Jennifer from Literal Life brought this article in The Globe and Mail to my attention about the difficulties of finding enough funds for Canadian non-fiction writers to write their books. Some of the big non-fiction books in Canada have only come about because they have received international funding. It saddens me to think about the Canadian stories we might be missing out on.
A Canada unable to tell its own stories is a diminished Canada. “If you want to have your reality, your culture, your art and land and people, chronicled in a way that’s worthy of the country and of the intelligence of the country, then you’ve got to pay,” Vaillant says.
Consumed by Ink 
I wonder if raising the profile of Canadian non-fiction writing in the media (and then in the public eye) would be helpful or are non-fiction writers not as sexy as your Margaret Atwoods or Douglas Couplands. A lot of Canadian fiction is brought to my attention because of the media, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of attention given to non-fiction except maybe writers who have some kind of celebrity status like Naomi Klein.
Edmonton has a whole festival dedicated to non-fiction (http://www.litfestalberta.com) and, oddly, the whole city seems non-fiction crazy. Odd. Maybe more non-fiction festivals would help?
But, I think it’s true that non-fiction authors don’t get as much media attention and it is sad that they are not getting funded to tell their stories.
March is non-fiction month at Write Reads so we’ll have to pick a good one for it 🙂 -Tania
Wow, that festival sounds awesome! Edmonton is so lucky.
Naomi, just read your Triple Choice Tuesday picks on the Reading Matters blog! Great choices! I own The Sea Captain’s Wife – picked it up first for its glorious cover, but have just finished reading Powning’s newest – A Measure of Light. Very good – fascinating!
Thank you, Penny! I have also just recently finished reading A Measure of Light. I thought it was so well done. What a lot of research! Now that you’ve read that one, you will have to go back and read The Sea Captain’s Wife. Let us know what you think! Thanks for commenting!