All stories relating to Pierre Berton
Pasha Malla and Linda Goyette among authors named as Berton House writers-in-residence
Four writers will travel to Yukon’s Dawson City to live in the childhood home of iconic Canadian author Pierre Berton as the 2009-10 Berton House writers-in-residence. The foursome – Pasha Malla, Linda Goyette, Mylène Gilbert-Dumas, and Jeramy Dodds – will each spend three months as writer-in-residence, during which time they will perform public readings in the area and make themselves available to the community.
The four writers were chosen from 80 applicants by a three-member committee consisting of previous writers-in-residence Russell Smith and C.E. Gatchalian, along with young adult novelist Joanne Bell. To be eligible for the program, applicants must have published at least one book in any area, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and journalism. Since the program’s inception in 1996, 45 writers have braved the northern climate to spend time in Berton’s home.
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Into the mythic with Pierre Berton
Geist magazine’s Stephen Osborne asks why certain writers — Pierre Berton chief among them — have traditionally been considered tragically unhip by certain literati, despite their popular appeal. And in “certain literati” Osborne includes a younger version of himself, as well as his CanLit-minded drinking buddies of the time. Now, though, Osborne’s come to realize that “the Bertonian world offers a challenge that our highbrow writing, our Literature with a capital L, refuses to take up: it reminds us that we have origins in myth, and that we have forgotten them. He and his fellow lowbrows represent a voice, a cultural demiurge that does not reappear in the universities, in the creative writing departments or the English and history departments….”
Related links:
Click here for Stephen Osborne’s Geist piece on Pierre Berton and “lowbrow lit
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A loving goodbye
The Writers’ Union of Canada website has a lengthy tribute to founding member Pierre Berton. Throughout the remembrances, penned by many new and longtime Union members, Berton is praised for his hard work, talent, lack of pretension, and generosity to younger writers. Many of the writers also celebrate Berton’s knack for throwing a good party, as Iris Nowell recounts: “Pierre shone at parties, especially those he threw. At the Berton picnic, an annual summer gathering of friends around the swimming pool at Pierre and Janet’s Kleinberg home, Pierre could always be spotted towering above the crowd in his wildly-coloured summer shirt and big straw hat, encircled by smiling, laughing friends.”
Related links:
Read the Writers’ Union tribute to Pierre Berton
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Berton’s got the munchies
It’s probably safe to say that few readers of august CanLit legend Pierre Berton have ever imagined him giggling away while watching The Wizard of Oz and simultaneously listening to Dark Side of the Moon. But that mental image might arise after reading this Toronto Star piece about the author’s pot habit. “I enjoy the odd joint but I never go overboard,” Berton tells Star reporter Christopher Hutsul. “I smoke about once a month to help me relax.”
Related links:
Toronto Star piece on Pierre Berton and the demon weed
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