Mordecai Richler was a Canadian writer. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997). His 1970 novel St. Urbain's Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two fantasy series for children. In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.
Irving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following, but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001), Layton fought Puritanism throughout his life:
Layton's work had provided the bolt of lightning that was needed to split open the thin skin of conservatism and complacency in the poetry scene of the preceding century, allowing modern poetry to expose previously unseen richness and depth.
Peter John Gzowski, known colloquially as "Mr. Canada", or "Captain Canada", was a Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter, most famous for his work on the CBC radio shows This Country in the Morning and then Morningside. His first biographer argued that Gzowski's contribution to Canadian media must be considered in the context of efforts by a generation of Canadian nationalists to understand and express Canada's cultural identity. Gzowski wrote books, hosted television shows, and worked at a number of newspapers and at Maclean's magazine. Gzowski was known for a friendly, warm, interviewing style.
Daniel Richler is a Canadian arts and pop culture broadcaster and writer.
Samuel Bronfman, was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Bronfman family.
John Gordon "Jack" McClelland CC was a Canadian publisher. He was known for promoting Canadian writers as president of the McClelland and Stewart publishing house.
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
Alfred Wellington Purdy was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four books of correspondence, in addition to his posthumous works. He has been called the nation's "unofficial poet laureate" and "a national poet in a way that you only find occasionally in the life of a culture."
Colin Malcolm McDougall (1917–1984) was a Canadian author best known for his 1958 Governor General's Award-winning novel Execution.
John Steffler is a Canadian poet and novelist. He served as Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008.
John Victor Maxwell Braithwaite was a Canadian novelist and non-fiction author. He was born in Nokomis, Saskatchewan and spent his youth in a number of communities in that province. As an adult he moved to Ontario, living in communities such as Orangeville, Port Carling and finally Brighton where he died at age 83.
Joshua Then and Now is a 1985 Canadian film and a TV mini-series, adapted by Mordecai Richler from his semi-autobiographical novel Joshua Then and Now. James Woods starred as the adult Joshua, Gabrielle Lazure as his wife, and Alan Arkin as Joshua's father. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff who had previously directed Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
Cocksure is a novel by Mordecai Richler. It was first published in 1968 by McClelland and Stewart.
The garrison mentality is a common theme in regards to Canadian literature and Canadian cinema. The term was first coined by literary critic Northrop Frye and further explored by author Margaret Atwood, who discussed Canada's preoccupation with the theme of survival in her book Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. This mentality is assumed to come from part of the Canadian identity that fears the emptiness of the Canadian landscape and fears the oppressiveness of other nations.
The Incomparable Atuk is a satirical novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. It was first published in 1963, by McClelland and Stewart. The novel was published as Stick Your Neck Out in the United States. The Incomparable Atuk tells the story of a Canadian Inuit, who is transplanted to Toronto and quickly adopts the greed and pretensions of the big city.
The Street is a collection of short stories by Mordecai Richler. It was originally published by McClelland and Stewart in 1969. The stories take place on Saint Urbain Street in Montreal.
Tundra Books is the oldest children's book publisher in Canada.
St. Urbain's Horseman is the seventh novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. First published in 1971 by McClelland & Stewart, it won the Governor General's Award for 1971.
Moishes Steakhouse is one of the oldest and most respected restaurants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1938 by Moishe Lighter, it was initially called "Romanian Paradise." Legend has it that Lighter, an immigrant from Romania to Canada, became the owner of the restaurant in a card game. The restaurant's name was changed to "Moishe's" at the outset of World War II. The apostrophe was dropped in the 1970s. The restaurant remains a fixture of Montreal and "The Main" neighborhood of Montreal today. The Main and its residents are prominent in Montreal literature and culture, as most famously represented in the writing of Montreal's Mordecai Richler.
Bear is a novel by Canadian author Marian Engel, published in 1976. It won the Governor General's Literary Award the same year. It is Engel's fifth novel, and her most famous. The story tells of a lonely librarian in northern Ontario who enters into a sexual relationship with a bear. The book has been called "the most controversial novel ever written in Canada".
