Reading is magical

A quilt at Dalhousie Art Gallery provides a colorful backdrop for this portrait of Roch Carrier. (Nick Pearce photo)

“You’re so brave,” laughed Roch Carrier, referring to the awful weather that the audience in the Potter Auditorium endured to attend his speech Thursday night. Those who were inspired enough to weather the blustery winds and rain gained valuable insight into both life and literacy from one of Canada’s greatest authors.

Dr. Carrier was at Dalhousie to deliver the Governor General’s Lecture of the Royal Society of Canada, a talk humorously titled “The Inspiring Adventures of a Man Bend over a Blank Sheet of Paper.” It was the final stop on his cross-Canada tour.

With a youthful vigour, the author of Canadian classics such as The Hockey Sweater and La Guerre, Yes Sir! gave the audience a self-deprecating presentation that felt more like livingroom chat than auditorium lecture. Every one of Dr. Carrier’s engaging stories flowed seamlessly into the next, from how he learned about politics by shovelling gravel at age 14, to how he published his first collection of poetry by saving the tips he earned while working as a waiter.

Almost all his anecdotes touched upon the importance of literacy, highlighting experiences that sparked his lifelong love affair with the written word. He recalled growing up during the Second World War and spending every week impatient for Saturday and the arrival of the newspaper comics: “Waiting and dreaming for Saturday to arrive, to open the newspaper and read about Dick Tracy, talking to his watch! Buck Rogers, going to planets! Suddenly, we could go there!”

He remembered his father bringing him home a stack of 13 books and from that point forward, he was hooked.

“Books bring you to ask questions about the world that you live in,” he said. “If kids have the pleasure of reading, if they develop that capacity, they have access to all the treasures of humanity.” Dr. Carrier also told the students who were in attendance that, “It’s OK to be bright, but you have to be a bit naïve too,” urging them not to put the brakes on their ambitions.

Calling what The Hockey Sweater has given him “special…a true gift,” Dr. Carrier said that he can’t imagine having a career as rewarding to him as that of a writer. “You’re always a beginner (as a writer), and that’s the best part of this job,” he said. “When you’re a beginner, you’re always open to whatever’s new.”

SEE VIDEO: Roch Carrier delivers the 2007 Governor General's Lecture at Dalhousie.