Can Lit? Can do! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Susanna Moodie

Susanna Moodie and her sister, Catharine Parr Traill, were born in England, and immigrated to Canada in 1832. They settled in what is now the Kawartha region of Ontario. Their books, such as Susanna's "Roughing it in the Bush" (1852) and Catharine's "The Backwoods of Canada" (1834), give vivid descriptions of pioneer life.

Answer: As for Me and My House

When I was a child, growing up in the sixties, Canada was seldom mentioned in the books I read. Once, the Hardy Boys came to Canada, but that fictional place bore no resemblance to the place I knew. Books were about other people, British or American people. Even our school textbooks told the stories of other people - Canadians from Quebec, or Ontario, never the Prairies where I lived. I first read "Who had Seen the Wind" as a school assignment, and it was such a shock - as Margaret Laurence wrote "(we felt) that's us, he's writing about us!" Never mind the fact that it's a very good book, "Who has Seen the Wind" is, to me, the first time I realized that books didn't have to always be about "other people".

Answer: Michael Ondaatje

"The English Patient" shared first place that year with Ian McEwan's "Black Dogs". All the other authors named are also originally from South Asia, and are now proudly claimed by Canada.

Answer: Grey Owl

Archie Belaney was born in 1888 in Hastings, Sussex. He immigrated to Canada in 1906, and soon entered the wilderness life he had dreamed of as a boy. For twenty years he lived in the bush, trapping and guiding. In 1925 he started writing under the name of "Grey Owl", passing himself off as a half-Apache.

He soon came to the notice of the Parks Service, under whose wing he became widely known, travelling as far as Buckingham Palace, speaking about the wilderness. In the summers, crowds of pilgrims came to his cabin in the woods.

He died in 1938, and soon after, his secret was exposed. Although he was in some ways a fraud, Grey Owl did have a genuine love and knowledge of the bush. You can still visit his cabin, in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan.

Answer: Gabrielle Roy

Gabrielle Roy is best known for "The Tin Flute" ("Bonheur d'Occasion")(1945) and "Where Nests the Water Hen" ("La Petite Poule l'Eau")(1950). Roy's novels are beautifully, delicately written, but I must confess that I find them quite depressing.

Answer: Pierre Berton

Pierre Berton has written more than 40 books, on subjects such as the construction of the CPR, the search for the Northwest Passage, and the War of 1812 (not to mention an excellent children's book, "The Secret World of Og"), but I always think of him in his bow tie, for All Those Years, on "Front Page Challenge" (1957-1995), the CBC TV quiz show.

Answer: No Great Mischief

"No Great Mischief" won the 2001 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. All the other choices, "Each Man's Son", by Hugh MacLennon, "Fall on Your Knees", by Anne-Marie MacDonald, and "Strange Heaven", by Lynn Coady, are also outstanding Cape Breton novels. Alister MacLeod had previously published several books of short stories.

Answer: Milton Acorn

"In the elephant's five-pound brain/
The wind is diverted by the draughts of his breath,/
Rivers are sweet gulps, and the ocean/
After a certain distance is too deep for wading."
From "Dig up my Heart: Selected Poetry 1952 - 83". Milton Acorn is considered by many to be one of the finest Canadian poets.

Answer: university professor

He taught at McGill University in Montreal from 1908 - 1936, and was the Head of the Department of Economics and Political Science. He was also, of course, the author of some of the funniest books ever written, from "Literary Lapses" (1910), to "My Remarkable Uncle" (1942).

Answer: Leonard Cohen

Cohen's connection with music started early. When he was 17, he started a square-dance band (complete with caller) called the "Buckskin Boys". Fringed buckskin jackets, no cowboy hats. Cohen played rhythm guitar.

Answer: The Story Girl

"The Story Girl" was written in 1911. Although the "Anne of Green Gables" series is more famous, I always liked the Avonlea stories better, maybe because I read them first. The "Road to Avonlea" TV series (1990 - 1997) was loosely based on these books.

Answer: they are told in the form of letters and postcards

Not just an epistolary novel, but actual letters and postcards, with envelopes, stamps, postmarks and all. These beautiful books are an experience to read, very unusual.

Answer: cremated Sam McGee

"The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service. Service worked for the Canadian Bank of Commerce for eight years in the Yukon, during the Gold Rush. Sam McGee was a real person, a customer at the bank.

Answer: The Map-Maker

"The Curse of the Viking Grave" (1966) was the sequel to the Governor General's Award-winning "Lost in the Barrens" (1956). "The Map-Maker", by Kerry Wood, is the story of explorer David Thompson. This book is one of a great old series published by MacMillan, called "Great Stories of Canada".

They tell of interesting characters or periods in Canadian history, aimed at the upper elementary or junior-high level. The style is a bit dated, (they were written in the '50's), but still very readable, and worth looking out for at garage sales and libraries if you have a child with an interest in history.

Answer: W.P. Kinsella

Kinsella's "Native" stories have caused quite a bit of controversy over the issue of "appropriation of voice". They are told from the point of view of the main character, Silas Ermineskin, and present a somewhat slapstick view of life on the reserve. Hackles were especially raised when Kinsella admitted that he had never even been to Hobbema, which is very much a real place.

"Field of Dreams" was based on his "Shoeless Joe Jackson comes to Iowa".