Jean Baird

Jean Baird is the co-editor, with George Bowering, of The Heart Does Break: Canadian Writers on Grief and Mourning (Random House, 2009), and the author of The Booker Project.

1990

By Jean Baird / 2011 October 20
Posted in ,

Jean Baird uploads her evaluation of the 1990 Booker Prize competition, along with a discussion of overheads in Canadian prize budgets

Read More

1989

By Jean Baird / 2011 October 19
Posted in ,

1989   The National Book Trust administers the Booker Prize in the UK. The organization appears to be networked with everyone, with connections to anything and everything connected to books. Its motto is “inspiring a love of books.” Notice that it’s all about books, not about writers.   As well as the Booker, the Trust…

Read More

Book Prizes and Education

By Jean Baird / 2011 May 18
Posted in ,,

Jean Baird files a think piece about the how Canadian writing is no longer taught in our secondary and middle schools and why it happened.

Read More

1988

By Jean Baird / 2011 May 17
Posted in

Jean Baird on the 1988 Booker Prize.

Read More

1987

By Jean Baird / 2011 May 16
Posted in

Jean Baird files her report on 1987. It’s an interesting year.

Read More

1986

By Jean Baird / 2011 February 1
Posted in

It’s February. But in the Booker Trail it’s 1986, and Robertson Davies is almost the winner. Margaret Atwood gets on the shortlist, and neither wins…

Read More

1985

By Jean Baird / 2011 January 18
Posted in

Jean Baird uploads her 1985 analysis, but she’s more interested in the machinations behind Canada Reads.

Read More

1984

By Jean Baird / 2011 January 1
Posted in

I’ve been thinking a lot about expectations. As we become more experienced readers how much do our expectations affect our response to a novel? The rest of our lives ebb and flow with our expectations so why not reading? George and I  lost our sea legs in Singapore, but it took a while, and not…

Read More

1983

By Jean Baird / 2010 December 27
Posted in

Jean Baird uploads her analysis of 1983. She thinks Graham Swift should have won for Waterland. J.M. Coetzee did.

Read More

1982

By Jean Baird / 2010 November 8
Posted in ,,

Jean Baird files her report on the 1982 Booker, which was won by Thomas Keanally’s Schindler’s List. She also has some choice remarks about Canada Reads.

Read More