Canadian Book Advent Calendar (Day 3) - "C" is for Callaghan, Clarke, Cohen, and Crummey

For this year’s advent calendar, I am recommending Canadian authors/books found on Schatje’s Shelves.  Again, to make things more interesting/challenging, I will use the alphabet, skipping “X” and “Z”.  In total, I propose to focus on 50 Canadian writers, an early nod to Canada's 150th birthday next year.

“C” is for Morley Callaghan

Callaghan was recognized as one of the best short story writers of the day. In 1929, he spent some months in Paris, where he was part of the gathering of writers in Montparnasse that included Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce.  Edmund Wilson, the American critic, ranked Callaghan among the giants of literature.  Of the more than 100 short stories Callaghan published in his lifetime, 21 appeared over a ten year period in the New Yorker.  These stories were collected in one volume in 2001:  The New Yorker Stories.

Novels (which I recommend):

Such Is My Beloved

They Shall Inherit the Earth

More Joy in Heaven

The Loved and the Lost

Our Lady of the Snows

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“C” is for Austin Clarke

Austin Clarke was a Barbadian novelist, essayist, and short story writer who was based in Toronto. His most notable book is The Polished Hoe.

Novels (which I recommend):

The Origin of Waves (winner of the 1997 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize)

The Question (nominated for 1999 Governor General's Award)

The Polished Hoe (winner of the 2002 Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize)

More

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“C” is for Matt Cohen

Matt Cohen wrote both mainstream literature under his own name and children's literature under the pseudonym Teddy Jam.  His greatest popular success as a writer was his final novel Elizabeth and After.

Novels (which I recommend):

The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone (nominated for 1979 Governor General’s Award)

Last Seen (nominated for 1997 Governor General’s Award)

Elizabeth and After (winner of 1999 Governor General’s Award)

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“C” is for Michael Crummey

Michael Crummey is one of my favourite Newfoundland writers.  I’ve read all four of his novels and would recommend them all.  Each has been nominated for at least one major literary award.

Novels:

 River Thieves (shortlisted for the 2001 Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and longlisted for the IMPAC Award)

The Wreckage (longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award)

Galore (shortlisted for the 2011 IMPAC Award)

Sweetland (longlisted for 2016 International Dublin Literary Award and 2016 Canada Reads)  See my review of this book at http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/2015/11/birthday-review-sweetland-by-michael.html.