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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 21, 2008 - 25 Artscene · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008 40 NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER WELL-READ: Ken McGoogan, left, Joseph Boyden, centre, and Nino Ricci steal a peek at each other's works at the recent Bookers Brunch at The Oakville Golf Club. Canadian authors make a stop in Oakville to promote latest works By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Author Joseph Boyden is a Scotiabank Giller prizewinner in good company. Just days before earning $50,000 in literary kudos on Nov. 11, the eyes of more than 100 book lovers, mostly female, were cast upon Boyden at the latest Bookers Brunch held at the Oakville Golf Club. With seven older sisters, this women-saturated space was familiar territory for Boyden. He presented his book Through Black Spruce alongside fellow Giller longlister Nino Ricci for the Origin of Species, as well as Race to the Polar Sea by author Ken McGoogan, who won the Giller of history writing, the Pierre Berton Award, in 2006. 8.44% All three authors' latest works have plenty home of Kane's secret wife, Maggie Fox. in common, too. They are stories about men Race to the Polar Sea is a story about a love who embark on pivotal quests. affair that ended badly, global warming and a While Boyden and Ricci's novels are fic- historical icon. tional, McGoogan's gives Arctic explorer In Through Black Spruce author Joseph Elisha Kent Kane his due Boyden gives a voice to "There is such beauty in them for charting a path through Native people. the North Pole, heading (Native people) and the land." "There is such a farther north than any Joseph Boyden beauty in them and in other explorer of his time the land," he said. Author of Through Black Spruce and documenting Eskimo Boyden tells stories life. of life on a reserve and With effusive detail and effervescent ener- in the city from the perspective of bush pilot gy McGoogan, an adventure traveller himself, and Cree native, Will Bird and his niece, Annie described his sailing trip to the Arctic and how Bird. he gained unprecedented access to Kane's The pair straddles life between traditional long missing private journals in a museum in ways and modern influence. Pennsylvania, as well as his visit to the former Will, a bush pilot, lives off the land, is a hard drinker, endless smoker and jogger, a hunter who becomes friends with an old black bear. When readers meet him in the novel, he is lying in a coma in a hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece, Annie, is a self-reliant tomboy, skilled trapper and in a desperate search for her missing sister, the famous model Suzanne. Author Nino Ricci simply let his writing do the storytelling at the Booker's event. Reading from the his latest work, Origin of Species, he parlayed the story of a trip to the Galapagos that haunts the main character Alex Fratarcangeli forever, and about his subsequent search for love, and meaning from unexpected people. See Books page 28 * Our return is much higher than you'd expect. Take advantage of our 3 or 5-Year Market Index GIC today. Deposits are insured up to $100,000 by Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DICO). It's extra safe. It's extra smart. Visit a local branch for details or call us at 1-800-616-8878. Think First. *Rate for maturity as at June 10, 2008. Historical rates are not indicative of future returns. ThinkFirstNow.com