White Lies (for my mother)

Last updated

White Lies (for my mother)
White Lies book cover.jpg
First edition cover of Canadian release
Author'Liza Potvin'
CountryCanada
Subject Incest
Genrenon-fiction
Publisher NeWest Press
Publication date
1 March 1992
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages224 pp.
ISBN 9780920897133

White Lies (for my mother) is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Liza Potvin, first published in March 1992 by NeWest Press. In the book, the author chronicles her "lost" childhood, as an incest victim, and the subsequent years of emotional turmoil, leading to recovery. [1]

NeWest Press is a Canadian publishing company. Established in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1977, the company grew out of a literary magazine, NeWest Review, which had been launched in 1975. Early members of the collective that established the company included writer Rudy Wiebe and University of Alberta academics Douglas Barbour, George Melnyk, and Diane Bessai.

Incest Sexual activity between family members or close relatives

Incest is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity, and sometimes those related by affinity, adoption, clan, or lineage.

Contents

Awards and honours

White Lies (for my mother) received the 1993 "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction". [1] The book was also nominated for the 1992 "VanCity Book Award", and The Vancouver Sun's 1992 listing as one of the "Six Best Books of the Year". [2]

The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction is an annual literary award recognizing the previous year's best creative nonfiction book with a "Canadian locale and/or significance" that is a Canadian writer's "first or second published book of any type or genre". It was established by an endowment from Edna Staebler, a literary journalist best known for cookbooks, and was inaugurated in 1991 for publication year 1990. The award is administered by Wilfrid Laurier University's Faculty of Arts. Only submitted books are considered.

See also

Related Research Articles

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1993.

This article presents lists of literary events and publications in 1992.

<i>Most of Me</i>

Most of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown is a non-fiction memoir, written by Canadian writer Robyn Michele Levy, first published in September 2011 by Greystone Books. In the book, the author chronicles her plight from symptoms, to medical diagnosis, and coping with simultaneous illnesses.

<i>Letters from the Lost</i>

Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery is a non-fiction memoir, written by Canadian writer Helen Waldstein Wilkes, first published in December 2009 by Athabasca University Press. In the book, the author chronicles her discoveries after reading a box of letters she had never before seen. Her Jewish parents had fled Czechoslovakia in April 1939 to seek haven in Canada. Once in place, they corresponded with family and friends, encouraging them to escape the mounting peril that Hitler had envisioned as the Final Solution. Wilkes would learn that shortly after her parents migration, the ability to flee had been curtailed; and that each letter, compounded the historical anguish the writers were forced to endure.

<i>A Very Capable Life</i> book by Johnnie Walters

A Very Capable Life: The Autobiography of Zarah Petri is a non-fiction memoir of his mother by the Canadian television host Johnnie Walters, written under his real name John Leigh Walters and published in January 2010 by Athabasca University Press. It re-tells the stories his mother described to him regarding her immigration to Canada in the 1920s. Walters gives his first person account using humor, and intrigue, to share his mother's expressed regards about her depression era experiences.

<i>Smiling Bears</i>

Smiling Bears: A Zookeeper Explores the Behavior and Emotional Life of Bears is a 2009 book by Canadian writer Else Poulsen, first published by Greystone Books. In the book, the author chronicles her insights gleaned as a zookeeper responsible for rehabilitating "bears in crisis". Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson called Smiling Bears "An inspiring trip into the minds and reality of bears."

<i>Lost: A Memoir</i> non-fiction memoir by Cathy Ostlere

Lost: A Memoir is a non-fiction memoir, written by Canadian writer Cathy Ostlere, first published in May 2008 by Key Porter Books. In the book, the author chronicles her feelings of guilt associated with her brother and his fiancée being declared "lost at sea". Ostlere had promised her brother not to divulge his plans for a sea voyage, and when his birthday in 1995 passed without the family receiving a call, she felt it was not particularly unusual of his character, and choose not to mention their secret. After weeks of no word, Ostlere admitted to her parents that she had know of the seafaring plans. Soon after admitting this, it was determined that the couple were officially "lost at sea".

<i>The Darien Gap</i>

The Darien Gap: Travels in the Rainforest of Panama is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Martin Mitchinson, first published in August 2008 by Harbour Publishing. In the book, the author chronicles his 18-month expedition traveling the province of the Darién Gap, an area dangerous for human sojourns; a haven for Colombian guerrillas and drug-trafficking. The jungle is dense and teeming with caimans, boa constrictors, and jaguars. Mitchinson sailed into the province aboard his 36-foot ketch. He then moved in with a native family who also served as his guide.

<i>Stardust</i> (Serafin book) non-fiction collection of memoirs and essays, written by Canadian writer Bruce Serafin

Stardust is a non-fiction collection of memoirs and essays, written by Canadian writer Bruce Serafin, first published in October 2007 by New Star Books. The book, contains 20 writings from Serafin's youth; compiled after the authors death in 2007. Primarily the prose dishes harsh criticism at the establishment; in the authors style of candid and frank discourse. Serafin was honored posthumously for his work.

<i>Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915</i>

Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915 is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Nathan M. Greenfield, first published in April 2007 by Harper Collins. In the book, the author recounts "The Second Battle of Ypres", called an "heroic battle" of World War I. The battle poised skilled German soldiers armed with chlorine gas against the entrenched 1st Canadian Division who managed to prevail, against odds. In defeating the Germans, and overcoming the effects of the first chemical attack of the modern era, Greenfield tells a "gripping" tale for anyone seeking to understand Canadian history or her military past.

<i>Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland</i>

Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Marie Wadden, first published in December 1991 by Douglas & McIntyre. In the book, the author chronicles the plight of the Innu people, indigenous inhabitants of an area they affectionately call "Nitassinan" which means "our land" in the Innu dialect.

<i>The Only Snow in Havana</i> book by Elizabeth Hay

The Only Snow in Havana is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Elizabeth Hay, first published in September 1992 by Cormorant Books. In the book, the author chronicles an eight-year sojourn in which she traveled to Mexico, and through Cuba and Latin America, settling in New York until her return to Ottawa in 1992. Hay was homesick throughout her time away, and every new experience of her travels invoked reflections of home, which she recorded in her journal. Hay's journals resulted in a trilogy of books, of which, The Only Snow in Havana is second.

<i>Sharing a Robins Life</i>

Sharing a Robin's Life is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Linda Johns, first published in July 1993 by Nimbus Publishing. In the book, the author writes in first person prose; describing when she and a robin, she had nurtured from peril, cohabited; sharing their life and home. The judges who awarded Linda Johns the "Edna Staebler Award" called the book; "a remarkable" read, saying it "challenges our preconceptions" about the "natural world around us."

<i>The Guns of Normandy</i> book by George G. Blackburn

The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944 is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer George G. Blackburn, first published in October 1995 by McClelland & Stewart. In the book, the author renders a firsthand account of the Normandy invasion from within the Canadian Forces. The narrative account was called "gripping", given in "the most graphic and authentic detail". The panel of judges who awarded the "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction" called The Guns of Normandy "an outstanding example" of the genre.

<i>Timely Death</i>

Timely Death: Considering Our Last Rights is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Anne Mullens, first published in May 1996 by Knopf Canada. In the book, the author chronicles medical advances and increased longevity in the context of the right to a dignified death. The book has been called a "well-researched and comprehensive book, written with compassion and clarity." Anne Mullens, covered the Sue Rodriguez story as a journalist for The Vancouver Sun and later for the Toronto Star. This was Mullens' inspiration for writing the book and she said "her attitude towards death changed during the course of writing it".

<i>Mrs. King</i> book by Charlotte Gray

Mrs. King: The Life and Times of Isabel Mackenzie King is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Charlotte Gray, first published in 1997 by Penguin Books. In the book, the author chronicles the life of William Lyon Mackenzie's daughter; the mother of Canada's longest serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Her son portrayed her as the "ideal woman, the epitome of motherhood and an angel of goodness and light." His biographers have her portrayed as "an ambitious, grasping manipulator who pushed her eldest son into politics and then contrived to keep him a bachelor so that he could support the rest of his family." Wilfrid Laurier University's Faculty of Arts panel called Mrs. King an "outstanding example of creative non-fiction", further stating, "Charlotte Gray has written a biography with the narrative power of a fine novel."

<i>Rolling Home: A Cross Canada Railroad Memoir</i> book by Tom Allen

Rolling Home: A Cross Canada Railroad Memoir is a non-fiction memoir, written by Canadian writer Tom Allen, first published in October 2001 by Penguin Books. In the book, the author chronicles his travels across Canada on a train. Allen includes his interviews with passengers, engineers, cooks, and porters. Rolling Home has been called an "evocative cross-country tour of Canada by train," by Staebler award administrator Kathryn Wardropper.

<i>Into the Blue</i> (book)

Into the Blue: Family Secrets and the Search for a Great Lakes Shipwreck is a non-fiction book, written by Canadian writer Andrea Curtis, first published in April 2003 by Random House Canada. In the book, the author narrates her family history and their connection to the 1906 shipwreck of the SS J.H. Jones, lost to the late-November swells of Ontario's Georgian Bay, claiming the lives of all on board. The ship's captain, Jim Crawford, left his one-year-old daughter, Eleanor, an orphan who faced a future of poverty. Curtis did not know the stigma her grandmother endured until researching the shipwreck, and discovering its links to her families past. Staebler Award administrator Kathryn Wardropper called the book "a thoroughly credible and enjoyable book".

<i>Ill Tell You a Secret</i>

I'll Tell You a Secret: a Memory of Seven Summers is a non-fiction memoir, written by Canadian writer Anne Coleman, first published in September 2004 by McClelland & Stewart. In the book, the author offers her perspective of Hugh MacLennan, her mentor and well known Canadian literary figure. The voice is described as "uncompromising, perceptive and rich with reflection." Kathryn Wardropper, administrator of the Edna Staebler Award said, "The judges were thrilled with her writing and Edna, herself, was a strong champion of this title."

References

  1. 1 2 Faculty of Arts, 1993, Edna Staebler Award , Wilfrid Laurier University, Previous winners, Liza Potvin. Retrieved 20 November 2012
  2. VIU, Liza Potvin , Bibliography: Contents. Retrieved 20 November 2012