Sally Walker Speaks! Meet the author of Blizzard of Glass
Award-winning author Sally Walker has spent a lifetime fascinated with the Halifax Explosion – one of the most devastating disasters of the 20th century. Earlier this month, Sally graciously took a few minutes to answer some of our questions about her book Blizzard of Glass, the Halifax explosion, and what's she's up to next.
1. What made you decide to write about the Halifax explosion?
My family lived in Halifax for two years. We used to eat at a fish and chips place down on Barrington Street. I remember hearing about how the whole neighborhood had been destroyed many years earlier. Of course, I'd heard about the Titanic, but our waiter said, "No, this is something else, an even bigger disaster." There were also some stories in the newspaper about building a memorial tower, which has since been built on the top of the hill, on the site of Fort Needham. We even visited the Narrows (the site of the explosion) when we walked across the MacDonald Bridge during a bridge walk. At some point, I went to the library and read up on the disaster.
The story has always been one I hoped to tell someday, but I didn't know if I could get folks in the U.S. interested. However, the human elements of the explosion transcend national boundaries. Once I started reading and researching the stories told by the survivors, I couldn't stop. They were people who had so much to share. I find that these stories stay with the reader long after he or she stops reading. Kids are astonished, saddened, and very interested in reading this story about Canada.
2. How accurate is this “Heritage Minute” video?
Well…It's a dramatization. Vincent Coleman was truly a hero, a term often mistakenly used to describe sport figures. He stayed to send his telegraph message when he had the option, and probably the time, to run. And he died as the result. No one knows how much he urged people outside to run, or even if he did. That knowledge died with him. But, watching it in the video certainly ratcheted up the tension. I also hadn't read or heard anywhere that he had difficulty sending the message, which he did in the video. Again, I assume it was dramatic license for increasing tension. Bearing all this in mind, I'll go along for the ride. I don't think there was a major distortion of what happened. That said, I find that simple is best for me. Just a description of what he did, the terse note that he typed, and the sacrifice he made–remember he had four young children at home–doesn't need a lot of embellishment to make it powerful and poignant.
3. What was the most extreme piece of debris that the explosion caused?
Although Mont Blanc was literally blasted to bits, there were a couple of large chunks that got tossed a far distance from the pier. One–a gun barrel–landed in Dartmouth, but the piece I am most familiar with is the shaft of her anchor, which landed across the body of water called the Northwest Arm, almost two-and-a-half miles (just short of 4 km) away. It weighed over a thousand pounds (453 kilos).
Other debris, not extreme in size, but in volume, was glass. The thought of all of the windows broken by the force of the explosion totally freaked me. Every window in Halifax was broken. Imagine millions of shards of glass flying like tiny daggers thrown at tremendous force. Those slivers stabbed many, many people, blinding some.
4. Are there any other famous Canadian disasters you’d like to write about?
Not at the moment, but…There was a hurricane, Hurricane Hazel, that unexpectedly swerved inland and struck Toronto in 1954. The storm was so severe that the name was retired from the hurricane naming system. I won't say how many people died, because it's summer now. With school closed, it's the perfect time for research and reading. Folks can find that out on their own. And I bet the Toronto library has lots of awesome, first person accounts of this horrific storm. Think: old newspapers and the local history section.
5. What are you reading this summer?
I'm reading about 10,000 year old Paleoamerican skeletons. These folks were among the REAL first settlers of Canada and the U.S. It's fun reading, but it's also research for my book THEIR SKELETONS SPEAK, which is coming out this fall.
One thought on “Sally Walker Speaks! Meet the author of Blizzard of Glass”
I can’t imagine how scary that would be! I’m glad there’s a heritage minute, even if we don’t know all the details.