Noted Canadian biographer Elspeth Cameron comes to Runnymede Branch this evening to speak about her book, Aunt Winnie.  This is a fascinating story the author's own aunt, Winnie Cameron, who lived in Rosedale in the 1910s. Aunt Winnie was born in Seattle, and moved to Toronto to be with her family. Over the course of her life, she saw the city change from an English and Scottish bastion with horse-drawn buggies, to a multicultural city where the car reigned supreme. Winnie, however, found it difficult to change and was unable to cope with the demands of the changing Edwardian times. An intriguing story of our city's transformative days and the Torontonians who lived at the turn of the 20th century.

FREE PROGRAM
Tue May 13, 2014    
7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.
Runnymede 

Elspeth Cameron is the author of three award-winning biographies: Hugh MacLennan: A Writer's Life (1981), Irving Layton: A Portrait (1985), and Earle Birney: A Life (1994). Her 1997 memoir No Previous Experience won'the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize. She was the recipient of the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography in 1981 and the City of Vancouver Book Award in 1995.  

Her biography of Hugh MacLennan was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. She has written numerous profiles of Canadian cultural figures such as Peter Newman, Jack McClelland, Veronica Tennant, Anne Murray, Howard Engel, Janette Turner Hospital, and Timothy Findley, winning several journalism awards. Her work has appeared in Saturday Night, Chatelaine, Maclean's, Leisureways, and in a number of academic journals.

In addition, she has edited seven books, including Great Dames, a collection of biographical sketches, memoirs, and essays about twentieth-century Canadian women from all walks of life. She has taught English and Canadian Studies at Concordia University and the University of Toronto, and is currently an adjunct professor in the English Language and Literature Department at Brock University. Elspeth now lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, and is at work on a biography of Group of Seven member, A.Y. Jackson.