Cold case account set to become series

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This article was published 15/01/2022 (1359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 2020 book investigating the 1967 disappearance of two Indigenous activists in northern Saskatchewan has been optioned by Toronto’s Wolfwalker Productions for development as a true crime limited series.

Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett (University of Regina Press), by Michael Nest, Deanna Reder and Eric Bell, examines the disappearance of Métis leader Brady and Cree band councillor Halkett on a prospecting trip and presents new clues and details on failures in the police investigation.

Wolfwalker’s other projects include the series Amplify on APTN.

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New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe and American poet/novelist Patricia Lockwood were the big winners on the end-of-year best-of-2021 lists.

According to the online literary site Lithub, which surveys dozens of best-of lists from major American media, plus a few major British publications, Keefe and Lockwood were each named on 19 lists. Keefe’s Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family, is an investigation of the wealthy family behind pharmaceutical company responsible for Oxycontin and a wave of opioid addiction. Lockwood’s novel No One Is Talking About This is a combination of social-media-focused stream of consciousness and autofiction about family and grief.

Novelist Colson Whitehead, whose Underground Railroad was adapted for television last year, was third on the list with 17 best-of placements for his new novel, Harlem Shuffle.

Saskatoon-born British writer Rachel Cusk, with 11 list placements for her new novel Second Place, was the highest-ranking Canadian-born author.

Among Canadian writers who’ve actually lived here beyond childhood, University of British Columbia forest science professor Suzanne Simard, appearing on six lists with her memoir Finding the Mother Tree, earned the most placements.

Appearing on four lists were novelists Omar El Akkad (What Strange Paradise), Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Velvet Was the Night) and Miriam Toews (Fight Night).

The list of list-makers can be found at wfp.to/bestbooks.

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Five writers were named to or promoted within the Order of Canada in the latest round of announcements regarding Canada’s highest civilian honour.

Manitoba-born playwright and novelist Tomson Highway was promoted from member to officer of the order by Governor General Mary Simon. Highway won the 2021 Writers’ Trust Prize for non-fiction for his memoir Permanent Astonishment.

Also promoted to officer of the order was Winnipeg novelist, poet and essayist Roger Léveillé, author of more than 30 published works. He was honoured for this innovative work and for his supporting generations of Franco-Manitoban artists.

Yann Martel, winner of the 2002 Booker Prize for Life of Pi, was promoted to the highest rank in the order, companion, for his contributions to literature and his philanthropy. Also promoted within the order was Quebec City writer Neil Bissondath, promoted to officer of the order for examinations of multiculturalism and diversity in works such as A Casual Brutality and Doing the Heart Good.

Max Eisen, a Toronto writer and Holocaust survivor in his 90s, was named a member of the order for his memoir By Chance Alone, which won the CBC’s annual book debate, Canada Reads.

One soon-to-be-published author was promoted to the order’s top rank. Former Senator Murray Sinclair, best known for chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has written a memoir, entitled Who We Are. It’s scheduled for publication in October by McClelland & Stewart.

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Thanks to Omicron, the literary world is likely to be remain a place of virtual launches, workshops and festivals for the foreseeable future.

So online series such as IndieEventsWith, organized by Penguin Random House Canada, will remain as important venues for promoting new books. Upcoming offerings in the series include a Jan. 24 event with novelist, essayist and musician Vivek Shraya promoting her new non-fiction book People Change, a discussion of the desire to change one’s ideas, appearance, career and more, and a March 3 discussion with novelist and essayist Sheila Heti. Heti will be joined by award-winning novelist Esi Edugyan in launching Heti’s new novel Pure Colour.

Both events start at 7 p.m. Manitoba time. To take part in the IndieEventsWith series, buy a copy of the book from a participating independent bookstore and receive a link.

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