynn Booth, the maker of the fine documentary Paris Stories (2006), and am especially grateful that my friend in Nantes, Christine Evain, that fine scholar of Canadian literature, allowed me to quote from her unpublished interviews with Mavis.

  Peter C. Newman: The world is alive with Peter Newman tales (in his own words, he was “the most cussed and discussed” journalist of his generation) and this chapter is one of many beneficiaries. I thank all those named in the chapter, and those who chose to remain anonymous. Above all, I thank the main source, the indefatigable Peter C. Newman, who has continued to urge me to write this book, despite his awareness that some of its “Hey, Mabel!” moments may not show him in a saintly light. Here Be Dragons, indeed.

  Brian Mulroney: Not all of the sources here are happy to be revealed, but an exception is Arthur Milnes, who worked tirelessly as the researcher on Brian Mulroney’s Memoirs, and who kindly checked this chapter for me. And I thank Brian Mulroney, now dealing with diabetes, and his supportive family, all of whom I wish well.

  Robert Hunter: This chapter was generously vetted by Bob’s widow, Bobbi Hunter, while Mark Abley made some very useful editorial changes to the sections on my aboriginal contacts. Alan Fry contributed many helpful corrections.

  Alistair MacLeod: Some of this chapter is based on an essay that I contributed to Guernica Editions’ 2001 book Alistair MacLeod: Essays on His Works edited by Irene Guilford. I am pleased that Christine Evain allowed me to be present in May 2009, when she interviewed Alistair in a Windsor restaurant for several hours, while Alistair thoughtfully wrestled with her questions. I am equally pleased that in summer 2010, when Jane and I were visiting Cape Breton, Alistair and Anita took us square dancing for an evening, helping to round out my knowledge of Alistair and his world. Generously, Alistair checked this chapter for accuracy, even referring me to his son Daniel for confirmation, which was graciously and promptly supplied.

  Paul Martin: My thanks here go to Paul Adams, journalist and academic, who worked behind the scenes with Paul Martin on his political memoirs, and took the time to check the accuracy of my recollections. Further thanks go to John Gray, the author whose 2003 biography, Paul Martin: The Power of Ambition, provided useful insights, as well as some classic stories . . . “Still dead, Mr. Martin.” And thanks go to Paul Martin himself, who continues to be available, helping to make the world a little better, whether it’s at the Couchiching Conference, or at international high-finance sessions, or in chats with aboriginal high-school students.

  Peter Gzowski: This chapter draws on the Quill & Quire article that I contributed after Peter’s death. It was also influenced by R.B. Fleming’s 2010 biography, which I discuss at length in the text. I thank my Brenneman in-laws for their useful information about life in Galt when Peter was growing up there. The chapter was kindly checked by Hal Wake, Peter’s old colleague on Morningside, and by Peter’s daughter Alison Gzowski.

  Val Ross: For this chapter I drew heavily from the words spoken at Val Ross’s memorial service at Massey College, and at the bittersweet book launch that summer at the Tom Kierans–Mary Jernigan home. A shorter version is to be found in the illustrated book in Val’s honour
organized by Marcus Gee entitled In Memory of Val Ross. I thank Mort Ritts and the rest of Val’s family for their generous help and understanding throughout.

  Alice Munro: This chapter draws material from essays I have written over the years about Alice, notably pieces in the Globe and Mail about a trip Jane and I took to the Scottish Border country in search of the farm her ancestors left in 1818, and my “Special Correspondent” account of her Man-Booker Prize win in Dublin in June 2009. I thank all of the scholars who are quoted in the course of this article, and above all Robert Thacker, whose masterly biography, Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives (updated, 2011) is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about Alice Munro. Finally, I’m grateful to the, um, fairly good subject of the chapter, who kindly took the time to read it, and who provided such a generous Introduction to this book.

  Epilogue: As explained in the text, this jocular guide for authors was intended to introduce them to a book publishing world where Murphy’s Law reigns unchallenged. It was, however, published as humour by Robert Fulford’s Saturday Night, and was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Humour. As always, I am struck by Robert Fulford’s ubiquitous role as an actor in — and shrewd commentator on — the world of Canadian writing.

  I have restricted the primary subjects of this book to those authors I worked with as an editor (or auxiliary, in the case of Charles Ritchie). In my experience the author-editor relationship is a special one, affording special glimpses of an author at work. Since the editorial role is not a scientific one, but a matter of taste and judgement, no two editors will ever edit a book in exactly the same way. For the same reason, editors always stand to benefit from seeing other editors at work.

  Over the years I have learned from working alongside editors such as David Manuel, Jennifer Glossop, Judith Finlayson, Carolyn Smart, Ken McVey, Virgil Duff, Eleanor Sinclair, Pat Kennedy, Dinah Forbes, Jonathan Webb, Alex Schultz, Ellen Seligman (who could certainly write an interesting book some day), Kathleen Richards, Anne Holloway, and Jan Walter and, more recently, among the younger generation, Aruna Dahanayake, Trena White, Elizabeth Kribs, Ainsley Sparkes, and Jenny Bradshaw. Freelance editors I have learned from include Barbara Czarnecki, Wendy Thomas, Heather Sangster, and others who know precisely who they are.

  As for this book, it has benefitted from the help of my agent, my former sparring partner Michael Levine; the enthusiasm of my old publishing friend, Jack David of ECW (a man with an enviable collection of publishing memoirs); the shrewd and imaginative copy editing of Jennifer Knoch; and the help of the ECW professionals.

  Non-editorial types who have helped me, in theory, to improve over the years include Lynne Schellenberg, the late Gail Stewart, Valerie Jacobs, Nancy Grossman, George Goodwin, Krys Ross, Kong Njo and his legions of clever designers, Scott Richardson (ditto), and at Macmillan in the old days, Rick Miller and his gang. The talent, skill, and care that goes into the tough, penny-pinched world of Canadian books is truly remarkable. I am thrilled that this book has been enriched by the author portraits contributed by the genius of my Globe and Mail cartoonist friend, Anthony Jenkins.

  It’s nice for me to think that this book will occupy the time of sales reps descended from generations of my friends in the business (Don Sedgwick, Bill Hushion, Jack Jensen, Chris Keen, Nick Hunt, Alan McDougall, Mark Stanton, Pam Robinson, David Drew, Bonnie Harris, Sharon Bodnarchuk, Kerry Longpré, Trish Blaker, Ann Stevens, Peter Waldock, Jim Chalmers, Michael Reynolds, Craig Siddall, Tom Best, and so many more) and that diligent and tireless ECW publicist Simon Ware will be working the phones alongside the ghosts of publicists past. As for my own role in selling the book with personal appearances in friendly bookstores, or at literary festivals, or other events, it’s going to be fun.

  Finally, I now understand why all of the thousands of “Acknowledgements” that I’ve published over the years inevitably conclude with a tribute to the “long-suffering” or “endlessly supportive” family. In this case my thanks go to my daughters, Meg and Katie (and Lauren and Lindsay and Alistair), and to Jane. As I worked on the book and she noticed my disturbed sleeping patterns, she tentatively used the word “obsession.”

  “I think this is the way that books get written,” I replied.

  She was, as usual, right. But on this occasion I was right, too.

  I hope I was right in every detail in the final book. If I wasn’t, I am the one to blame — not the publisher.

  Douglas Gibson

  Toronto, February 2011

  About the Author

  In 2007 the Globe and Mail called DOUGLAS GIBSON a “publishing icon.” Earlier the British wit Frank Muir noted that he wrote “alarmingly well for a publisher.”

  Now, in his first book, he tells the story of his career as a Scottish immigrant who came to Canada in 1967, armed with degrees from St. Andrews and Yale, and a determination to do “something interesting”.

  His career as an editor — and as a publisher who kept on editing — took him in 1968 to Doubleday Canada, then in 1974 to Macmillan of Canada, where he became the Publisher in 1979.He established the first editorial imprint in Canada at McClelland & Stewart in 1986, and was the Publisher at M&S (in those days “The Canadian Publisher”) from 1988 until 2004, when he moved back to concentrate on his imprint, Douglas Gibson Books. He “retired” in 2008, at 65.

  He has won many awards over the years, and is the first publisher to be made an Honorary Member of the Writers’ Union of Canada. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Jane, when he is not travelling the country with his one-man stage show, “Stories About Storytellers.” His website is douglasgibsonbooks.com.

  copyright © Douglas Gibson, 2011

  Published by ECW Press

  2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

  416-694-3348 / info@ecwpress.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Gibson, Douglas

  Stories about storytellers : publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and others / Douglas Gibson.

  ISBN 978-1-77090-049-3

  Also issued in these formats

  978-1-77041-068-8 (Paper); 978-1-77090-050-9 (PDF)

  1. Gibson, Douglas. 2. McClelland and Stewart Limited — History. 3. Publishers and publishing — Canada — Biography. I. Title.

  Z483.G53A3 2011 070.92 C2011-902828-x

  Editor for the press: Jennifer Knoch

  Cover design: David Gee

  Text design: Tania Craan

  Typesetting: Mary Bowness

  The publication of Stories About Storytellers has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, and by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit. The marketing of this book was made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

 

 

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