Duncan Thornton

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Duncan Thornton (born June 14, 1962) is a Canadian author, speaker, and futurist. He was born in Gods Lake Narrows, Manitoba, where his father served as minister in the United Church of Canada. The family moved to Winnipeg a few years later. At the age of the 13 he dropped out of school, but 20 he enrolled as a mature student at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He went on to graduate from the University of Winnipeg (BA, hon.s in English and History). He also did graduate work in English at both Concordia University in Montreal and the University of Manitoba. He currently lives in Winnipeg with his wife, author Brenda Hasiuk, and their two children.

Canadians citizens of Canada

Canadians are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Canadian.

Futurists are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.

United Church of Canada Christian protestant-oriented denomination in Canada

The United Church of Canada is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada.

Contents

Thornton was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009. In March 2010, Thornton visited the EuroMedic clinic in Katowice, Poland, to become one of the first Canadians treated for CCSVI, a vascular problem common in MS patients first described by Dr. Paolo Zamboni. He has spoken frequently in the media about CCSVI and his experience with its treatment, and was one of the founders of CCSVI Manitoba, a group that advocates for access to CCSVI testing and treatment for Manitobans with Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis disease that damages the myelin sheaths around nerve axons

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This damage disrupts the ability of parts of the nervous system to communicate, resulting in a range of signs and symptoms, including physical, mental, and sometimes psychiatric problems. Specific symptoms can include double vision, blindness in one eye, muscle weakness, trouble with sensation, or coordination. MS takes several forms, with new symptoms either occurring in isolated attacks or building up over time. Between attacks, symptoms may disappear completely; however, permanent neurological problems often remain, especially with the advancement of the disease.

Katowice Place in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

Katowice is a city in southern Poland, with a city-proper population of 294,510 making it the eleventh-largest city in Poland and is the center of the Katowice metropolitan area, which has approximately 2 million people.

Paolo Zamboni Italian doctor

Paolo Zamboni is an Italian doctor who claims to have found in an unblinded preliminary study that in over 90% of the participants with multiple sclerosis there were problems in veins draining their brain, like stenosis or defective valves. He also noticed high level of accumulation of iron deposits in the brain, supposedly due to restricted outflow of blood.

Bibliography

Novels

His first novel, Kalifax [1] (1999), a young adult fiction fantasy described as a fairy-tale retelling of the search for the Northwest Passage, was nominated for the 2000 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. The sequel, Captain Jenny and the Sea of Wonders [2] (2001) was a counterpart inspired by classic literature of Old World exploration. The final book in the series, The Star-Glass [3] (2003), won the 2004 McNally Robinson Book Prize for Young People. [4]

Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is targeted to teenagers, approximately half of YA readers are adults.

Northwest Passage sea route north of North America

The Northwest Passage (NWP) is, from the European and northern Atlantic point of view, the sea route to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP).

Old World Collectively Africa, Europe, and Asia

The term 'Old World' is used commonly in the West to refer to Africa, Asia and Europe, regarded collectively as the part of the world known to its population before contact with the 'New World'.

Shadow-Town [5] (2008) his first novel in several years, is the first of a new four-book sequence called "The Vastlands."

Other works

Thornton was the founding editor of the electronic version of Canadian Materials, one of the first regular on-line publications in Canada. He also developed and led Red River College’s innovative New Media Program. These experiences led to a second career as a lecturer and columnist on technology trends.

Red River College Manitobas largest institute of applied learning

Red River College (RRC) is a college located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the province’s largest institute of applied learning and applied research, with over 200 degree, diploma and certificate programs and more than 21,000 students annually.

Thornton was also the 2004-2005 Writer-in-Residence for the Winnipeg Public Library.

The Winnipeg Public Library is a public library system in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Branches provide programming for children, teens, and adults. The Library also contains an Outreach Department which works with the community, as well as people who cannot visit the library directly. Outreach also promotes the library to communities that are under represented in the library.

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References

  1. ↑ "Kalifax". Coteau Books. Archived from the original on 2007-12-07.
  2. ↑ "Captain Jenny". Coteau Books. Archived from the original on 2007-12-07.
  3. ↑ "The Star Glass". Coteau Books. Archived from the original on 2007-12-07.
  4. ↑ "Manitoba Writing and Publishing Awards". McNally Robinson.
  5. ↑ "Shadow-Town". Boon Bridge Books. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
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