The Way We … G.G.
While the extraordinary talent and tenacity of our winningest authors cannot be overstated, they themselves would agree that success in writing (as well as in love, river-rafting and cat ownership) involves a healthy dollop of luck. Thank you for joining us for The Way We GG — our second virtual Storytelling event, in which four beloved Governor General’s-award winning and/or nominated writers share how fortune, and misfortune, has shaped their lives.
We feel beyond lucky to know these authors, and to share their stories with you:
Don Gillmor
Not only has Don Gillmor won countless literary prizes including last year’s GG win for non-fiction, but he can lay claim to an epic personal phone message from John Malkovich. Certainly an unstoppable literary force no matter what, a long-ago encounter with “a tall elegant woman” on Parliament Hill threw him a persistently lucky curve ball.
Meg Braem
A GG-award nominated playwright and the 2020/21 Canadian Writer-in-Residence in the Calgary Distinguished Writer’s Program at UCalgary, Meg Braem once shared a serendipitous moment of intimate commiseration with a stranded bison; nothing has been the same since.
Benjamin Hertwig
Luck comes in many shapes: for poet and GG-finalist Benjamin Hertwig, it has arrived in the form of a returned wallet; a speeding car; a weighty baby; and a carrot cake (for who can summon anger when holding a carrot cake in a bakery line-up while facing one’s ex-wife’s weary lover?).
Lorna Crozier
The luck of meeting (and marrying) a man who instantly makes you want to slide your hand between the snaps of his cowboy shirt — fortune rarely smiles so widely. The formidable, lovable Lorna Crozier recently had devastatingly bad luck, too; her new memoir is a stunning tribute to her life with Patrick Lane — and their treasured cats who continue to comfort and delight her.
Buy the Books
This event was organized in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts to celebrate the finalists and winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Support Wordfest’s official booksellers Shelf Life and Owl’s Nest Books by purchasing one or more of tonight’s featured titles:
Blood: A Scientific Romance by Meg Braem
Owl’s Nest Books | Shelf Life Books
Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats) by Lorna Crozier
Owl’s Nest Books | Shelf Life Books
To the River: Losing my Brother by Don Gillmor
Owl’s Nest Books | Shelf Life Books
Slow War by Benjamin Hertwig
Owl’s Nest Books | Shelf Life Books
