I had great fun preparing this Calgary reading list for CBC's Calgary at a Crossroads series. I'm honoured to participate in this timely and engaging series about the city.
Pictures from a literary Jane's Walk, 2016
Does Calgary have a literature? That's the question we set out to answer in the affirmative on Jane's Walk weekend. On a summery Saturday, a crowd of 50 explored a few blocks of downtown Calgary through the eyes of writers. This was the second edition of my literary Jane's Walk: you can check out last year's walk here.
I've posted a reading list of the works referred to on the route.
Thanks to Reg Tiangha, Yanmei Fei and Blair Carbert for sharing these photos -- and to Calgary writer Rea Tarvydas who shepherded the crowd with a sense of calm and good humour.
That's a wrap! Thanks to all of you who joined me for this year's Writing the City Jane's Walk -- on foot or on the world wide web. See you on Calgary's storied streets for next year's #janeswalkyyc.
Jane's Walk 2016 Calgary Reading List
Here’s a list of works I mentioned on my Jane’s Walk on May 7, 2016. Links will take you to the relevant post on my blog Writing the City: Calgary Through the Eyes of Writers, or to external websites.
Thanks for joining me on this year's literary Jane's Walk of Calgary, and happy Calgary reading!
The above photo shows Linton's Bookstore circa 1890, one of Calgary's first, located at 112-8th Ave SE (Photo: Glenbow Museum).
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Introduction
Kroetsch, Robert, Alberta (1st ed. 1968; 2nd ed. 1993)
Kroetsch, Robert, Alibi (1983)
van Herk, Aritha, "Our Odysseus," Alberta Views (Dec. 2010)
Oil Patch Literature
Ballem, John, Alberta Alone (1981)
John Ballem, Oil Patch Quartet (2005)
Gillmor, Don, Long Change (2015)
Howard, Barb, Whipstock (2001)
Wales Hotel/Devonian Gardens
Callaghan, Barry, “After the Fall: A Sadness at the Heart of Calgary,” Saturday Night (Nov 1983)
Ravvin, Norman, Café des Westens (1991)
Alberta Hotel/Stephen Avenue
Gard, Robert E., Johnny Chinook: Tall Tales and True from the Canadian West (1946)
Govier, Katherine, Between Men (1987)
Huston, Nancy, Plainsong (1993)
Huston, Nancy, “A Bucking Nightmare,” Saturday Night (1997)
Trainer, Yvonne, Tom Three Persons (2002)
Grain Exchange/Memorial Park Library
Maxwell Bates:
Bates, Maxwell, Far-Away Flags (1964)
Snow, Kathleen, Maxwell Bates: Biography of an Artist (1993)
P.K. Page:
Djwa, Sandra, Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (2012)
Page, P.K., The Hidden Room (1997)
Palliser Hotel
Alford, Edna, “Half Past Eight” (1981)
Endicott, Marina, The Little Shadows (2012)
Govier, Katherine, The Three Sisters Bar & Hotel (2016)
Russell King, Caroline, The Palliser Suite (2015)
van Herk, Aritha, Restlessness (1998)
Wiebe, Rudy, My Lovely Enemy (1983)
Calgary Station
MacKay, Isabel Ecclestone, “Calgary Station,” Fires of Driftwood (1922)
Herald Block
McGoogan, Ken, Canada’s Undeclared War: Fighting Words from the Literary Trenches (1991)
Wright, L.R., Among Friends (1984)
Early Calgary Bookstores
Klassen, Henry, Eyes on the Future: Business People in Calgary and the Bow Valley, 1870-1900 (2002)
Vaudeville Theatres on 8th Ave
Endicott, Marina, The Little Shadows (2012)
The Calgarian Hotel
Hahnel, Lori, Love Minus Zero (2008)
Kinsella, Warren, Fury’s Hour: A Sort of Punk Manifesto (2005)
McCullough, Bruce, Let’s Start a Riot (2014)
Sutherland, Sam, Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk (2012)
8th Avenue East
Anderson, Doris, Rebel Daughter: An Autobiography (1996)
Hunter, Bruce, “The Many Happy Returns of Kenny Dawes,” Country Music Country (1996)
Ravvin, Norman, Hidden Canada: An Intimate Travelogue (2001)
Stringer, Arthur, The Prairie Child (1922)
Women Are Persons! (Olympic Plaza)
McClung, Nellie, The Stream Runs Fast (1945)
Other Calgary resources worth checking out
Dempsey, Hugh, Calgary: Spirit of the West (1994)
Melnyk, George, The Literary History of Alberta, Volume 1 (1998), Volume 2 (1999)
Sanders, Harry, Historic Walks of Calgary (2005)
Smith, Donald, Calgary’s Grand Story (2005)
Jane's Walk: the 2nd edition
Join me for Writing the City: a literary Jane's Walk in Calgary on Saturday May 7, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. We'll meet in Harley Hotchkiss Park beside the old courthouse on 7th Avenue.
This year's route is new, and I've dug up many fresh literary connections on Calgary's landmark Stephen Avenue.
Here's a sneak preview of this year's walk in Avenue magazine.