March 28 - April 1, 2007

Marq de Villiers, Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose (Thomas Allen Publisers)

Born in South Africa, MARQ DE VILLIERS is a veteran Canadian journalist and the author of eight books on exploration, history, politics, and travel, including Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource (winner of the Governor General’s Award for Non- Fiction), Down the Volga in a Time of Troubles, and Into Africa: A Journey Through the Ancient Empires, written with Sheila Hirtle. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and through Eastern Europe and spent many years as Editor and then Publisher of Toronto Life magazine. Most recently he was Editorial Director of WHERE Magazines International.

Sunday, April 1, 2007
Lord Nelson Hotel
2PM

with Stephen Brunt and Andy Brown

--------------------------------------------------------- From critically acclaimed author Marq de Villiers comes the compelling true story of the iconic Canadian schooner Bluenose.

While the story of the Bluenose – her legendary speed and the famous races she won over the years – has often been told, Witch in the Wind

explores the history of the Bluenose from a fresh new perspective. Marq de Villiers examines the history of this famous vessel against the social and economic backdrop of the east coast Atlantic shipping and fishing industries that spawned her. Unlike any previous examination of the Bluenose, de Villiers contextualizes the birth and death of this celebrated ship with the rise of industrialization and the decline of the Age of Sail, and shows what impact these changes had on generations of families whose way of life depended on the sea.

Witch in the Wind is an evocative journey into the previously untold backstory of the Bluenose, exploring the place that built her, the men who sailed her and the industry that gave rise to her. De Villiers is a master storyteller and he takes readers deep into the heart of Canadian maritime history, giving new life to the longstanding legend of the magnificent Bluenose.