By Anita Daher (originally published Feb. 28/2011)
Whether the seeds of creativity that would one day become Winnipeg’s Young Adult writing community originated in primordial bacteria, or 8,000 years or so ago when an early human dropped magic beans into the super-sized Lake Agassiz (which eventually retreated, leaving Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg and a whole lot of silt and gumbo) is anyone’s guess. What has become creatively clear, however, is that Winnipeg is the YA author capital of Canada. World class writers the likes of Martha Brooks, Margaret Buffie, Eva Wiseman, Carol Matas, Jake MacDonald and Maureen Fergus have all chosen this flood-riddled, frost-bitten, mosquito-plagued plain as the place to dig their dens of inspiration, and they are not alone. In addition to those who have already achieved glory, there are many still growing their national and international readerships, marching side-by-side, elbows locked against tides of societal and political apathy, and the plague that is reality TV. By percentage of population, Winnipeg has it over every other author-packed centre in the country.
Besides sheer numbers, national honours— Governor General’s Awards, Vicky Metcalf Awards, Mr. Christie Book Awards, the Ruth Schwartz Award, Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Awards, Geoffrey Bilson Awards for Historical Fiction for Young People—elevate this city’s authors to glorious heights.
Yes, there are a few who get away, like Linda Holeman (Toxic Love, The Linnet Bird), who due to some unknown but undoubtedly traumatic event has turned to writing for grown-ups and is living in Toronto, Diana Wieler (Drive, RanVan Trilogy, Bad Boy), now making dolls somewhere in southern Ontario, and James McCann (Flying Feet, Rancour), writing teen novels while riding the waves—or whatever it is people do out there on the Pacific coast.
There are also YA author wannabes who dabble their toes in the teen lit river with crossover novels such as Miriam Toews’s award-winning, mega-bestselling A Complicated Kindness, and David Bergen’s acclaimed The Case of Lena S. Their offerings are certainly more than good enough, and yet they have been unable to break into the special belovedness bestowed by entire high school populations onto works such as Margaret Buffie’s The Finder, The Seeker, and The Watcher, or Martha Brooks’s Bone Dance, True Confessions of a Heartless Girl, and Mistik Lake.
Don’t feel bad for David, Miriam, and others of their ilk. Though non-YA writers tool about somewhat on the sidelines, Winnipeg’s YA authors are welcoming. They view all fellow scribes as equals—even poets—and include them in the most fun, coolest social gatherings, be they book parties or sandbagging rallies in preparation for the inevitable spring floods.
Like the Red and Assiniboine Rivers which cut through this Coleridgesque utopia, Winnipeg YA writers rise to the occasion—but in a far more celebrated manner than the rivers which annually threaten to turn this region back into a Lake Agassiz-like state. Here’s hoping Duff’s Ditch, the floodway that protects Winnipeg (to hell with outlying communities), keeps this year’s overactive melt from sogifying the current crop of award winning novels-in-progress.
What is it about Winnipeg that keeps the YA literary butter churning? Is it the Jeanne’s cake, hope that the Jets will come back and the Bombers just go away, or the 50-50 draws at money-making wedding socials? Something keeps this city’s YA writers grounded and inspiration fresh. Could it be the frickin, freezing cold that confines teen lit writers indoors during eight months of winter, and focused on creating works that push limits, hurry hard and hold tight? Hard to say, but it is fitting that the heart of YA writing and writers sits in this longitudinal centre of North America. In the words of Winnipeg’s most literary band, The Weakerthans, Winnipeg is “one great city.”
What follows is an incomplete list of Winnipeg Teen Lit authors:
- Rae Bridgman
- Martha Brooks
- Margaret Buffie
- Anita Daher
- Carol Matas
- Colleen Sydor
- Duncan Thornton
- Brenda Hasiuk
- Larry Verstraete
- Eva Wiseman
- Greg Jackson Davis
- Deborah Froese
- Kevin Fornier
- Gabriele Goldstone
- Susan Rocan
- Jake MacDonald
- K.C. Oliver
- Deborah Froese
- Beatrice Mosionier
- Edgar Desjarlais
- John Danakas
- Maureen Fergus
- Perry Nodelman
- Rob Keough
- Diane Juttner Perreault
- Ishbel Moore (St Andrews)
Winnipeg, Heart of the Continent and Teen Lit
Articles
By Anita Daher (originally published Feb. 28/2011)
Whether the seeds of creativity that would one day become Winnipeg’s Young Adult writing community originated in primordial bacteria, or 8,000 years or so ago when an early human dropped magic beans into the super-sized Lake Agassiz (which eventually retreated, leaving Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg and a whole lot of silt and gumbo) is anyone’s guess. What has become creatively clear, however, is that Winnipeg is the YA author capital of Canada. World class writers the likes of Martha Brooks, Margaret Buffie, Eva Wiseman, Carol Matas, Jake MacDonald and Maureen Fergus have all chosen this flood-riddled, frost-bitten, mosquito-plagued plain as the place to dig their dens of inspiration, and they are not alone. In addition to those who have already achieved glory, there are many still growing their national and international readerships, marching side-by-side, elbows locked against tides of societal and political apathy, and the plague that is reality TV. By percentage of population, Winnipeg has it over every other author-packed centre in the country.
Besides sheer numbers, national honours— Governor General’s Awards, Vicky Metcalf Awards, Mr. Christie Book Awards, the Ruth Schwartz Award, Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Awards, Geoffrey Bilson Awards for Historical Fiction for Young People—elevate this city’s authors to glorious heights.
Yes, there are a few who get away, like Linda Holeman (Toxic Love, The Linnet Bird), who due to some unknown but undoubtedly traumatic event has turned to writing for grown-ups and is living in Toronto, Diana Wieler (Drive, RanVan Trilogy, Bad Boy), now making dolls somewhere in southern Ontario, and James McCann (Flying Feet, Rancour), writing teen novels while riding the waves—or whatever it is people do out there on the Pacific coast.
There are also YA author wannabes who dabble their toes in the teen lit river with crossover novels such as Miriam Toews’s award-winning, mega-bestselling A Complicated Kindness, and David Bergen’s acclaimed The Case of Lena S. Their offerings are certainly more than good enough, and yet they have been unable to break into the special belovedness bestowed by entire high school populations onto works such as Margaret Buffie’s The Finder, The Seeker, and The Watcher, or Martha Brooks’s Bone Dance, True Confessions of a Heartless Girl, and Mistik Lake.
Don’t feel bad for David, Miriam, and others of their ilk. Though non-YA writers tool about somewhat on the sidelines, Winnipeg’s YA authors are welcoming. They view all fellow scribes as equals—even poets—and include them in the most fun, coolest social gatherings, be they book parties or sandbagging rallies in preparation for the inevitable spring floods.
Like the Red and Assiniboine Rivers which cut through this Coleridgesque utopia, Winnipeg YA writers rise to the occasion—but in a far more celebrated manner than the rivers which annually threaten to turn this region back into a Lake Agassiz-like state. Here’s hoping Duff’s Ditch, the floodway that protects Winnipeg (to hell with outlying communities), keeps this year’s overactive melt from sogifying the current crop of award winning novels-in-progress.
What is it about Winnipeg that keeps the YA literary butter churning? Is it the Jeanne’s cake, hope that the Jets will come back and the Bombers just go away, or the 50-50 draws at money-making wedding socials? Something keeps this city’s YA writers grounded and inspiration fresh. Could it be the frickin, freezing cold that confines teen lit writers indoors during eight months of winter, and focused on creating works that push limits, hurry hard and hold tight? Hard to say, but it is fitting that the heart of YA writing and writers sits in this longitudinal centre of North America. In the words of Winnipeg’s most literary band, The Weakerthans, Winnipeg is “one great city.”
What follows is an incomplete list of Winnipeg Teen Lit authors: