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the other press

November 6, 2002

Newfoundland’s Great Canadian Author

Wayne Johnston navigates his way to the Giller Prize short-list

Josh Jamieson and
fingel Payne
The Muse

ST JOHN’S, NFLD (CUP)—Its October 3, 2002.
Author Wayne Johnston sits in his hotel room, waiting.
Almost 15 minutes after the press conference has started,
the phone rings—his latest book has been short-listed for
the Giller prize.

Growing up in Newfoundland, Wayne Johnston was a
quiet child who mostly kept to himself. His mother,
Genevieve Johnston, does not remember him writing
much as a child but does remember how much he loved
to read. He picked up reading mostly on his own, after

is parents read to him at a very early age.

“He had books piled up to his chin since the time he
was 10-years-old,” said Genevieve. “In the corner of the
living room—every book in the world—the only time he
\got up was to eat.”

By the time he was in grade seven or eight, his parents
began to wonder what he would do with his life. “He
seemed to be just low key and so much to himself,” said
Genevive.

Johnston did not write seriously until he moved away
from home, but he did write some short stories. His
younger sister Stephanie recalls that Wayne was good in
all subjects and not just English, although it was his area
of interest.

“T think my first inkling that Wayne might be a writer
as when he did his journalism degree. That sort of clued
me in that he might be a storywriter. And that was his
first one, Bobby O’ Malley, that’s what his thesis was.”

As a child, Johnston never came home with aspirations
f becoming a firefighter or an astronaut. He kept very
much to himself. “I never heard anything like that. As a
atter of fact, Wayne was very mild—not a child that I
ould pick to be a policeman or firefighter,” said
Genevieve.

Johnston's first published work appeared on the front
age of Memorial University’s student newspaper, The
use, in October 1976, when he wrote a story about an
lectoral debate. He graduated from MUN with an
nglish degree in 1978 and went on to write for the St.
ohn’s Daily News for 11 years. After writing news,
ohnston decided to get a Master's degree at the
niversity of New Brunswick. Upon completing his
aster’s, he was accepted at Carleton University’s school
f journalism. He moved to Ottawa and began writing
ooks instead, after his thesis, The Story of Bobby
O'Malley, was published. Not only did his thesis launch
is writing career, it also won the Canada First Novel
ward in 1985.

Oberon Press saw the writing potential in Johnston and
ave him the chance he needed to break into the market.
e published his first two books with Oberon before
ropping them over distribution issues. He moved to
cClelland & Stewart in 1990, looking for a fresh start.
gain, he wrote two books for this publishing house, The
ivine Ryans and Human Amusements. He then moved to
opf Canada, a division of Random House. He hopes
o remain there forever.

His editor and publisher, Diane Martin, has been with
im since his memoirs, Baltimore’ Mansion. “I’ve known
im since before Human Amusements was published, and
read The Story of Bobby O'Malley when it was first pub-
ished,” said Martin. “I’ve been a huge fan of his since
hen and I always thought he was just one of our best
riters in Canada. And I just couldn’t understand why he
asn't a household name in the whole country.”

When Martin started working for Knopf Canada, she
anted to publish him because she thought they could

 

 
 
 
  
   
  
 
  
    
 
  
 
   
  
   
  
 
 
   
 
    
 
 
  
   
   
 

do a good job together. They commissioned Baltimore’
Mansion to exemplify the type of job they could do.

“He is very loyal and he was very loyal to his previous
publisher,” said Martin. “But when we published
Baltimore’s Mansion, | think he felt a lot more confident
about our ability to get him well-known and increase his
profile. What really does [this] is just the fact that he real-
ly is a great writer. Its just a matter of letting people
know that they're really missing something if they don’t
read Wayne Johnston.”

Even thought she is a fan of Johnston's work, she was-
n't afraid of editing him.

“I wasn’t really nervous about it, although I think
Wayne was a little surprised that I took it pretty serious-
ly,” said Martin. “I wanted to be a good editor for him,
and I wanted to be the best I could be. Of course, he
wanted that as well.”

Johnston is also very loyal to independent bookstores.
“The independent, the hand sellers who actually talk to
the customers and sell books that way are the lifeblood of
Canadian writing,” said Johnston.

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Bennington Gate, a local bookstore in Churchill
Square, has hosted three Johnston book launches, the two
previous books being Colony of Unrequited Dreams and
Baltimore's Mansion. Kelly Jones, the store’s manager,
thanked him for his loyalty while introducing him at the
launch for Navigator of New York.

“Well, initially there was some question about who was
going to host the event here in St. John’s, us or the other
guys,” said Jones. “He, as a rule, always comes to us. He
is very supportive. He comes in the store and leaves notes
for Sue [the owner] and says ‘You know I’m so glad you
guys are still here, that you are making it through every-
thing that’s happening around you. The little guy is still
making it even against the big guy.”

Because of Johnston’s work with Knopf Canada, Jones
says the profile of the store has risen to be the place for
authors to visit. Knopf will often call them and let them
know when writers will be in town. People call and say,
“We hear [it’s] the place to be.” “We are getting a good
reputation as being supportive and helpful,” said Jones.

The Navigator of New York was launched in St. John’s
on October 3rd with some 150 people in attendance,
from friends and family to fans like Roberts. Ed Roberts,
incoming Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and
Labrador, attended the launch purely as a fan of
Johnston.

“[I am] very much of a fan,” said Roberts. “I read a lot,
and I read a lot about Newfoundland and Labrador. |

can't read it all; there is just so much these days.”

Roberts enjoyed Colony of Unrequited Dreams, which is
based loosely on the late Newfoundland Premier Joey
Smallwood. Controversy surrounded the work because a
great deal of history had been fictionalised. Johnston,
however, meant for the book to be enjoyed rather than
analysed for factual content.

“One of the interesting things about Smallwood, who
bestowed the stage so very largely during much of his
adult life, is about how little has been written about him
in a fictional sense. I am not sure why,” said Roberts.

As a person who knows quite a bit about Smallwood,
Roberts had little problem with Colony of Unrequited
Dreams. Through the first 20-30 pages, he picked out
factual errors until he realised he should read it for enjoy-
ment and not as a biography.

Although the novel is a work of imagination, Roberts
feels it also tells the reader a lot about Newfoundland and
Labrador. “I think [Johnston] writes extraordinarily well
and, both as a Newfoundlander and someone who enjoys
books, these are ones you should read and enjoy,” said
Roberts.

Hopefully, the film version of Colony will begin pro-
duction this spring in Newfoundland, says Johnston. It
will be interesting to see how it is turned into film, says
Roberts, because a lot of the book is in the mind of
Smallwood and through letters and dialogue. Johnston
also adds that Human Amusements has been scripted as a
mini-series. Film plans for Navigator are being discussed,
and he says all his books have been optioned for film at
one time or another.

With six books under his belt, Johnston has received
several awards. His first novel, The Story of Bobby
O'Malley, published in 1986, won the W. H.
Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Johnston
won the Canadian Authors’ Association Award for
Fiction in 1988 for The Time of Their Lives. Not only did
The Divine Ryans win the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic
Fiction Prize and the Canadian Authors’ Association
Award for Fiction, it also made it to the big screen as a
feature film in 1999. Baltimores Mansion won the
Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, and
Colony of Unrequited Dreams won numerous awards and
was short-listed for others.

Navigator of New York is already living up to Johnston's
past success with the announcement that he has been
short-listed for the Giller prize.

“He’s only beginning, but what a beginning,” said
Roberts. “This is a man who has now had his second
Giller nomination. He’s a Newfoundlander who writes of
and from Newfoundland. He happens not to live in
Newfoundland but that, to me, means nothing—he said,
tonight, he still considers this his home. When you read
[his books] you know they are written by a
Newfoundlander. Two Gillers, that is very significant
peer group recognition, and peer group recognition is
what counts.”

Johnston is surprisingly modest despite all his accom-
plishments. He is fairly laid back and quiet. “I declared
myself a writer at the age of 23 and promptly became
poor as a church mouse,” he said. But breaking into the
publishing world was not as difficult as he expected it
would be. After living in near poverty, The Story of Bobby
O'Malley was published only two years later.

The name Wayne Johnston is becoming known in
classrooms at across Canada as more and more professors
teach his books, as Memorial University English profes-

sor Don Nichol comments.

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