August 12, 2002 would have marked the 100th birthday of one of Western Canada's most beloved, exemplary, idiosyncratic and admired citizens, the Hon. J.W. Grant MacEwan. A Century of Grant MacEwan: Selected Writings is published to mark the centenary of the author's birth, and showcases the writing achievements of this remarkable man. From his first foray into historical writing, The Sodbusters (1948), to Watershed: Reflections on Water (2000), this collection offers a fascinating selection drawn from the nearly fifty books that won him a place in hearts and on bookshelves across the Canadian West.

From perilous Chilcotin–Klondike cattle drives to the creation of a short-lived republic within the boundaries of Manitoba, A Century of Grant MacEwan is MacEwan at his finest, preserving little-known or neglected nuggets of the past for future generations to read and remember. Through his writing, MacEwan shows us our history.

Grant MacEwan was a farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, the 28th Mayor of Calgary and both a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. The neighbourhoods of MacEwan in Calgary and Edmonton are named for him, as is the Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton and the MacEwan Student Centre at the University of Calgary. The majority of his books, of which there are many, were written after his retirement from politics and were intended to share Canadian history with Canadians. On May 6, 2000, MacEwan was honoured with the Golden Pen Lifetime Achievement Award for lifetime literary achievements by the Writers Guild of Alberta, which had previously only been awarded to W.O. Mitchell. He died a month later in Calgary, at the ripe old age of 97, and was given a state funeral, the first one in Alberta since 1963.

Grant MacEwan's profile page

Lee Shedden's profile page