May 15, 2022

Winnipeg
4° C, Clear

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Arts & Life Arts & Entertainment Books

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

In Conversation with Julie Salverson

By: Ariel Gordon 
Posted: 3:00 AM CST Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later

Kingston-based essayist and playwright Julie Salverson was an anti-nuclear activist for most of her adult life.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/1/2017 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kingston-based essayist and playwright Julie Salverson was an anti-nuclear activist for most of her adult life.

In her 40s, she was starting to lose faith in activism when she got a call from a colleague, academic Peter C. van Wyck. He suggested they collaborate on a project that traced the uranium used in the bombs dropped on Horoshima and Nagasaki back to a Dene community in northern Canada.

The project took Salverson and van Wyck from the shores of the Great Bear Lake to New Mexico and then Japan and resulted in Salverson’s memoir, Lines of Flight: An Atomic Memoir.

Salverson will be in Winnipeg on Feb. 2, reading from Lines of Flight at McNally Robinson.

</p></p>

FP: What do you want people to know about Lines of Flight?

JULIE SALVERSON: Readers tell me they can’t put the book down, until they keep putting it down — they want to absorb and think about it. This makes happy! I wanted the hugeness of life to be experienced on the page. It’s a kind of everyperson story of being a witness to the world: how do we respond to what’s difficult and cherish what’s beautiful? Stay awake without going to Disneyland or buying a gun. With the Trump’s talk about nuclear weapons and the deep divisions over how to live, the book tries to imagine a future that acknowledges the past but isn’t shackled to it.

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up

FP: You call Lines of Flight "an atomic memoir." Can you explain what that means?

JS: There are two storylines. One is me following the path of Canadian uranium, the other my experience growing up with alcoholic parents, navigating the explosions in my childhood, becoming a peace activist trying to save the world and hitting a wall. The book starts when I stumble on a secret corner of atomic history I’m not sure I have the right to tell. In 1998, the Sahtúgot’ine Bear Lake people, North West Territories, sent a delegation to Hiroshima to apologize to the survivors of the atomic bomb. Until then, this community didn’t realize the uranium ore mined on their land was used in the research for, and the deployment of, the first atomic weapons. I took up this story because I needed to show my respect and to understand what it meant for these people — also victims — to go beyond the call of duty and take on that level of responsibility and reconciliation. I also needed to find my own voice and connection to an event not evidently mine. My journey of discovery took 10 years and made me face the inescapable half-life of my childhood secrets.

FP: Tell me about your Winnipeg granny, the writer Laura Goodman Salverson. She was the first woman to win the GG and she did it twice, for a novel in 1937 and a memoir in 1939. What did she teach you?

JS: When I visited my grandparents on weekends, LG (as she was called) would sit me on her knee and show me photographs from all over the world. She taught me curiosity and showed me there was a big world out there. I was eventually forbidden to visit them. This was a terrible loss.

FP: Tell me about your collaboration with Peter C. van Wyck. Is your Lines of Flight a fraternal twin to his The Highway of the Atom?

JS: Yes, that’s a great way of putting it. Peter is the person who first told me about the Dene apology and the uranium — he had seen Peter Blow’s documentary Village of Widows... We (Peter Virgil and I) went into the dark woods together and found light. We went to Fukushima last year, and we often read publicly together, a kind of oral duet. Peter describes what we do with a phrase I love: friendship as methodology.

FP: What are you reading right now? What are you writing right now?

JS: I just finished Wallace Stegner’s gorgeous novel Angle of Repose, a perspective on settlers in the 1870s that is complex and valuable to read at this moment, as we respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I’m writing a book connected to my father, George Salverson, who was a CBC radio and television writer. In 1962, he flew around the world shooting a documentary on world hunger. I’m following his path, with a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Wish me luck!

 

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg writer. Her mother, Karin Gordon, was a radiation safety officer.

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism.
BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top