How real life can inform fiction
In the course of his Massey Lecture series in 2013 (published as Blood: The Stuff of Life, from House of Anansi Press), Lawrence Hill used a
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Berton House
A tale of Arctic exploration
Yukon author Eva Holland has taken advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Singles format to produce what might have been a 45-page volume about the early history of Arctic exploration.
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People who crafted the promise of Canada
Continuing this series of reviews of books that deal with the Canadian identity and, to an extent, with the idea of Canada at 150, we
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A Tale of the Klondike Tailings
Despite the romantic image of the grizzled miner panning by the creek side in search of gold, that phase of the Klondike’s mineral saga was
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SOVA at 10
When talking about the location of the Yukon School of Visual Arts (Yukon SOVA) in Dawson City, two issues are often raised: What does the
Rooted in the Yukon
Toronto-based poet Claire Caldwell’s role as writer-in-residence at the Berton House in Dawson City ends this month. Caldwell is no stranger to the Yukon. She
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Stories for Gold
KVA works with the Writers’ Trust of Canada, Parks Canada, and the Dawson Community Library to put on the Authors on Eighth Walking Tour.
Chasing Stories in Skagway
My shakedown cruise for our trailer has come to be my annual pilgrimage to the town of Skagway to attend the North Words Writers’ Symposium,
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Fresh Words and Deep Roots
Writing poetry since she was a child, Nova Scotia based author Shauntay Grant says she has always loved creative writing. “The oldest poem I’ve kept
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Turning Her Life Into Stories
As a former English teacher, long time library patron, book reviewer, informal Berton House liaison, and editor of The Klondike Sun, it often falls to
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Keeping Busy On The Berton House Beat
Last evening our current writer-in-residence, Anik See, presented two of her essays to 15 people at the Dawson Community Library. See focuses particularly on landscape
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Landscape and Solitude
In 1938, when Anik See’s maternal grandparents wanted to get married, they had to satisfy the authorities in their German homeland that neither side had
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Proposing World Heritage Status for the Klondike
The headline on the front page of the July 24, 1997 edition of the Klondike Sun proclaimed, “Berton Proposes Dawson for World Heritage Site Status.”
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A Conversation With Colleen Murphy
If you are susceptible to the perception that we are a country of people who play it safe; Colleen Murphy is the kind of person
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Authors on Eighth
Taking a stroll along the Writers’ Block — from the corner of 8th Avenue and Hanson Street to the corner of 8th and Firth —
Winter Snow Dropped Early this Year
My experience in Dawson says we first snow before Thanksgiving. But there are exceptions. One memorable year we had snow early in September
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They Keep Coming Back
The departure of yet another Berton House writer, Jeanne Randolph, brought to my mind the number of writers in residence who have come and gone
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Dawson and the Ted Harrison Effect
While doing what I call my Berton House exit interview with Sara Tilley, the latest writer-in-residence, she remarked that one of the things that made
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Playwright Sherry MacDonald shares her secrets to the creative process
Sherry MacDonald, the newest writer-in-residence at Dawson City’s Berton House, has a place secured in heaven. “There’s a special place in heaven for single moms
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The Origins of Berton House: Part 1
“Like all famous sons, Pierre Berton sometimes gets a mixed reception in his home town, but you’d never have known it to hear the spontaneous
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Process of Imagination
One thing his early journalism career taught author Lawrence Hill was to pursue the adventure of his stories. Alongside working on final drafts of his
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A Fortnight in the Freezer
Today was one of those overcast days when the sun didn’t break through and all we got was indirect lighting. When this happens I can’t
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The Origins of Berton House: Pt. 2
When I left off with this history of the Berton House, Pierre Berton had bought back his childhood home for $50,000 in 1989 and donated
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Adventure starts here
It was novelist Lawrence Hill who told me while we sipped tea in the Downtown Hotel dining room in Dawson in March that his early
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The story of bones
Being in Dawson City for a residence at the Berton House is a dream come true for Winnipeg writer Joan Thomas. This is not the
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Taking a Walk Along Writers’ Block
Dawson survives as it does because it had prominent champions among the wordsmiths of the 20th century. Without the stories of Jack London, the poetry
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The Berton House Boomerang Effect
I was enjoying an hour’s quiet reading on our front deck last week when a familiar French-Canadian voice hailed me from the street. I wasn’t
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The Ice Bridge Begins
I finally managed to spot the place where they are crossing the Yukon River yesterday (November 19). I’ve been hearing stories of people making the
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