Tonight's the night John Rae turns up in Calgary. The Arctic explorer will be there in spirit, anyway, for my talk at the U of C.  The event, sponsored by Clan MacRae, helps kick off the 2013 Calgary Highland Games.
Today's Calgary Herald ran a terrific piece by Chris Nelson, headlined Clan Macrae leads the charge at Games.
And the University of Calgary published a fine piece with, dare I suggest it, an even better headline:
Bestselling Calgary author to give talk on Arctic explorer John Rae. OK, strictly speaking, "Canadian author" would have worked better. But as an ex-Calgarian, I am thrilled to be here, and excited to be giving this talk in my old home town. Who says you can't go home again?

OK, that may be putting it a bit grandly.
But yes, come October, we propose to launch 50 Canadians Who Changed the World with a cross-Canada, multi-event, book-launch extravaganza.
HarperCollins Canada and VIA Rail are co-operating to make this expedition happen.
Starting from Toronto on October 12, accompanied by my wife, Sheena, and detraining as warranted along the way, I will travel first to the West Coast (Oct. 12 to 30), then to Halifax (Nov. 8 to 13), with a Toronto launch in-between.
We’re already booked to stage a number of events -- at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg and Saskatoon, for example, and at Paragraphe Books in Montreal.
Meanwhile, at head office, Lauren Morocco is working on this night and day. If you want to join the fun, she remains open to pitches and proposals. Lauren dot Morocco at harpercollins dot com. All aboard!

John Rae has legs. His contemporaries knew that. They hailed him as the greatest snowshoe traveler of the Victorian era. Here in the 21st century, the peerless Arctic explorer has been carrying Fatal Passage overland for more than a decade. He has turned it into my all-time bestselling book, and for that I am grateful. Sundry celebrations of Rae are now upon us. That`s because he was born in Orkney in September 1813 -- 200 years ago next month. And because he solved the two great mysteries of 19th century Arctic exploration: Rae discovered both the final link in the Northwest Passage and the fate of the ill-starred 1845 expedition led by Sir John Franklin. Above, overlooking Rae Strait, we see Louie Kamookak and Our Hero on two separate occasions. Of the myriad looming celebrations, I will be speaking at three, one each in Calgary, Hamilton, and Stromness, Orkney. Hope to see you at one of those. Check What`s New for details.

It happened in Halifax. They came to plant a flag for creative nonfiction. OK, OK, they came to begin writing their first books. But they did come from across the land, from as far away as Vancouver, and even from across the border, from Washington. And at University of King's College, under the leadership of Stephen Kimber and Don Sedgwick, they did launch Canada's first MFA program in Creative Nonfiction.
The original mentors were and are four: Lorri Neilsen-Glenn, Yours Truly, Lori A. May, and David Hayes. Our numbers will double next August. Same with the number of program participants. Above you see one group or pod, known as the Best and the Brightest; below, you see another assembly that, oddly enough, claims the same moniker.

Soon after these shots were taken, by Sheena Fraser McGoogan, the closing-night party spiraled out of control, as these things do. Apologies to all those who do not appear here. Consider that it may be for the best, and that you may owe us thanks. The official, all-inclusive photo is in the works. Party on!

Veteran author Harry Thurston capped a climactic literary evening at the Grad House in Halifax by reading from a memoir about losing a big, two-hearted river. The Nova Scotia native, who is slated, as vice-chair, to become chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, gave a bravura
performance, and so managed to overcome the damaging revelation that he winters in Portugal. As one of those authors -- 25 books and counting -- who will join the roster of mentors in the MFA program in CNF at King's College, Thurston marvelled at the talent
of those five readers who preceded him. They included Beth Hitchcock and Terra Duncan Bruhm, pictured here, and Jen Powley, Gina Woolsley, and Fiona Campbell, several of whom moved the audience to laughter and near tears. Obviously, you should have been there.

Gotta love an article that turns up in today's Globe and Mail. It's all about turning failure into success, and in it we find Our Hero talking about 50 Canadians Who Changed the World.
“In researching my new book, I came across all kinds of creative ways to respond to failure. The revelations included:
1. The sooner you cut your losses, the better: In 1967, in the middle of a poker game in Detroit, Joni Mitchell realized that her marriage had become a farce. She jumped up from the poker table, collected a few things from home, and set out that night for New York City ... and international celebrity.
2. Instead of beating your head against a wall, look for another door: In the 1980s, activist Maude Barlow lost a hard-fought battle to represent the Liberal Party in Ottawa Centre. After licking her wounds, she took a radical turn, deciding to do her fighting from outside the political system – and so became a world leader in the struggle to confront the looming global water crisis.
3. When all else fails, go lie on a beach: In 1983, Guy Laliberté was a busker, living hand-to-mouth while performing in a money-losing street festival. He took a beach holiday in Hawaii, and while watching the sun go down, conceived of mounting a circus of the sun. He got a government grant to act on his vision. His Cirque du Soleil not only recreated the idea of the circus, but turned Mr. Laliberté into Canada's youngest billionaire.”