The journalist Tom Hawthorn discusses his new collection Deadlines: Obits of Memorable British Columbians (Harbour Publishing, 2012), with Joseph Planta.

Deadlines: Obits of Memorable British Columbians by Tom Hawthorn (Harbour Publishing, 2012). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Deadlines

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

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

Tom Hawthorn joins me in person today. The Victoria based journalist is the author of a new book Deadlines: Obits of Memorable British Columbians. It’s a wonderful collection of some of the obituaries Mr. Hawthorn has written over the years. Read in various publications such as Reader’s Digest, Canadian Geographic, and fairly regularly in the Globe and Mail, the dead beat if you will, is his. Although he writes about other subjects, he’s one of those writers who when his byline appears, many gravitate to see who he’s writing about now. The life lived will sometimes be famous, sometimes infamous, but always fascinating afterwards. In this book we have eccentrics, as well as innovators; heroes and rogues. I’ll get Mr. Hawthorn to tell us about some of the people featured in this book, as well how he practices his craft, and the need for this sort of writing in our newspapers and elsewhere. Tom Hawthorn is an award winning journalist, who has won several prizes from the Society of Professional Obituary Writers. In a 2004 profile of him in the Victoria Times Colonist he is written about thusly: “Merry hazel glints enliven his brown eyes, and he seems hearteningly enthusiastic in his approach to life. He’s no Doctor Death, no crepe-hanger, this guy. . . . he’s a dedicated family man with an ordinary household and a lively dog.” His website is at www.tomhawthorn.blogspot.ca. This book is from Harbour Publishing. I’m very pleased to welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in studio today, Tom Hawthorn; Mr. Hawthorn, good morning.

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