Biographies and autobiographies

  • Up the coast : one family's wild life in the forests of British Columbia

    Creator

    Willcock, Kathryn

    Abstract

    Kathryn Willcock and her sisters grew up in logging camps on the coast of B.C. in the 1960s when children were set loose to play in the wilderness, women kept rifles next to the wood stove, and loggers risked their lives every single day. The author's tales of grizzly bears, American tourists, and a couple of terrified gangsters, along with the wisdom of Indigenous elders, pour off the page like warm syrup on a stack of cookhouse hotcakes.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    [Edmonton, Alberta]

    NeWest Press

    Not specified
  • Blue storm : the rise and fall of Jason Kenney

    Abstract

    "In 2019, the United Conservative Party, under the leadership of Jason Kenney, unseated the New Democratic Party to form the provincial government of Alberta. A restoration of conservative power in a province that had seen the Progressive Conservatives win every election from 1971-2015, UCP quickly began to make political waves. This is the first scholarly analysis of the 2019 election and the first years of the UCP government, with special focus on the path of Jason Kenney's rise to, and fall from, provincial political power.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    [Calgary, Alberta]

    University of Calgary Press

    Not specified
  • Punching and kicking : leaving Canada's toughest neighbourhood

    Creator

    Dobson, Kathy

    Abstract

    People don't leave the Point, even if they move far away. Or at least that's how it seems to journalist Kathy Dobson. Growing up in the 1970s in Point St. Charles, an industrial slum in Montreal, she sees how people get trapped in the neighbourhood. In this sequel to the highly praised With a Closed Fist, Dobson shares her journey of trying to escape from what was once described as the toughest neighbourhood in Canada.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Véhicule Press

    Not specified
  • The hope that remains : Canadian survivors of the Rwandan Genocide

    Creator

    Macgill, Christine

    Abstract

    Every immigrant that comes to Canada has a story. This book captures ten of those stories and the remarkable resiliency and fortitude of the human spirit. In 1994 one of the worst genocides in human history took place in Rwanda--over one million people were killed in 100 days.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Véhicule Press

    Not specified
  • Out standing in the field : a memoir by Canada's first female infantry officer

    Creator

    Perron, Sandra

    Abstract

    Sandra Perron, Canada's first female infantry officer, describes her experiences serving in the Canadian Forces, including the harassment she suffered during training and her deployments to Bosnia and Croatia.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Ontario

    Cormorant Books

    Not specified
  • Lunging into the underbrush : chronicle of a life lived backward : a memoir

    Creator

    Homel, David

    Abstract

    In 1970, when he travelling in Spain as an 18-year-old, David Homel took a false step and ended up in pieces at the foot of a cliff. After a spell in a Spanish hospital, he was gathered up in the arms of a nearby US military hospital where he began a long march back toward life, through botched surgeries, opiate addiction, and the loneliness of being a crippled traveler. Many years later, living in Montreal with growing pain and incapacity, he made an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon who gave him advice to live by.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Montréal, Québec

    Linda Leith Publishing

    Not specified
  • This team is ruining my life (but I love them) : how I became a professional hockey fan

    Creator

    Glynn, Steve

    Abstract

    Steve Dangle's incredible odyssey, from self-starting Leafs lover to sports-media star How do you turn ranting about hockey into a career? Steve "Dangle" Glynn is a YouTuber, podcaster, and sports personality from Toronto, who managed to turn a 16-second online rant about the Maple Leafs into a career in sports media. From video blogging in his parents' house at 19 to yelling on televisions across Canada at 28, Dangle has been involved with some of the most important sports companies in the country.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto

    ECW Press

    Not specified
  • A brief history of oversharing : one ginger's anthology of humiliation

    Creator

    Hitchins, Shawn

    Abstract

    Comedian Shawn Hitchins explores his irreverent nature in this debut collection of essays. Hitchins doesn't shy away from his failures or celebrate his mild successes--he sacrifices them for an audience's amusement. He roasts his younger self, the effeminate ginger-haired kid with a competitive streak. The ups and downs of being a sperm donor to a lesbian couple. Then the fiery redhead professes his love for actress Shelley Long, declares his hatred of musical theatre, and recounts a summer spent in Provincetown working as a drag queen. Nothing is sacred.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    ECW Press

    Not specified
  • Ice diaries : an Antarctic memoir

    Creator

    McNeil, Jean

    Abstract

    What do we stand to lose in a world without ice? A decade ago, novelist and short story writer Jean McNeil spent a year as writer in residence with the British Antarctic Survey, and four months on the world's most enigmatic continent--Antarctica. Access to the Antarctic remains largely reserved for scientists, and it is the only piece of earth which is nobody's country.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, ON

    ECW Press

    Not specified
  • Traveling music : the soundtrack to my life and times

    Creator

    Peart, Neil

    Abstract

    The music of Frank Sinatra, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and many other artists provides the score to the reflections of a musician on the road in this memoir of Neil Peart's travels from Los Angeles to Big Bend National Park. The emotional associations and stories behind each album Peart plays guide his recollections of his childhood on Lake Ontario, the first bands that he performed with, and his travels with the band Rush.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto

    ECW Press

    Not specified