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In Other Words: How I Fell in Love with Canada One Book at a Time
In Other Words is a lively, charming, gossipy memoir of life in the publishing trenches and how one restlessly curious young woman sparked a creative awakening in a new country she chose to call home.
“We need our own dreams.” —Anna Porter
When Anna Porter arrived in Canada in early 1968 with one battered suitcase, little money and a head full of dreams, she had no idea that this country would become her home for the rest of her life, or that she would play a major role in defining what it means to be Canadian. And where better to become a Canadian than at the dynamic publishing house, McClelland & Stewart, an epicentre of cultural and artistic creation in post-Expo Canada?
Anna Porter’s story takes you behind the scenes into the non-stop world of Jack McClelland, the swashbuckling head of M&S whose celebrated authors—Leonard Cohen, Margaret Laurence, Pierre Berton, Peter C. Newman, Irving Layton, Margaret Atwood—dominated bestseller lists. She offers up first-hand stories of struggling young writers (often women); of prima donnas, such as Roloff Beny and Harold Town, whose excesses threatened to sink the company; of exhausted editors dealing with intemperate writers; of crazy schemes to interest Canadians in buying books. She recalls the thrilling days at the helm of the company she founded in the 1980s, when Canada’s writers were suddenly front-page news. As president of Key Porter Books, she dodged lawsuits, argued with bank managers, and fought to sell Canadian authors around the world. This intriguing memoir brings to life that time in our history when—finally—the voices Canadians craved to hear were our own.
In Other Words is a love letter to Canada’s authors and creative agitators who, against almost impossible odds, have sustained and advanced the nation’s writing culture. Moving effortlessly from the boardrooms of Canada’s elite and the halls of power in Ottawa, to the threadbare offices of idealistic young publishers and, ultimately, to her own painful yet ever-present past in Hungary, Porter offers an unforgettable insider’s account of what is gained—and lost—in a lifetime of championing our stories.
“We need our own dreams.” —Anna Porter
When Anna Porter arrived in Canada in early 1968 with one battered suitcase, little money and a head full of dreams, she had no idea that this country would become her home for the rest of her life, or that she would play a major role in defining what it means to be Canadian. And where better to become a Canadian than at the dynamic publishing house, McClelland & Stewart, an epicentre of cultural and artistic creation in post-Expo Canada?
Anna Porter’s story takes you behind the scenes into the non-stop world of Jack McClelland, the swashbuckling head of M&S whose celebrated authors—Leonard Cohen, Margaret Laurence, Pierre Berton, Peter C. Newman, Irving Layton, Margaret Atwood—dominated bestseller lists. She offers up first-hand stories of struggling young writers (often women); of prima donnas, such as Roloff Beny and Harold Town, whose excesses threatened to sink the company; of exhausted editors dealing with intemperate writers; of crazy schemes to interest Canadians in buying books. She recalls the thrilling days at the helm of the company she founded in the 1980s, when Canada’s writers were suddenly front-page news. As president of Key Porter Books, she dodged lawsuits, argued with bank managers, and fought to sell Canadian authors around the world. This intriguing memoir brings to life that time in our history when—finally—the voices Canadians craved to hear were our own.
In Other Words is a love letter to Canada’s authors and creative agitators who, against almost impossible odds, have sustained and advanced the nation’s writing culture. Moving effortlessly from the boardrooms of Canada’s elite and the halls of power in Ottawa, to the threadbare offices of idealistic young publishers and, ultimately, to her own painful yet ever-present past in Hungary, Porter offers an unforgettable insider’s account of what is gained—and lost—in a lifetime of championing our stories.
480 pages, Hardcover
Published September 25, 2018
6 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Anna Porter
38 books80 followersAnna (Szigethy) Porter began her Canadian publishing career in 1969 at McClelland & Stewart (M&S) as editorial coordinator, under Jack McClelland’s directorship. Porter eventually rose to become VP and editor-in-chief at M&S. She worked with, among others, Margaret Laurence, Matt Cohen, Al Purdy, Irving Layton, Peter C Newman and Margaret Atwood.
Porter started her publishing company, Key Porter Books, in partnership with Key Publishers' Michael de Pencier in 1982. They published, among others, Allan Fotheringham, Jean Chretien, Joe Clark, Margaret Atwood, Peter Lougheed, Fred Bruemmer and Conrad Black.
Anna Porter is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the recipient of the Order of Ontario.
Anna Porter retired from publishing in April 2005. She is the author of, so far, 12 books.
Porter started her publishing company, Key Porter Books, in partnership with Key Publishers' Michael de Pencier in 1982. They published, among others, Allan Fotheringham, Jean Chretien, Joe Clark, Margaret Atwood, Peter Lougheed, Fred Bruemmer and Conrad Black.
Anna Porter is an Officer of the Order of Canada and the recipient of the Order of Ontario.
Anna Porter retired from publishing in April 2005. She is the author of, so far, 12 books.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 14, 2019
This was a wonderful memoir, I loved everything about it. Focusing on Porter's 40 years in the Canadian publishing industry, she takes her readers through all the ups and downs of her career and the difficulties facing Canadian literature. The book is largely a memoir of her working life, she does add some personal details to provide context and a sense of progression, but it always ties back to her work life. Porter's writing style feels gossipy without being intrusive, the type of stories you would tell a stranger you hit it off with but aren't yet good friends with. She gives her readers just enough to keep us entertained and wanting more. She is never mean, even when she admits she didn't get along with someone, I like this about her writing. Her stories centre around some of Canada's biggest literary names such as Margaret Atwood, Pierre Burton, Farley Mowat, and Margaret Laurence, but also the big names behind publishing who made it possible for Canada to enter the global market. When I first started reading the memoir I was a little concerned I wouldn't understand a lot of her references, the memoir starts with her arrival in Canada in 1968 and I am too young to know who was on Canadian radio and tv at that time, but once I got a short way into the book I realized that I was swept away with Porter's writing style and was happy to let her educate me. My list of Canadian authors and books I want to read grew exponentially while reading this book and more than ever I am interested in Canadian publishing. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in literature and/or publishing. A terrific read.
October 23, 2018
This is a book that should reverberate with anyone who came of age when McClelland & Stewart was introducing a host of new Canadian writers to the world, and Canadian literature was coming into its own, in the late 1960s and through into the 1980s. Anna Porter was intimately involved in all this, from the time she was hired by Jack McClelland and later, when she ran her own Key Porter Books.
This is less a memoir than a love letter to all the marvellous authors she came to know, and often became friends with, over those years. We meet them, quirks and all, but this is not a ‘tell all’ expose. Rather it’s an elegy and tribute to those authors, many of whom are no longer among us. I absolutely agree with what Porter writes about the death of Margaret Laurence: The country should have declared a day of national mourning and all flags, wherever they were, should have been lowered to mark her passing.
The book is also elegiac about those years of Canadian publishing, now that it’s mostly been taken over by big multinationals. In the course of reading it, I became reacquainted with many authors I’d almost forgotten, and discovered a number of titles that are now on my ‘must read’ list. It also reminded me of the huge contribution that Jack McClelland made to Canadian literature, a contribution captured in these words about him by Leonard Cohen:
You were the
Real prime minster of Canada. You still
Are. And even though it’s all gone down
The tubes, the country the YOU govern
Will never fall apart.
By the time I finished the book, I also realized how much of a contribution Anna Porter herself has made.
This is less a memoir than a love letter to all the marvellous authors she came to know, and often became friends with, over those years. We meet them, quirks and all, but this is not a ‘tell all’ expose. Rather it’s an elegy and tribute to those authors, many of whom are no longer among us. I absolutely agree with what Porter writes about the death of Margaret Laurence: The country should have declared a day of national mourning and all flags, wherever they were, should have been lowered to mark her passing.
The book is also elegiac about those years of Canadian publishing, now that it’s mostly been taken over by big multinationals. In the course of reading it, I became reacquainted with many authors I’d almost forgotten, and discovered a number of titles that are now on my ‘must read’ list. It also reminded me of the huge contribution that Jack McClelland made to Canadian literature, a contribution captured in these words about him by Leonard Cohen:
You were the
Real prime minster of Canada. You still
Are. And even though it’s all gone down
The tubes, the country the YOU govern
Will never fall apart.
By the time I finished the book, I also realized how much of a contribution Anna Porter herself has made.
February 23, 2019
See my full review at https://mmbookshelf.wordpress.com/201...
This is the memoir of Hungarian-Canada Anna Szigethy, who arrived in the 1960s to land a job with a Toronto publishing firm, starting a career that spans decades and connected her with the famous names of Canadian literature - Berton, Mowat, Laurence, Atwood, Munro, and many others. Within the narrative, details of her personal history emerge: escaping Hungary with her mother during the 1956 revolution, university studies in New Zealand, falling in love in with a Toronto lawyer and raising two daughters. But the real story here is about publishing in Canada, an industry always teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. “Despite the financial problems, we continued to publish more than a hundred books a year, and we were wildly optimistic about the fate of every one of them.” She writes of cajoling authors through edits and publicity tours, battling censorship, coping with backbreaking demands from behemoth bookstores, and always the pressure of the bottom line. It’s not easy to publish the stories of a great but sparsely populated nation like Canada, but it is one that Porter fiercely advocates for as she describes her journey in the publishing trenches. Overall, it’s an interesting memoir of some of the most fascinating times in Canadian publishing. Honest though never mean, this book is of greatest interest to those who love Canadian writing and writers. It has a terrific index of some 30 pages, and it’s packed with footnotes as well.
This is the memoir of Hungarian-Canada Anna Szigethy, who arrived in the 1960s to land a job with a Toronto publishing firm, starting a career that spans decades and connected her with the famous names of Canadian literature - Berton, Mowat, Laurence, Atwood, Munro, and many others. Within the narrative, details of her personal history emerge: escaping Hungary with her mother during the 1956 revolution, university studies in New Zealand, falling in love in with a Toronto lawyer and raising two daughters. But the real story here is about publishing in Canada, an industry always teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. “Despite the financial problems, we continued to publish more than a hundred books a year, and we were wildly optimistic about the fate of every one of them.” She writes of cajoling authors through edits and publicity tours, battling censorship, coping with backbreaking demands from behemoth bookstores, and always the pressure of the bottom line. It’s not easy to publish the stories of a great but sparsely populated nation like Canada, but it is one that Porter fiercely advocates for as she describes her journey in the publishing trenches. Overall, it’s an interesting memoir of some of the most fascinating times in Canadian publishing. Honest though never mean, this book is of greatest interest to those who love Canadian writing and writers. It has a terrific index of some 30 pages, and it’s packed with footnotes as well.
March 5, 2020
As someone who finds a unique appeal to the biographies of life in writing and publishing, this book was very entertaining for me to read. The industry itself makes for great stories, full of chaotic energies and strange literary personality, intertwined with the grand mission of forming a grand national mythology.
Anna Porter's style of writing is humble and casual, like she's just glad to be there. Her account in this book gave me the impression that she worked at a scrappy publishing house where their attempts at credibility were sometimes futile, sometimes triumphant. Meanwhile, she continuously drops names that I vaguely remember from childhood school reading—authors like Farley Mowat and Pierre Berton—and includes scenes where she rubs shoulders and drinks wine with Margaret Trudeau and Brian Mulroney, some of the most monumental figures in the history of a country that I realized I barely know. This book cultivated an interest in my homeland that had previously been dormant, even while I had a brief internship at CBC, where they are intensely driven to present the identity that Anna Porter so effortlessly renders as attractive. In this book, the search for a national identity feels authentic and fluid, a natural outpouring of a genuine love of Canada.
Anna Porter's style of writing is humble and casual, like she's just glad to be there. Her account in this book gave me the impression that she worked at a scrappy publishing house where their attempts at credibility were sometimes futile, sometimes triumphant. Meanwhile, she continuously drops names that I vaguely remember from childhood school reading—authors like Farley Mowat and Pierre Berton—and includes scenes where she rubs shoulders and drinks wine with Margaret Trudeau and Brian Mulroney, some of the most monumental figures in the history of a country that I realized I barely know. This book cultivated an interest in my homeland that had previously been dormant, even while I had a brief internship at CBC, where they are intensely driven to present the identity that Anna Porter so effortlessly renders as attractive. In this book, the search for a national identity feels authentic and fluid, a natural outpouring of a genuine love of Canada.
November 5, 2018
A look back at almost 50 years at the centre of Canadian book publishing, beginning with Porter's immigration in 1968, when she was hired on as a copy editor at McClelland and Stewart. A paragraph on page 408, discussing an autobiography by Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison, that Porter published in 2004, reads:
"This Terrible Business [the title of the Jewison book] is not a personal autobiography. Like this book, it's mostly about Norman's craft, the people he worked with, the films he directed. 'I tried to be truthful and entertaining,' he wrote in the Preface. And his films reflect this simple but powerful credo."
In Porter's case, she worked with almost everyone in the Can-Lit canon, along with many of the country's best known artists and politicians of the last 50 years. And it is an entertaining read indeed. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in Canadian literature, publishing and culture.
"This Terrible Business [the title of the Jewison book] is not a personal autobiography. Like this book, it's mostly about Norman's craft, the people he worked with, the films he directed. 'I tried to be truthful and entertaining,' he wrote in the Preface. And his films reflect this simple but powerful credo."
In Porter's case, she worked with almost everyone in the Can-Lit canon, along with many of the country's best known artists and politicians of the last 50 years. And it is an entertaining read indeed. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in Canadian literature, publishing and culture.
January 6, 2019
This started off slowly for me, but I quickly became fascinated with the back stories of Canadian authors, the push to bring Canadian literature to the forefront and the struggles to develop independent publishing houses. It is not a tell-all, so much as it is a tell-about, and now there are so many books and authors that I want to read.
April 22, 2019
This memoir is a whirlwind-tour through 30-plus years in the Canadian book publishing trade and
Anna Porter is a most insightful and delightful guide. Her episodic stories, engaging anecdotes, personal remembrances and sometimes delicious 'dishing' (who would've guessed THAT about Peter C. Newman?) make for a great read. A must-read for any devotee of Canadian literature.
Anna Porter is a most insightful and delightful guide. Her episodic stories, engaging anecdotes, personal remembrances and sometimes delicious 'dishing' (who would've guessed THAT about Peter C. Newman?) make for a great read. A must-read for any devotee of Canadian literature.
September 29, 2019
Lots of short chapters, each an anecdote or memories of one of the writers she worked with. It does cover the near-collapse of bookstores following acquisitions, and online sales. Unlike, say, Katharine Graham's Personal History, I don't have as much a feel of who Anna Porter was, other than her Hungarian heritage.
January 19, 2021
This was my third attempt at a memoir, after Educated (which I loved) and Hillbilly Elegy (which I didn’t). I really, really wanted to like this, because it was by and about a successful Canadian woman, and set largely against the background of the Canadian publishing industry, but it left me feeling “meh”. Too much name-dropping, and not enough emotional connection – for me, anyway.
November 11, 2018
Super book, full of Canadians, world-renowned authors all, who are encapsulated in a precarious publishing industry during heady times for Canadian literature. Well worth reading, enjoyable and informative. Many book titles to be searched going forward for more good reads,
June 16, 2019
A fascinating look at Canadian history from the late 60s to the mid 00s through the eyes of an immigrant, whose career in publishing brought her into contact with the most important Canadian writers through the years.
February 11, 2019
Loved the recount of Anna Porter's time at McClelland & Stewart. An incredible romp through the late 60s to current day in Toronto.
February 20, 2019
An interesting look at how publishing progressed in Canada. Also I added a lot of names to my to-be-read list.
April 15, 2019
An incredible look into a fascinating life and the amazing lives of Canadian literary heroes.
February 9, 2021
The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. An interesting family with much well to do in Toronto.
May 24, 2021
An interesting book. Anna Porter had quite a journey from Hungary in the 50s to an established career in Canadian publishing.
July 3, 2020
Great survey of Canadian literature, told with an interesting perspective over the years from the front line.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews