Cape Breton University President & Vice-Chancellor John Harker will host a celebration of literary success with author Linden MacIntyre on Monday, April 19 at the CBU Boardmore Playhouse from 7-9 p.m. The theme of the event will be the celebration of literature and libraries and the role they play in education. The evening, emceed by the CBC’s Wendy Bergfeldt, will see the acclaimed Cape Breton author reading from his award winning book, The Bishop’s Man, and will also include musical performances from Lucy and Stewart MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils. Dr. Harker, Chair and founder of the CBU Friends of the Library Committee, Eunice Harker and MacIntyre, will conclude the formal part of the evening by unveiling enhancement plans for the CBU Library. An open reception will follow.
Linden MacIntyre is one of Canada’s most distinguished broadcast journalists. The winner of nine Gemini Awards, he is the co-host of CBC Television’s the fifth estate and has been involved in the production of award winning documentaries and stories from all over the world. Born in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, MacIntyre grew up in Port Hastings. He now lives in Toronto with his wife, fellow journalist Carol Off.
In 1999, MacIntyre published The Long Stretch, to tremendous critical acclaim. This first novel was shortlisted for the Dartmouth Book Award as well as the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award.
MacIntyre’s 2006 memoir, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, detailed his rural Cape Breton childhood. It earned him both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction.
Published in 2009, The Bishop’s Man was awarded Canada’s top fiction honour, the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
“The Bishop’s Man centres on a sensitive topic — the sexual abuses perpetrated by Catholic priests on the innocent children in their care. Father Duncan, the first person narrator, has been his bishop’s dutiful enforcer, employed to check the excesses of priests and, crucially, to suppress the evidence. But as events veer out of control, he is forced into painful self-knowledge as family, community and friendship are torn apart under the strain of suspicion, obsession and guilt. A brave novel, conceived and written with impressive delicacy and understanding.”
— Statement by Jury, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2009
