The Governor General’s Prize winning author William Gilkerson discusses his new book A Thousand Years of Pirates (Tundra Books, 2009), with Joseph Planta; as well as talking about pirates past and present (online and on the seas currently), they talk about Donald Sutherland, who is adapting one of the books for an animated series.

A Thousand Years of Pirates by William Gilkerson. (Tundra Books, 2009) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: A Thousand Years of Pirates

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line. This is THECOMMENTARY.CA.

William Gilkerson joins me now. He received the Governor General’s Prize in 2006 for his novel, Pirate’s Passage. He is an artist, author and historian. His work has appeared nearly everywhere of note, and his books, number a dozen, and they range from histories to fiction, satire to lavish art collections. He has a new book out now, A Thousand Years of Pirates. At first glance you’d think it a young readers book, but the art is fascinating to look at, and the history is riveting. The image we have of pirates are that of thieves, adventurous, terrorising, and dark. The portrait from this book is a little more three dimensional. They’re ruthless, killers some of them, but they are also for some heroes, valiant and courageous. The website for more is www.williamgilkerson.com. A Thousand Years of Pirates is published by Tundra Books, an imprint of McClelland and Stewart. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, from his home in Nova Scotia, William Gilkerson; Good day, Mr. Gilkerson.

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