Sir John A. Macdonald in History and Fiction:

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Sir John A. Macdonald & The Apocalyptic Year 1885 will be published by Sutherland House Books in November 2024.  “In this fascinating and authoritative study of a skilled politician at the peak of his powers, political historian Patrice Dutil shows how Macdonald navigated persistent threats to public order, anchored the stability of his government, and ensured the future of his still fragile nation. What emerges is a compelling portrait of a man who, notwithstanding his personal failings and the sins of his times, was the most enlightened and constructive public figure of early Canadian History.” (from the dust jacket.)  Professor Dutil will be joined on stage by novelists Gordon Henderson and Roy MacSkimming, both of whom have written historical fiction featuring Macdonald, for a conversation about Macdonald’s central place in Canadian history, the challenges he faced and overcame in holding Canada together, and how fiction can help inform our understanding of history. The panel will be led by CIHE board member Lynne Golding, herself the author of an historical fiction trilogy.

BIOGRAPHIES

Patrice Dutil is the author or editor of a dozen books, a frequent commentator on policy and political issues, and the host of over 100 podcasts in the Canadian history series, “Witness to Yesterday.” He is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). He founded and for five years edited The Literary Review of Canada and served as president of the Champlain Society for seven years. He is a senior fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto and a senior fellow at the Macdonald—Laurier Institute. Among his books are Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election, Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: it’s Origins under Macdonald, Laurier and Borden, and Macdonald at 200: New Perspectives and Legacies (edited with Roger Hall).

In a fifty-year career in journalism Gordon Henderson has been a parliamentary correspondent, a current affairs field producer and an award-winning documentary producer. He’s directed films from Afghanistan to the Arctic, Beijing to Buenos Aires, and his company, 90^th Parallel Productions, has produced more than a hundred documentaries. Henderson was a senior series producer of the CBC/Radio-Canada series Canada: A People’s History and taught in the Journalism Department at Toronto’s Ryerson (now Metropolitan) University. He is semi-retired and writing. His first novel, Man in the Shadows was built around the assassination of Irish-Canadian politician D’Arcy McGee. His second, Out of the Shadows, co-written with Métis writer David Bouchard and published in September 2024, takes place during the Red River Resistance in Manitoba. Both feature Sir John A. Macdonald.

Roy MacSkimming is the author of nine books, including the historical novels Macdonald, a Globe & Mail best book of the year, and Laurier in Love. His study of Canadian book publishing, The Perilous Trade: Publishing Canada’s Authors, was also a Globe & Mail best book and finalist for the National Business Book Award. MacSkimming has spent his working life in and around the book industry as author, editor, publisher, and books editor of the Toronto Star. Set during Sir John A.’s final months, Macdonald, published in 2015, portrays a lion in winter fighting for his life and legacy. Peter C. Newman hailed it as “a singularly well-crafted novel that deserves top place among the books on Canadian history that matter.”  MacSkimming is finishing a new novel, The Cure for Love, a prequel to Macdonald.

Lynne Golding is the author of the historical fiction series, “Beneath the Alders.”  A graduate of the University of Toronto and Queen’s University, she is a senior partner at the international law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP where she co-leads their health law practice group. Lynne lives in Brampton, Ontario, and has three grown children. Beneath the Alders is inspired by stories told to Golding by her great aunt, Jessie Roberts Current, born in Brampton, Ontario in 1903. Those stories, supplemented by extensive research led to the creation of three novels about life in small-town Canada: The Innocent (1907 – July 1914); The Beleaguered (1914 – 1918) and The Mending (1918 – 1931). Golding is an advisory board member of the Canadian Institute for Historical Education and gave a lecture in the Yorkminster Park Speakers Series in January, 2022.