W.O. Mitchell Country

by W.O. Mitchell, Ormond Mitchell (Introduction), Barbara Mitchell (Introduction)

When W.O. Mitchell died in February 1998, Canadians all across the country mourned the death of a much-loved writer. But it was in the West that his loss was felt most keenly. For he was one of them, a Westerner, a man who had grown up in Weyburn, gone to University in Winnipeg and then spent most of his life in High River and in Calgary. His writing – in Who Has Seen The Wind, Jake and the Kid, The Vanishing Point, How I Spent My Summer Holidays, and many other books – brought their part of the world alive on the page, so that millions of readers seemed to breathe fresh Western air as they turned the pages of his works.

His family – represented by his son Orm and daughter-in-law Barbara – were pleased by the idea of an illustrated book that would show W.O. Mitchell country, provided that it included prairie and foothills and mountains. This book carefully gives full weight to both parts of what we affectionately call W.O. Mitchell country. And from the outset the Mitchells knew that the excerpts of W.O.’s landscape writing that they would select deserved to be matched by superb photographs produced by an artist of equal skill and sensitivity.

Enter Courtney Milne, the justly famed photographer of landscapes around the world but especially of his beloved prairies. Prairie boy and long-time admirer of W.O.’s work, he jumped at the chance to produce this book. With the help of the Mitchell family he tracked down sites that W.O. had known and written about. In addition he combed through his vast treasure store of photographs, to try to find the single image that perfectly matched a chosen piece of W.O.’s prose.

In the end, from over 18,000 photographs – over 18,000! – he and the group assembling this book chose the best 200, none of them published before. The result is a magical blend of text and pictures that is greater than the sum of its parts. This classic volume sets a new standard for illuminating a writer’s words and bringing alive “the poetry of earth and sky.” Open the book. Read it. You will see.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 1999

About the author

William Ormond Mitchell was an author of novels, short stories, and plays. He is best known for his 1947 novel Who Has Seen the Wind, which has sold close to a million copies in North America, and a collection of short stories, Jake and the Kid, which subsequently won the Stephen Leacock Award. Both of these portray life on the Canadian prairies where he grew up in the early part of the 20th century. He has often been called the Mark Twain of Canada for his vivid tales of young boys' adventures.

In 1973, Mitchell was made an officer of the Order of Canada.

Reviews

[Tracee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book to reminisce with