S01 E02 - The Creation of 'CanLit'

Read The North by The Word On The Street
To understand where CanLit, or Canadian Literature, came to be what it is today, we need to go back in time to when it was first imagined into being. In this episode we cover the 1951 Massey Report, the founding of the Writers’ Union and arts councils, and how we’re investing in the stories we tell about ourselves today.Hosted by Rebecca  ...  See more
May 16 2022
Episode’s Soundbites
  • Jesse Wente on arts funding, storytelling, and connection00:21:00 - 00:22:31
Transcription

[theme music - ambient indie/electronic by composer James Ellercamp]

Rebecca Diem: I’m Rebecca Diem, the Digital Strategy and Communications Manager for the Word on the Street, and this is Read the North - a podcast about CanLit, brought to you by your favourite neighbourhood book festival.

[inquisitive scoring begins]

CanLit, of course, is Canadian Literature. But CanLit wasn’t always a thing. Like, we haven’t always had an ecosystem that supported the publication, promotion, and sales of homegrown talent. It used to be a lot harder to seek out books by authors living in or writing about Canada. And to be an author? Except in the very odd case, you could pretty much forget about making it your livelihood.

And you would have found it difficult to run a literary festival like The W

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Keywords
canadian literatureword on the streetpublishingcanadian historyjesse wentecanada councilwriters union of canadawriting grantspublic fundingmassey report