stephen leacock award edition
TRANSCRIPT
June, 2021 Page 1
Stephen Leacock Award Edition
June 30, 2021
Edited by Ann Parker [email protected]
Orillia Ontario Canada
Contents President’s Message .................................................................................................................................. 2
Stephen Leacock Medal Winner ............................................................................................................... 3
Short Listed Authors ................................................................................................................................. 6
Medal Winner Announced Live on CBC ................................................................................................ 11
What to watch for in the next edition...................................................................................................... 12
What if there was only one of something, and you could put your name behind it? .............................. 13
Sponsor ................................................................................................................................................... 14
Contact Information for Stephen Leacock Associates ............................................................................ 15
June, 2021 Page 2
Michael Hill, President Stephen Leacock Associates 2021
President’s Message As we all struggle with this seemingly never-ending world-wide plague, there are nevertheless lots of
positives in the world. Babies are still being born. The sun rises every day. Baseball is being played.
A certain orange haired bully no longer tweets hate on conventional social media. And the Leacock
brand itself is thriving. With our coffers filled, our membership growing, entries flowing in each year
and interest in the Leacock Medal strong, we have lots for which we can be thankful and lots to look
forward to.
Planning is already well underway for our upcoming seventy-fifth anniversary as a national literary
award. Back in 1946 a group of the late author’s friends banded together to celebrate Leacock. The
best way was to implement a national book award and in 1947 they gave the very first one to Harry
Symons for his Ojibway Melody. Since then, an outstanding cross-section of the country’s best
writers won the Leacock Medal for Humour. A self-published author has won. Winners (and long
listed authors) have come from all parts of Canada. In recent years, more women have been
prominent on the lists and this year we have a winner of indigenous heritage. Both of these things
reflect a more accurate picture of the literature and humour of this diverse country. As I said, there
are many positives during the pandemic.
Humour is an essential in life, nearly as important as water, food and shelter. We need to laugh.
While what makes one person laugh or smile may not necessarily tickle someone else’s fancy,
humour is something that Canadians “do” probably better than any nationality in the world. We are
known for our sense of humour almost as much as for our chronic politeness. On television, radio, in
the movies and on stage, Canadian humorists and comedians (there is a difference!) have brought
laughter to the world. And at the center of all that is the name of Stephen Leacock. While he was not
our first humourist, he certainly was the best-known and through a long career as a writer and
speaker, he entertained Canadians like no one before or since. Remarkably, stories that he wrote over
one hundred years ago still resonate with their wit, intelligence and the remarkable eye he had for
seeing the foibles and pretenses of everyday life. Leacock is still relevant and he still stands as the
benchmark for Canadian humour writing. If you have any doubts, check out any of his short story
collections.
I repeat this message often when writing the President’s message. We cannot forget or ignore the
contribution of Stephen Leacock to Canada’s culture. I believe that his witty tales of life in the early
twentieth century are still fresh and amusing as we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century.
That is a positive thing in a troubled world.
June, 2021 Page 3
2021 Stephen Leacock Medal Winner
Thomas King
Writing Indians on Vacation
Indians On Vacation started out as a couple of phrases that my partner Helen Hoy and I used as
mantras, for no other reason than they made us smile.
I had originally wanted to write a book about Greece. My maternal grandfather was from
Maletiani on the island of Evia, but he always told everyone that he was from Kymi. The two
places are only about four kilometres apart. I’m guessing being from a small village was more
glamorous than being from a village that wasn’t even on the map.
And as we contemplated a trip to that part of the world, we fell into a discussion of the names of
the characters who might make the trip. Mimi rhymed with Kymi (Mimi in Kymi), so that took
care of the female lead, but I didn’t have a name for my male character, and so the whole project
was put into a drawer and forgotten.
June, 2021 Page 4
I’m the kind of writer who has to have the names of the characters nailed before I can proceed,
and besides, I had never been to Greece, so a book about a non-existent trip just didn’t have the
necessary traction.
The book project got started again when Helen and I went to Prague. We originally had signed
up for a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, but friends told us that since we were going to
be in that part of the world, we had to see Prague.
Okay, so we did. But by the time we got to Prague in August of 2015, I was exhausted. Life in
general - writing, kids, health - as well as a growing aversion to bouncing around the world
looking at old churches and stone statuary has made travel less appealing to me than it had once
been. The day we arrived, we went straight to our hotel and collapsed on the bed. I don’t
remember which one of us said it first, but “so, we’re in Prague,” became the same sort of
mantra as “Mimi in Kymi.”
And so armed with “Mimi in Kymi” and “So, we’re in Prague,” the book project was back on
track. Sort of. First, we had to go to Greece. Which we did in 2017. I found the records of my
grandfather’s family in the old ledgers in Kymi city hall and found his village and even found the
family home.
Boarded up and vacant, but still standing.
But you never know how the pieces of a story will fit together. I had thought that the Greece trip
would play a larger role in the book than it ultimately did, and I thought the Prague part would be
just a mention rather than the main setting for the story. That’s part of the fun of writing.
I never know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what I’ll use or what will happen. And I’m fine
with that. Just so long as I don’t have to tour another cathedral filled with the bodies of saints or
wander another museum chock-a-block with the implements of torture and war.
The surprise of the book was the arrival of the demons. Sometimes devices trundle in from left
field. If you had told me, I would write a book based on travel that included a set of demons, I
would have thrown you out of my office.
Eugene and the Other Demons.
They sound like a rock group, and truth be told, it’s not a bad name. Two guitars, drums,
keyboards, skinny lead singer who looks as though he’s trying to eat the microphone.
But those aren’t my demons.
My demons are the nasty, persistent variety, despairs and depressions that haunt contemporary
existence. At least, my contemporary existence. So, when I warned Helen that this book might be
more autobiographical, she was encouraging.
June, 2021 Page 5
“Now you can deal with your demons,” she told me.
But what I heard was, “now you can deal with Eugene,” and I said, “Eugene?”
Whereupon Helen said, “Yes, Eugene and the Other Demons.”
Stranger things have happened.
And at that moment, the novel began to come together. But there were parts missing. In all the
novels I write, I always want to deal with some aspect of Native history, and the story of uncle
Leroy and the medicine bundle and Bird’s career as a photo-journalist were naturals to match up
with the rest of the parts.
So, off we went to Prague with Eugene and the Other Demons in tow. Mind you, writing about
the demons didn’t help me personally. Helen says that it might help someone else, but what does
she know.
One of the questions I’m frequently asked in interviews is the autobiographical question. Is
Indians On Vacation autobiographical? Are Mimi Bull Shield and Black Bird Mavrias simply
Helen Hoy and Thomas King.
The easy answer is, no.
I’ve always used autobiographical elements in my writing, but I’ve not written anything that
passes for autobiography. I doubt that I will ever do that. I don’t think of my life as
extraordinary, just busy. I would probably bore myself with the attempt. And I would probably
bore everyone else as well.
So, I’ll stick with making up stories that keep me engaged in the telling with the hope that they
will keep the reader engaged in the reading. And if the stories help someone along the way or
save the world . . .
---Thomas King
June, 2021 Page 6
Short Listed Authors (In Alphabetical Order)
Joseph Kertes
The (Sad and Happy) Humourist
When our youngest daughter was in Grade Four, her teacher asked if I would help start an after-
school writing club with her grade. (It so happens Stuart McLean’s son was in the same class, so
he and I tag-teamed in the enterprise.) I was introduced by the teacher as a “funny writer” and a
girl in the group asked, “How do you know if you’re a funny writer and not a sad one?”
“Good question,” I replied. “I’ll get back to you on it.”
The following week, I arrived with a writing exercise. I asked the group to take out a pencil and
paper and write down the following sentences: My best friend in elementary school was born
without a head. At recess in the schoolyard, she/he ran like the wind. I told the young writers that
these sentences should be the opening ones in a three-paragraph story they were to write, and
they set to work.
Miraculously, several in the group talked about how cool it would be to be born without a head.
You wouldn’t need a pillow or a hockey helmet or brush your teeth or comb your hair. Ever.
Several others wrote about bullies making fun of their headless friend, how their friend couldn’t
even cry, so they would do it for them, how they would never enjoy the fragrance of a flower or
hear music.
“There,” I declared. “Half of you see the world through comic eyes, the other half through tragic
ones. If you see the world as an absurd place, your stories will play themselves out accordingly.
If you see the world as dark and doomed, your stories will give voice to that view.” They looked
at me, puzzled. “You’ll see,” I told them.
June, 2021 Page 7
When I wrote my latest novel, Last Impressions, I was trying to express both of these approaches
because, if I’m honest, both reside in me. The book was inspired by the demise of my father, a
great and looming presence in my life, not only because of his history, which was dark and tragic
to say the least, but also because of his personality—he was larger than life in that he was almost
entirely unselfconscious. He often acted as though he were alone in the world and almost nothing
else mattered. For example, he drove as if he were the only driver on the road, and he drove
badly. It is a true story that he drove downtown in Toronto once, threw open his car door on Bay
Street without a care, and a truck took it right off. When he arrived home, he looked windblown.
We asked what had happened, and he said, “Nothing. What’s for dinner?” I looked out the
window and saw that the driver’s door was gone. He was a man who could not stand in a line-up,
inexplicably. If we arrived at a restaurant at which people were waiting for a table, he went crazy
and made us all crazy in the process. He would say over and over, “Let’s get out of here.” He
once punched the wall of a restaurant, hurting his hand badly. We drove him to the hospital but
had to pick up a sandwich for him on the way.
So my poor dear old dad was perfect fodder for a comedy. But once I’d written the comedy,
and—this is important—once my father had become a fictional character, meaning a person
conjured up by my own imagination—I felt that I had done a disservice to the man who’d
inspired the fiction. He’d had an awful chapter in his life, one in which the second world war had
ravaged his homeland and taken half his extended family with it, including his only sibling, the
brother that he’d loved and admired so well. He spent his life feeling guilty for being the one
who’d gotten away and gotten out. It didn’t explain who he was. But it was a start.
So, to be fair to him and to my fictional character, I laid down a darker historic subplot and
allowed it to play out against the present time of the novel. It was experimental for me at least,
but the historic chapters made the contemporary comic ones even funnier (I hope) because they
gave them shading. It also helped me to realize that you can never entirely know another human
being, even if she or he is your own invention.
So, to answer my Grade Four writing club’s question, maybe I’m both, comic one day, tragic the
next. Such is life.
When I began Last Impressions, my father said to me, “I hope you’re not writing another book
about me.” I told him I wasn’t, but of course it’s entirely about him.
—J. Kertes
June, 2021 Page 8
Morgan Murray
I have a confession to make: I don’t know what I’m doing.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to parenting a toddler (but I’m comforted by the fact
that no one else seems to either).
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to getting our dishwasher to clean the dishes
properly.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to getting eight hours of sleep.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to finding a long-term, fulfilling career.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to saving for retirement.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to getting in a bit of exercise each day without
feeling like I’m supposed to be doing something else more important, like weeding the flower
beds, but end up doing pretty much nothing in the face of all there is to do.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to weeding flower beds.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to growing things in flower beds.
June, 2021 Page 9
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to maintenance on our old backhoe we use to plow
the snow out of the driveway, but I do know grease is involved.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to procuring the proper greases, oils, and other
various lubricants to maintain our old backhoe.
I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to deciding what to have for dinner, or what to
watch on Netflix for the few moments of quiet between the toddler’s bedtime and our bedtime.
And I especially don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to writing books.
But I grew up on a farm with parents who, I’m learning, aren’t normal. They are fearless,
perhaps foolhardy, willing to tackle anything. Not knowing what they’re doing has never stopped
them from doing anything, and somehow, I inherited that flaw in evolutionary genetics that
would have left us the first ones eaten by sabre tooths during the ice age.
The difference, though, is that when you don’t know what you’re doing on the farm yet you do it
anyway, the worst-case scenario is the cows get out and you have to trudge through the mud
cursing and screaming them back to where they are supposed to be. Cows have unending
patience for farmers who don’t know what they are doing.
But when you write a book, whether you know what you’re doing or not, and it gets published
and finds its way into the world and people other than your mother start reading it, the audience
for your not knowing what you’re doing isn’t just a few endlessly patient cows. It’s scores of
strangers and award juries and surly people with undiagnosed mental health problems self-
medicating with hateful Goodreads reviews.
And those scores of strangers, somehow, might like the story you wrote about a hapless lunk
head in a book littered with dirty jokes, and say nice things and invite you to their book club or
put you on an award shortlist and it’s surreal, because you were just trying to build a fence to
keep the cows from getting out, and now they want to fete your accomplishment like you’re an
accomplished writer who knew, at every stage of the emotional roller-coaster of building a book
and showing it to the world, what they were doing.
And of all the things I don’t know what I’m doing about, the Leacock Shortlist is probably the
biggest one of them all. This award is only for my literary heroes. I’m only meant to look on
with awe and appreciation at the celebration of those writers who know very much what they are
doing and do it so well. I am not supposed to be here. I do not know what I am doing on a list
with Thomas King, for instance, whose books I read in university, whose lectures I listened to
just last year while I was not knowing how to renovate a house but doing it anyway.
June, 2021 Page 10
Albert Brooks or Mel Brooks or one of the other funny Brooks when asked what do you do when
your dreams come true said “keep your mouth shut.” That’s good advice for succeeding
gracefully, but perhaps better advice if you don’t know what you’re doing but have done it
anyway, and now your dreams are coming true. Keep your mouth shut, before they find out and
send you back to the cows.
--Morgan Murray
Editor
We hope that you have enjoyed these interesting pieces submitted by the top three authors
chosen by our Judges for the
Stephen Leacock Medal of Humour 2021
...it has long been my custom in preparing an article of a humorous nature to go
down to the cellar and mix up half a gallon of myosis with a pint of hyperbole. If I
want to give the article a decidedly literary character, I find it well to put in about half a
pint of paresis. The whole thing is amazingly simple.
- 'Humour As I See It' in 'Laugh with Leacock', anthology,
Pocket Books of Canada Ltd., Montreal, 1947
June, 2021 Page 11
Medal Winner Announced Live on CBC
In a major departure from the usual Gala Dinner medal announcement (and also because of the
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions), the winner of this year’s Leacock Medal was announced live
on the CBC’s Q program on June 4th.
Chris Trowbridge, the producer of the program (and, incidentally, the stepson of three-time
Medal winner Stuart McLean), approached us to ask if we were interested in a live
announcement. Given that the pandemic last year had restricted the winner announcement to an
unexciting and impersonal press release, we were only too happy to accept his kind offer. There
followed a couple of weeks of discussion by email about its timing and format. The three short-
listed authors were contacted and all consented to “appear” live on the program via Zoom, while
our president, Michael Hill, would phone in to make the actual announcement.
Because Q is broadcast across the country at the same local time, and the announcement was
scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern Time, only Atlantic Canada listeners heard it live. The rest of the
country had to wait their turn while the globe turned.
First, host Tom Power introduced each finalist. Joe Kertes, a previous medal winner and author
of Last Impressions, said he was only too happy to be there, and that the Leacock Medal is his
favorite award. He felt that humour is a much-beloved art form that is not given enough respect.
Thomas King (Indians on Vacation) said he did not think of himself as a humour writer but
admitted he uses humour as a strategy and that it’s nice to be included in that cadre of writers.
Morgan Murray (Dirty Birds) felt overwhelmed by the fact that he was up against Thomas King,
Order of Canada, and former medal winner Joe Kertes, whereas he was just a fellow from Mabou
(Nova Scotia), and he would be happy to lose to either of the others.
Tom then introduced Mike Hill and asked why it was important to recognize humour writing
with an award like this. Mike said that although the award honours humour writers it has been
won by many of Canada’s best authors, and mentioned Pierre Berton, W.O. Mitchell, Robertson
Davies, Will Ferguson, Stuart McLean and Terry Fallis among many others. He said that it’s not
just humour that is important but also the literary quality of the books.
After a brief drum roll, Mike announced the winner as Thomas King for Indians on Vacation.
Tom was stunned and did not know what to say. When asked to provide a little acceptance
speech, he said it was wonderful as he hadn’t expected to win; it was a great honour and that he
guessed he was now a humourist. He would have to have a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy it,
and let it sink in. He thanked the Leacock organization and said that his emotions seemed to be
“riding off in all directions” as Stephen Leacock might have said.
June, 2021 Page 12
Tom Power congratulated all the authors and asked Joe Kertes what he intended to do with the
$3,000 he had won, to which Joe replied that he had seen a $6,000 pair of shoes at half price.
Morgan Murray, when asked the same question, announced that he would be donating the money
to the Rocky Native Friendship Centre in Rocky Mountain House. In light of the gut-punching
news that week of the discovery of the graves of 215 children at the site of a former residential
school, he felt that this would be a very small gesture to remind himself of the honour of growing
up on Treaty 6 land and living in Unama’ki (Cape Breton) on unceded Mi’kmaq land.
He said that all three of these books are very humorous, but are also about serious real-world
issues, and that there was a lot yet to be done in this country.
Finally, Tom Power congratulated all three authors, and thanked the Leacock Association and all
the nominees for letting Q share in that special moment.
In our turn, we thank the CBC for helping to make the award announcement more of an occasion
than a bald press release would have been.
David Mallinson
Director
What to watch for in the next edition
**Student Essay Contest winners for 2021 and their Compositions.
**News of our newest Honorary Life Member
**Happenings at the Museum in Museum Musings
**Exciting News of Dates and Times for the coming Year’s Events
June, 2021 Page 13
What if there was only one of something, and you could put your name
behind it?
The Stephen Leacock Associates is a 'one of something': it is the only organization in Canada which
awards a prize for the best book of humorous writing published each year. This has been going on since
1946 (except for the blip in 1959 but that's another story!), with more than 70 silver medals awarded.
Considering the opinion expressed by sundry folks that we, as humans, need to champion our talent for
humour in whatever form, one may just naturally think that, in a country with a population of more than
38 million people, there would be a palpable hunger, demonstrated by the clamour of maybe 20 per cent
of us, to show our support for anyone who evidences this talent.
Oddly, those who have stepped forward to activate this clamour, by taking a membership in the Stephen
Leacock Associates, amount to .00030231 per cent of the population of Canada. Can you pronounce that
as a percentage of the total?
Not to worry. Our 38 million amounts to a mere .5 per cent of the total population of the world. And
despite the 38 million we have, there is still an awful lot of land with sparse or no population - not so
much as an 'aha' or a chortle.
Would a worthy membership objective for the Stephen Leacock Associates be .5 per cent (that is, one
half of one per cent) of Canada's population?
That would still be fewer than 20,000 people or, the population of a small town, but sufficient voice for a
hearty 'hurrah!' for award winners in our annual competition.
With a congratulatory nod to those who have already put in to support this effort, to become a resident
of this small town - let's call it 'Mariposa'; could be any of dozens dotted across Canada - simply pay
$10.00, the price of two coffees on Seniors' Day, per person for a year.
Please explore the Membership page of the Leacock.ca web site for options in multiple memberships,
sign up online or send a cheque.
In the small town of Mariposa in which you would be a citizen, there are no taxes, and the mayor
reports to the citizenry every year. And you may be pleased to know that you are supporting, with your
membership, an annual award, to a hard-working Canadian writer, of a silver medal and several thousand
dollars in cash, as well as cash awards for runners-up, and for humorous writing in an additional
competition for young people.
So, what you thought was only one of something has become multiple somethings for several Canadian
writers. And with your membership, your name is behind it!
Jim Harris
Membership Director
June, 2021 Page 14
Award Sponsor
Endowment Fund Contributor
Sponsors
Donors can be found on our website
Leacock.ca
Businesses that provide Goods and
Services
June, 2021 Page 15
Contact Information for Stephen Leacock Associates
Website: www.leacock.ca
Information: [email protected]
Editor: [email protected]
Mailing address: Box 854, Orillia, ON, L3V 6K8, Canada
Facebook and Twitter: @leacockmedal
Membership in the registered charity, Stephen Leacock Associates, is open to the public at an
annual subscription of $10. Go to www.leacock.ca and click on Membership to join.
Members are offered all event tickets ahead of a public offering.
Please consider joining us to support Canadian Authors.