Week in Review: April 21
Alistair MacLeod Passes at 77
Acclaimed Canadian novelist, Alistair MacLeod has passed away at age 77. MacLeod has been recognized as one of Canada’s greatest short story writers and his only novel, No Great Mischief saw him gain international attention and several awards including the Canadian Booksellers Association Library Award, the Lannan Literary Award, IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Trillium Book Award in 1999.
Ben Heppner Retires
Star tenor, Ben Heppner has decided to end his singing career at age 58. The classically trained UBC graduate rose to fame after winning the CBC Talent Festival in 1979. At the height of his career, he was demanded around the world as one of the few tenors able to take on the more challenging operatic roles and received multiple Grammy and Juno Awards for his efforts.
Writers’ Trust of Canada Announce New Award
The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced the creation of the Latner Writer’s Trust Poetry Prize. In addition to artistic recognition, the award will see a mid-career poet take home $25,000 in prize money in hopes of future contributions to Canadian poetry.
TSO Hires New CEO
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has named Jeff Melanson, formerly of the Banff Centre as their new CEO. Melanson caps off a busy week, which also saw him named Senior Resident of Massey College at the University of Toronto. He brings a wealth of leadership experience and has ambitious goals to compete worldwide.
New Andy Warhol Works Discovered
New Andy Wharhol works were discovered this week on floppy disk drives from 1985 when Commodore International originally had the pieces commissioned. Dozens of unseen works were recovered, although eleven were forever lost due to obsolete file formats. Commodore’s aim was to demonstrate its Amiga computing systems cutting edge graphic art capabilities.
Categories: MPMG