On Friday evening, May 14th there was an author reading at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery by local author Guy Vanderhaeghe. He was born and raised in Esterhazy Saskatchewan and is now a successful local, and national author. The author reading by Vanderhaeghe marked the fourth and final author in the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery's Author Series.
For the author reading Vanderhaeghe selected a short story entitled "Dancing Bear" from his 1982 collection of short stories "Man Descending." The short story tells the story of Dieter, an old man who is haunted by his experiences with bears from when he was young.
Vanderhaeghe says, "Dancing Bear" isn't a biography, but bits and pieces of what people have told him in which he "invented around." Vanderhaeghe wanted to share a short story with the audience rather then a chapter out of a novel. He believes that, "taking a piece from a novel wouldn't make sense" because you "can't cover it all in a reading." Vanderhaeghe pointed out that he is attached to all of his stories for different reasons, and would therefore be honored to share any of them with an audience. Vanderhaeghe began writing, "Man Descending" while in university, and it was his first published work.
Vanderhaeghe was always interested in writing and began trying to write in university by studying the works of authors he admired. Vanderhaeghe is a history major, and writes historical novels because they, "tell stories that were relatively unknown" and tell "what people didn't know." Vanderhaeghe feels that historical novels are a "good idea" and that they "make good fiction" because they are interesting. Vanderhaeghe pointed out that almost all of his writing takes place in Saskatchewan or has a historical connection to Saskatchewan, because it is where he has lived his life.
Concerning publishing Vanderhaeghe believes, "Canadian publishing is in danger" because small publishing houses are beginning to disappear. Vanderhaeghe feels that, "publishers are more unwilling to take a chance on young writers" then when he was trying to get his first book published. Although harder to get published, Vanderhaeghe feels that once published it is now easier for Canadian writers to get global exposure, due to Canadian literature classes that are now available to students around the world. In regards to online publishers, Vanderhaeghe believes they are eliminating smaller publishers, but that they also allow easier access to literature for those in isolated areas.
In 2008 Vanderhaeghe's novel "The Englishman's Boy" was released as a two part mini series for CBC. Vanderhaeghe wrote the screenplay for the mini series, and chose to do so in order "to keep it closer to the spirit of the book." Vanderhaeghe says it is difficult when a written "character has to be portrayed in actions" rather then words, because "you can never do everything that happens in a novel."
In the last ten years Vanderhaeghe has only written historical novels, and is currently working on the third book of a historical trilogy. The first two books of the trilogy are entitled, "The Englishman's Boy" and "The Last Crossing" with "Hugger Mugger" being the planned title of the third novel. Vanderhaeghe expects the third and final book of the trilogy to be released in late 2011. To date Vanderhaeghe has written and published four novels, three short story collections, two plays, and has done work in almost all forms of writing. Upon completion of the historical trilogy Vanderhaeghe plans to write more short stories.
