The Last Tasmanian

Literature & Fiction

Curtis, Herb

Humor & Satire

Goose Lane Editions

The Americans Are Coming, the first novel of The Brennen Siding Trilogy, introduces teenagers Dryfly Ramsey and Shadrack Nash, poor and ignorant in the world's terms, but rich in the lore of the woods and the magical Miramichi River. Among the Brennen Siding folk who help them grow up (sometimes none too gently) are Shirley Ramsey, the homely, destitute mother of Dry and his 10 brothers and sisters; Nutbeam, a floppy-eared hermit who falls in love with Shirley; the American salmon anglers buying up the riverfront just as fast as they can; and the local men who guide them in their pursuit of the legendary Atlantic salmon.

The Americans Are Coming

Goose Lanes Editions

The complete Brennen Siding Trilogy is now available in a single volume. Brennen Siding, a hamlet on a small tributary of the famous Miramichi River, is home to an unforgettable crew — Dryfly and Palidin Ramsey and Dry's friend Shadrack Nash; Shirley Ramsey, Dry and Pal's homely, destitute mother, and Nutbeam, the floppy-eared hermit she marries; the American sports who come to the Cabbage Island Salmon Club to fish; and the "lads" who guide them. Dry, Shad and Pal, young teenagers in The Americans Are Coming, make some headway into maturity in The Last Tasmanian. By the end of The Lone Angler, when Palidin realizes what will happen to his beloved Atlantic salmon if he sells his secret of catching a fish on every cast, all three have launched themselves into adulthood. The boys' adventures gently lead the reader to reflect on the nature of humans and the place of humans in nature. Running through it all is the magical, mysterious river and the legendary Atlantic salmon. The Last Tasmanian won the 1992 Thomas Raddall Award and was a finalist for a Commonwealth Book Prize. The Americans Are Coming is a successful stage play.

The Brennen Siding Trilogy : The Americans Are Coming - The Last Tasmanian - The Lone Angler

GLE Library

The world has taken notice. From Alistair MacLeod's recent IMPAC literary award, through movies based on the work of David Adams Richards and Sheldon Currie, to the epic television series based on the work of Bernice Morgan, the international community has soundly acknowledged the critical and commercial success of Atlantic writers. Atlantica is the first major anthology of Atlantic fiction since Best Maritime Short Stories was published in 1988 and showcases stories by some of Canada's most exciting authors — established, newly popular, and emerging. Given the regional penchant for storytelling, it's not surprising that the Maritimes and Newfoundland produce a continuous stream of spellbinding writers. Among the stories in Atlantica are Anne Simpson's Journey Prize-winning "Dreaming Snow," Carol Bruneau's "The Tarot Reader," "Batter My Heart" by Lynn Coady, Bernice Morgan's "Poems in a Cold Climate" "The Train Family" by Joan Clark, "Missing Notes" by David Helwig, "The Party" by Herb Curtis and "Clearances" by Alistair MacLeod. Readers from "away" will recognize Sheldon Currie's hilariously gothic tale "The Glace Bay Miner's Museum" as the basis of Helena Bonham Carter's acclaimed movie Margaret's Museum. Some stories have been excerpted from novels, including David Adams Richards's The Bay of Love and Sorrows, Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, John Steffler's The Afterlife of George Cartwright, and Donna Morrissey's Kit's Law. Remarkably diverse in age, style, and cultural identity, the writers in this anthology raise a common voice that defines Atlantic Canada. Each with an individual approach to language and writing, they offer a collective view of the east, conscious of tradition but not confined by it. By turns funny, poignant and pensive, the stories in Atlantica firmly place eastern Canadian culture on the world map of literature.

Atlantica: Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland

Wilson, Budge

JOHNSTON, Wayne

Choyce, Lesley

MacLEOD, Alistair

Bruneau, Carol

Curtis, Wayne

Morrissey, Donna

Morgan, Bernice

Currie, Sheldon

Coady, Lynn

Baxter, Joan

Simpson, Anne

Steinfeld, J.J.

Steffler, John

Helwig, David

Hull, Maureen

Fogwill Porter, Helen

Adams Richards, David

Clark, Joan.

Contemporary

Winner, Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award
Shortlisted, Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Canada and the Caribbean
The Last Tasmanian has reaped more national and international recognition than any other novel by Herb Curtis. First published in 1991, it has remained in print continuously in its original edition and later in The Brennen Siding Trilogy. Now it's available again as a separate volume in the GLE Library Series. Brennen Siding, a hamlet on a small tributary of the famous Miramichi River, is home to an unforgettable crew — Shadrack Nash and his friend Dryfly Ramsey; Dry's mother, the homely, destitute Shirley, and Nutbeam, the big-eared hermit she marries; the American sports who come to the Cabbage Island Salmon Club to fish; and, above all, Hilda Porter, the elderly schoolteacher who treasures the story of Trucanini, the last Tasmanian on earth. Hilda herself is the last of the Porters, and, amid the invasion of TV, Elvis, and rich Americans, Shad and Dry may be the last true natives of Brennen Siding.

Bruno Bobak became a professional artist before he was 20 years old, and more than 60 years later, his work remains vibrant and in demand by public galleries and collectors in North America and Europe. Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette celebrates his life and work. Five authors present Bobak's life and artistic development, stage by stage. Herb Curtis, a novelist and essayist, outlines the artist's early years in Hamilton, Ontario. Laura Brandon, curator of War Art at the Canadian War Museum , describes Bobak's development as a War Artist, and internationally renowned painter, print-maker, and educator Gordon Smith recalls Bobak's formative decade in Vancouver. Marjory Rogers Donaldson, a painter and portraitist, portrays the richness of Bobak's mature years in Fredericton, and independent curator Roslyn Rosenfeld examines the remarkable depth and range of Bobak's drawings and prints. Introduced by Herménégilde Chiasson, the author and artist who is Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.

Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette

Arts & Photography

Brandon, Laura

Smith, Gordon

Rogers Donaldson, Marjory

Rosenfeld, Roslyn

Individual Artists

An invasion? For teenagers Dryfly Ramsey and Shadrack Nash, poor and ignorant in the world's terms but rich in the lore of the magical Miramichi, the annual influx of American anglers, with their money, fishing gear, and thirst for salmon seems like one, and it sets the stage for action. A cast of quirky, unforgettable characters — Nutbeam, a large-nosed, floppy-eared hermit; Shirley, Brennan Siding's toothless postmistress and Ramsey family matriarch; and Buck, who appears once a year to sire another child — conspire to capture the imagination in Herb Curtis's now classic novel. And what of the Whooper, that mystical beast whose cries result in amazingly tall tales? In The Americans Are Coming, the voices of Brennan Siding ring out in the rich vernacular of New Brunswick's Miramichi region, a world immersed in myth, folklore, and the sulpherous belch of a nearby pulp mill, and where ghosts and demons are as real as the Lone Ranger or the spring run of gaspereaux. With a new afterword by David Adams Richards.

The Scholten story

Scholten Foundation

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