The author Peter Busby discusses the latest in the Unheralded Artists of BC series, The Life and Art of Jack Akroyd (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2015), with Joseph Planta.

The Life and Art of Jack Akroyd by Peter Busby (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2015). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Life and Art of Jack Akroyd

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The latest in the Unheralded Artists of BC series from Mother Tongue Publishing, the eighth book, was released earlier this summer. Peter Busby is the author of The Life and Art of Jack Akroyd. Its subject was born in 1921 in Halifax, Yorkshire, was an engineering apprentice before serving five years in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He immigrated to Canada, spent four years at the Ontario College of Art before moving west and living in Nanaimo, and subsequently to Vancouver, living in Kitsilano on Yew Street where a lot of artists in the early 1960s lived. Mr. Busby, who joins me now, recounts this fascinating life, from the artists of the era he fell in with, as well as his artwork. He supported himself by fixing kilns for local schools and potters, as well he was an assistant to sculptors. He went to Japan twice, spending a lot of time learning the culture and immersing himself with its people. It influenced his art, and later led to exhibitions in Japan, where he was admired. I’ll get Peter Busby to tell us about his book and the life of Jack Akroyd, the artistic scene here in Vancouver in those years, and why Akroyd ought to be remembered. Peter Busby was born in West Yorkshire. He studied English at Sheffield and Leeds Universities, before moving to Canada. He taught English in Britain, where he also wrote two thrillers and a television series, Thin Air. He’s worked as an editor and ghost writer. For his children’s book First to Fly, he received the 2003 James Madison Award for American Non-Fiction. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in studio as it were, Peter Busby; Mr. Busby, good morning.

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