Word Carving: The Craft of Literary Journalism

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Word Carving: The Craft of Literary Journalism - Book Cover

ISBN 1-894773-02-0

$21.95 CDN $15.95 US

360 pages - paper -
5.5 x 8.5

BISAC: SOC022000 CAN002000 LIT0034080

Anthology Literary
Non-Fiction

Word Carving
The Craft of Literary Journalism

Introduction by Alberto Ruy-Sánchez
Edited by Moira Farr and Ian Pearson

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About the Essays

Contributors to this book

Is fiction sexier than non-fiction? In April 2003, the publishing industry trade paper Quill & Quire quoted literary agent Anne McDermid’s assertion that "There is no history [in Canada] of a way of looking at a non-fiction book that values the quality of the writing, that values narrative techniques." The article further reported that booksellers, the media, and festival directors evaluate literary non-fiction by subject matter, not artistry, creativity, and craft. Adding her voice to the article, agent Denise Bukowski suggests that "the media thinks fiction’s sexier," so the publicity that builds buzz about a title consistently overlooks non-fiction works. (see "The new fate of non-fiction: Is there a future for topical, issue-oriented publishing in Canada?" p. 4)

Reading this, a non-fiction publisher might be tempted to rethink its fall list. But what about the talented journalists and writers who are creating top-notch works of non-fiction? They are out there and eight of them visit The Banff Centre each summer as part of the Creative Non-Fiction and Cultural Journalism program. Word Carving: The Craft of Literary Journalism collects the works of twelve such writers, either up-and-coming or already at the top of their field. Each writes with passion, skill, and storytelling expertise. Their words are shaped with all the care and artistry that artist Peter Schuyff summoned in carving the pencils that adorn the book cover. As Mexican author Alberto Ruy-Sánchez sums up in his introduction: "For me, [Peter Schuyff’s pencils] ... lead us to the unexpected and highly crafted forms the artist of the word and the artist of the wood may produce."

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The Essays

Katherine Ashenburg explores her favourite nurse novels, touching on the sensual pleasures of reading and how books mark us in childhood, indelibly shaping our identities. (Doctors’ Daughters: Helen, Sue, and Me)

Douglas Bell illuminates the profound impact a devastating childhood accident has had on his life and his relationship with his mother. (The Accidental Course of My Illness)

Ted Bishop finds that his twin obsessions — riding motorcycles and cruising literary archives — are surprisingly intertwined. (The Motorcycle and the Archive)

A-A Farman-Farmaian tosses out most preconceived ideas about "home" and finds his own place in the wider world. (Hiding Places)

Alyse Frampton draws a portrait of her father that shows how misguided ideologies can squander a fortune and fracture a family (and still leave room for love). (My American Father)

Camilla Gibb unravels her own foreignness through friendship with a "foreigner." (Foreigners)

Matthew Hart intricately deconstructs a notorious Irish art heist to show how theft brought new meaning to a priceless Vermeer. (Stealing Vermeer)

Johanna Keller writes a memoir of her relationship with Itzhak Perlman’s beloved accompanist, a memoir that becomes a cultural ghost story. (Nocturne: Remembering Pianist Samuel Sanders)

Chris Koentges takes a wild road trip into the heart of American culture at its most gloriously tacky and marginal, and comes home with a one-of-a-kind meditation on innocence and experience as his souvenir. (The Pedro Guerrero Principle)

Anita Lahey examines the lost art of the eulogy and finds the power of words in the face of death. (Confessions of a Eulogist)

Philip Marchand recounts his formative years in a 1960s therapeutic community and shows the contradictions between personal growth and self-involvement. (Lea and Me)

Ellen Vanstone hilariously reveals the strange undercurrent of sexuality at a conservative national newspaper, wickedly satirizing its politics in the process. (Post Traumatic Stress: How I learned to stop worrying about Conrad Black’s evil plan to destroy Canada’s universal health-care system and love my job at the National Post)

The cover image was created by Peter Schuyff, a visual artist working at The Banff Centre in 2002. He called the work "Sans Papier" because his pencils were without paper and had not made their "mark." He sat in the coffee shop at the Centre and whittled, taking both his pencils and shavings back to the studio with him each day.

Other titles in the series: To Arrive Where You Are: Literary Journalism from The Banff Centre for the Arts (0-920159-71-0), Taking Risks: Literary Journalism from the Edge (0-920159-57-5), Why are you telling me this? Eleven Acts of Intimate Journalism (0-920159-86-9)

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Word Carving - Contributors