The award-winning journalist Elaine Dewar discusses her new book, The Handover: How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canada’s Best Publisher and the Best Part of Our Literary Heritage to a Foreign Multinational (Biblioasis, 2017), with Joseph Planta.

The Handover: How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canada’s Best Publisher and the Best Part of Our Literary Heritage to a Foreign Multinational by Elaine Dewar (Biblioasis, 2017). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Handover

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

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

Elaine Dewar joins me now. She’s just published a new book, The Handover: How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canada’s Best Publisher and the Best Part of Our Literary Heritage to a Foreign Multinational. It’s an engaging book, with investigative journalism from one of “Canada’s best muckrakers,” and the author’s own memoirs about her experiences with Canada’s publishers. The book provides marvelous insight into the state of the Canadian book publishing industry, and just how we got to here. The book looks at the venerable McClelland & Stewart, the Canadian Publishers, and how its rich legacy transferred from Avie Bennett’s ownership in 2000 to an arrangement that saw 75% of its shares go to the University of Toronto, and 25% to Random House. Ms. Dewar looks at the laws and regulations then and now, and speculates as to how it all happened, and how it evolved to recently where now all of McClelland & Stewart is under the control of Bertelsmann, a German media company. Bennett who died recently, is interviewed in the book. As are most of the players involved. Just as it’s interesting to see what those who speak to Elaine have to say, and of course what they leave out, it’s curious to see who don’t. Elaine Dewar is an award-winning journalist, author and television story editor. Visit www.elainedewar.blogspot.ca for more. This new book is published by Biblioasis. It’s a great work of journalism, and Elaine is a fine detective. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Elaine Dewar; Ms. Dewar, good morning.

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