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CBC
36 minutes ago
- CBC
Summer memories of grandparents, art and a very large turtle inspire Kitchener author's new picture book
Kitchener author Kate Jenks Landry new children's book, A Summer Without Anna, tells the story of young Junie who spends the summer with her grandparents because her older sister is sick. While Junie does miss her family, she also has little adventures, including looking for an elusive giant turtle. Landry joined CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris to talk about how she drew inspiration from her own summer experiences. Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Craig Norris: Congratulations on the book! Tell us about Junie? Kate Jenks Landry: Junie is fictional, but the story draws on experiences from my own childhood, so she's sort of an alternate version of me, as I had a similar experience when I was a child. My brother was ill and in the hospital quite a lot and I spent a lot of time with family and friends. My brother was younger than me, not older. So there are differences that drew the character in a slightly different direction. But I think similarly to me, she uses a newfound interest in art. In her case it's photography to kind of make sense of the world around her and the challenges that maybe other kids her age aren't facing. And even though she's being so well cared for and is so loved, she's figuring out all of this stuff that's happening and she's using a camera. For me, it was writing, but I wanted to give her something to help her sort of capture the world around her and tell a story. Norris: And was there a cottage in your past? Jenks Landry: There sure was! Norris: What do you remember when you think of that? What were the sights and smells that you think about? Jenks Landry: My cottage was on Crane Lake, which is near Parry Sound and it belonged to my Nan and Pop, just like Junies Nan and Pop. And it was such a core place in my childhood. It was like a typical kind of Muskoka cottage with the evergreen trees and that black-green water. And there was a turtle, a large ancient turtle. And no one could remember how old, no one remembered it not being there. And once a summer or every few years, you'd see it, there'd be a sighting. In the book, the turtles' name is Edmund. In real life, the turtle didn't have a name, but Edmund was the name of my grandfather who owned the cottage. A really interesting thing I think people don't realize about picture books unless you're the author or illustrator, the illustrator is the one who's comes up with the vision for character design and setting. The illustrator of this book, Risa Hugo, who grew up in Japan and Vancouver. So she has a very different set of references. It wasn't really a Muskoka setting but was her take on a lake cottage. She said she was really inspired by the movie My Neighbor Totoro which was something that when she was Junie's age, she was obsessed with watching over and over again. So she had this kind of idyllic, almost English-looking countryside. So even though it's rooted in those really classic Muskoka cottage memories for me, the kind of alchemy of the illustrator working with my words created something completely different. Kitchener author's new book tells nostalgic story of summers spent in cottage country 4 days ago Duration 1:32 Kitchener author Kate Jenks Landry has a new children's book out. A Summer Without Anna tells the story of a young Junie who spends the summer with her grandparents because her older sister is sick. While Junie misses her family, she also has little adventures — including looking for an elusive giant turtle. Kate Jenks Landry told CBC K-W's Aastha Shetty more about the new book, which was inspired by the author's own life. Norris: Risa Hugo's art is beautiful! Jenks Landry: It really is! Risa has done a lot of really amazing Canadian books. She has another book Metis Like Me that has just been honoured and I'm just so honoured to have worked with her. Norris: What does it do for you to get something out there that's this personal? Jenks Landry: It's really complex. I think I wanted to do something that tapped into an experience that I had that was really challenging, but also very formative for me. I think going through something really challenging when you're young forced me to kind of constantly be in a mode of observing and making sense of the world. That sort of was the origin of my being a writer, and I wanted to tell that story. And I think a lot of kids have similar experiences of having to be away from parents or their bedroom or their home at a time when something difficult is happening in their families. So I wanted it to be personal and drawn those sort of core personal memories. But I also wanted to keep it open enough that kids with maybe similar in some ways, but different versions of that experience could, find something in it. And I, I felt like there wasn't really a ton of stories out there that spoke to what it was to be a sibling or just be a kid who's just kind of off on the side while your parents are off dealing with something else. Norris: That's true. I mean, you think about Junie's trip to the cottage, and in a parent's mind, you're thinking, 'Oh, well, this is beautiful, she's just gonna escape for this summer.' But that doesn't really actually happen. Jenks Landry: No, and I think it's a combination. I really love children's books that are complex and are not just one thing because this experience wasn't just one thing for me. For children, I think that's always the case. So beautiful memories are happening at the same time that really profound challenges are. So for Junie, I think she's having these really poignant memories with her grandfather in their fishing boat. She's being comforted by her grandmother and by the water itself. Swimming in the lake and being submerged in in bodies of water has always been very calming for me. I wanted to kind of think about how immersion in nature and in family is bringing comfort even in the midst of all of these challenges. And for me, I have those memories of the cottage. But also, I had an aunt and uncle that I stayed with that had a backyard pool. And I would just spend eight hours a day in this pool and my aunt would bring me peanut butter sandwiches at the side of the pool because I wouldn't get out.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Cartoonist brings Labrador childhood to life in 'visual memoir'
An artist is putting pen to paper to revive his boyhood memories of growing up in Labrador, filled with berry picking, firefighting and hijacking. Snowden Walters has drawn more than 200 comics, called Sculpin Tickle, based around his life in 1960s and 1970s Labrador, which he posts to social media. Walters, who had a career in shipbuilding as well as music and illustration, recently started the comic. He attributes the work to having more free time. "I just thought maybe I'll start writing down some of my memories," Walters told CBC Radio's Weekend AM."It's kind of a visual memoir." Walters now lives in Maddox Cove. His stories touch on familiar themes like berry picking, wildlife, vacations, trains, bottle returns, high school and the hijacking of QuebecAir in December1972, when he was 14 years old. "Little old Wabush Airport? A hijacking?" he said. "It was incredible." Another series of comics recalls his memories about forest fires. When he was 12, he and fellow Boy Scouts were given water packs with hoses to help fight a blaze. "They'd drive into where the fire had been and we'd all hop out and start hosing down hot spots and then head back to the truck to refill and do that until our water was gone and do it again until the wind changed basically," said Walters. Another comic was on an annual raffle held around the same time as the winter carnival. Walters said a local social club would get an old vehicle, drain it of its fluid, and tow it onto a frozen lake. People could buy tickets and guess when the vehicle would go crashing through the ice. "You wouldn't do that now," he said. Old memories His family moved north of Labrador West in 1960 and then relocated to Labrador City in 1962, where he started kindergarten. "I went right through high school and lived there on and off for a few years afterwards while I attended college. And so the last time I lived there permanently, it was 1983," said Walters. His comics have prompted renewed connections over social media with people he knew growing up. "We're in a very unique place in time and our history because it was the leading edge of the mining technology that started when the Iron Ore Company got us going up in Labrador West," said Walters. Tradesmen from all over the world came to the region — which was then known as the Carol Project — to work at the mine. "I like to say we were cosmopolitan before it was a thing."
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Sport researchers say spouses of athletes growing in popularity
A new business in a historic downtown Edmonton building is generating some major buzz. Several social media influencers recently walked a red carpet leading into Bar Trove and the Trove Living furniture showroom for a media tour ahead of its June 6 opening. They ate oysters and sipped cocktails as a DJ played music and security guards stood outside. The woman behind the venture, seen at the event clad in a glittery pink dress, is Lauren Kyle McDavid, the wife of Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. 'To have this star's wife putting money into our city and investing in our city is really special,' said Quinn Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Edmonton Downtown Business Association and a former sports reporter. 'Everything is kind of buzzing now in downtown.' Kyle McDavid was not immediately available for an interview, but she is one of several modern WAGs – an acronym for wives and girlfriends – making names for themselves. Judy Liao, who teaches sociology of sport and gender studies at the University of Alberta, says the buzz Kyle McDavid's business has been getting online shows how much of an interest people take in the lives of athletes' significant others. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sports wives saw their social media followers go up as they began posting more, Liao says. The popular streaming service Netflix has also created shows following the lives of WAGs in recent years. 'The resurgence of WAGs is really because of social media.' Liao says the WAG trend first became popular in the early 2000s. '(Soccer star) David Beckham is a key person to think about in this phenomenon because his wife is Posh Spice,' she says, referring to British singer Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls. 'After they started dating, they officially entered their pop culture celebrity status. Posh Spice was already a celebrity. They became so iconic, recognizable, so visible, it becomes not just about soccer or football anymore.' Demand for more details on their lifestyle went up as tabloid magazines chased them around and gathered details that made the couple prime subjects of media gossip, Liao said. 'It was the modern fairy tale. The story is so enticing,' she said. The era was different from today, she says, as the Beckhams didn't release details about their lifestyle on their own. Fast-forward to 2025, and WAGs are gaining visibility with social media and online content created by the influencers themselves, Liao says. Most of the resurgence has been in the United States, but Canada isn't immune to the trend. Stephanie LaChance, who is married to Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner, is often the subject of headlines. In the United States, pop star Taylor Swift has been labelled the ultimate WAG in news headlines for her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce. Liao says some sport sociologists have been calling Swift the 'Yoko Ono of the NFL' because of how many women she has attracted to the game. Unlike the Beckhams, Liao says modern WAGs can control their narratives and tend to blend social media posts about sports with entries about their lives. 'Social media is a really important place to construct and show people themselves as a person, not just a profession,' she says. Young fans of McDavid who are avid social media users are happy to follow WAGs, she adds. Cheri Bradish, director of the Future of Sport Lab, says Kyle McDavid's fame is an interesting case study. 'Lauren is very active on social media,' Bradish says. 'There were many videos of her wedding, which Vogue covered.' She has also posted about the interior design firm she founded, Kyle & Co Design Studio, and regularly shares photos of the apparel she develops for Sports Club Atelier with Oilers branding. Bradish says Kyle McDavid's ties to the NHL have helped her monetize her work. 'Social media has really created opportunities, and it's not surprising,' Bradish says. 'She's a part of this whole community and whole industry of influencers.' Bradish also saw the WAG resurgence really take off during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'The sports industry, and athletes in particular, needed to figure out ways to speak with fans and consumers,' she says. But Brandish has mixed feelings about how trendy they've become. Some WAGs like Kyle McDavid have used their relationships as leverage, but Brandish says she should also be commended for her personal identity and professional background in interior design and business. 'The bigger picture here, in an authentic way, is that social media has really created opportunities. This interest from consumers in the WAG story is really powerful.' 'The rising of WAGs is one big factor for that.'
