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 Author Munroe Scott
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Munroe Scott
is among the most dedicated of freelance writers in this country.
Born in Ontario he went to High School in Almonte, Ontario, graduated from
Queen's University (B.A) and Cornell University (M.A) and in the early 1950's
began his career as a staff writer with Crawley Films, Ottawa,. He has been
freelance since 1957. Munroe is perhaps best-known as the biographer of Dr.
Robert McClure but has been prolific as a writer for documentary films and
public affairs television as well as drama for both TV and stage. He was writer
and director of most of the acclaimed CBCTV series The Tenth Decade, and
also wrote and directed CBC-TV's series First Person Singular (The
Pearson Memoirs) and the series One Canadian (The Diefenbaker Memoirs).
He wrote the prestigious Sound & Light Show for Parliament Hill,
1984-93. As an author his work has made the Best Seller list and the Book of
the Month Club. He has won awards as both a playwright and a columnist. He is a
member of the Writers Guild of Canada, the Playwrights Guild of Canada, and the
Writers' Union of Canada. |
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Notable Works by
Munroe Scott
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Books |
Always An Updraft: a
writer remembers
"In Always An Updraft, Munroe Scott takes us on a
personal lifelong journey through the complicated terrain of a freelance writer
in Canada. The vivid descriptions of his journey are full of factual
eye-opening scenes, with roadblocks and successesunderscored with humour.
It is a work of a highly accomplished story teller, writer-director of many
hours of prime Canadian television , and an award-winning playwright.
"To aspiring future Film, Television and Theatre writers and
directors Always An Updraft is an invaluable collection of lessons, learned in
a hard-knocks school, and should be included in Recommended Reading lists for
university students studying film-video, theatre and creative writing." -
Vincent Vaitiekumas, Professor Emeritus, Film & Video
Department, York University
See More Comments About
Always An Updraft
Published by
Penumbra Press To
Order, Contact Penumbra
Press
ISBN 1894131171 Hardcover, First Edition,
2005 |
The Carving of Canada: A Tale of
Parliamentary Gothic
The Carving of Canada begins beside a small fire
sparkling on the granite shore of a northern lake as the "Old One", a
storyteller, challenges the listeners and readers to consider the possibility
that a country is created by its artists. Old One's tale blends past and
present into an ongoing pageant of Canadian history as it describes the work of
Canada's former Parliamentary Sculptor, Eleanor Milne, and her associates as
they created three impressive masterworks in the Centre Block of the Parliament
Buildings in Ottawa - the Frieze of History, The Constitution Stones, and the
House of Commons Stained Glass Windows. They toiled, usually at night, for more
than thirty years while remaining virtually unknown and the storyteller
suggests that anonymity is the price the artist pays for working within a
Gothic whole.
The Carving of Canada intertwines the story of the
Parliament Buildings and the story of Canada and its governing institutions
with details of the sculptors' and glass crafters' arts and struggles. Like its
subject it is multi-layered but never strays from the engaging style of "a tale
told beside a campfire".
See Reviews and
Excerpts
Published by
Penumbra Press To
Order, Contact Penumbra
Press
ISBN 0921254938 Softcover,
1999 |
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The Liberators
It is the spring of 1838 as an innocent backwoods girl, full of
primal evolutionary yearnings, sets out to liberate her fiancé from the
Redcoats at Fort Henry and finds herself involved in a boisterous
invasion of Upper Canada with as motley a crew of piratical patriots as
ever prowled the Thousand Islands or graced the Canadian political scene. It is
a small microcosm of the Upper Canada rebellion that takes place, fittingly
enough after the Rebellion is already over.
"One of the finest recreations of the period immediately
following the rebellions of 1837, The Liberators is told with verve and humour.
As he has done throughout his career, Munroe Scott has opened a window on what
otherwise might have remained an obscure part of Canadian history. No reader
can fail to be impressed and delighted." - Author /
Historian R.B.Fleming, Ph.D.
Published by
Penumbra Press To
Order, Contact Penumbra
Press
ISBN 1894131215 Softcover,
2001 |
Waltz for a Pagan Drum
In a story that oscillates between a colonial struggle in
Africa and an alien invasion in Ontario, the principals find themselves wedged
in a triangle between colonizers, natives, and misunderstood missionaries.
"...an odd combination but, surprisingly, one that
works.....(T)he dilemma of the missionaries is not simple. This adventure story
explores the complexity with verve and imagination." - Joan Hind-Smith, The Canadian Churchman, Oct. '88
To order, Contact:
munscott@sympatico.ca
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McClure: The China Years
(Vol.1 of a biography of Dr. Robert McClure)
Book of the Month Club Alternate Selection. National Best
Seller.
"... a tremendously readable and illuminating story." - Ottawa Journal |
McClure: Years of Challenge
(Vol 2. of a biography of Dr. Robert McClure)

"When I reviewed The China Years, I said I couldn't wait to read
the second volume. The sequel has more than justified that expectation."
- Tom Harpur, The Toronto
Star |
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Oh, Vulgar Wind: a Sympathetic Overview
of the Common Fart
Editor's Choice - "This witty grab-bag of scientific, literary
and anecdotal lore is a breath of fetid air on a subject of universal
interest." - The Globe and Mail, May
21st,'94
" .... elegant language......Scott's unflagging joy in his
subject and skill in its presentation make this a delightful little book."
- Dr. Douglas Waugh, Stitches, Oct. 94
For more information and to order, see
http://www.vulgarwind.com
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From Nation to Colony

"I suggest the reader accept these mini-essays as what they are
-- passionately prejudiced. However, since the prejudice is for a humane,
compassionate, egalitarian and evolving Canada that is greatly in peril, then
the passion can only be applauded." - Pierre Berton,
1988.
"Munroe Scott is one of Canada's best writers. Anything Munroe
says merits attention, so please pay attention to this book." - Larry Zolf
To order, Contact:
munscott@sympatico.ca
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Full Length
Stage Plays |
McClure
A full length stage play for one actor and many characters based
upon The China Years, Volume One of the playwright's biography of Dr.
Robert McClure. It recreates the adventures of the charismatic Canadian
missionary/surgeon who was not only a witness to but an active participant in
much of the turbulent history of China during the first half of the 20th
century.
"The play is humourous, witty, and startlingly dramatic, and
swings rapidly from violence to tenderness, rage to compassion." - Arnold Edinborough, The Financial Post, October 4,
1986
"Hamilton's regional theatre (Theatre Aquarius) scored an
impressive hit this March... Not only were the reviews uniformly favourable,
but it played to capacity audiences through most of its month-long run."
- Aadu Pilt, Performing Arts, July 1986
"... a brave and thoughtful piece of theatre." - Hamilton Spectator, March 1986
To order, contact:
info@dundurn.com |
Wu-feng
A full length, large cast play for an open stage in which a
Confucian scholar in 1769 Taiwan, appointed to govern a head-hunting tribe, is
faced with a cultural uprising in which the threat of violence is used for
political blackmail.
"... an epic that would have done credit to a Chinese Bertolt
Brecht... It is also sweeping, subtle, profoundly philosophical, immaculately
constructed..." - London Free Press, 1972, review of
pre-production version published in A Collection of Canadians Plays, Vol.1.
"... a generous portion of humour, a touch or two of serene
poetry and a measure of cool wisdom... it tells of an unequal struggle between
logic and passion, civilization and paganism." -
Christopher Dafoe, The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 19, 1972, review of professional
reading of pre-production version.
"Wu-Feng
contains some fine moments of theatre." - McKenzie
Porter, The Toronto Sun, Oct. 24, 1974, reviewing production on main stage,
St.Lawrence Centre, Toronto.
To order (Pre-production
version), contact: info@dundurn.com (Post Production
version), contact: orders@playwrightscanada.com
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Shylock's Treasure
Twenty years after the events in Shakespeare's The Merchant
of Venice the principal characters have second thoughts. Shylock's trial is
restaged, Antonio is convicted, and reconciliation is achieved.
"Scott has emulated the quick wit and verbal play of
Shakespeare ... the language play makes this comedy a delight... Shylock has
created his second chance and used it to its maximum." - Geraldine Balzer, Canadian Drama, Vol.9, No.2,'83
To order, contact:
orders@playwrightscanada.com
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The Devil's Petition
A full length folk play based on an 1830 incident in Upper
Canada in which the principal players were the Rev. John Ryerson (brother of
the famous Egerton Ryerson) and Dr. John Rolph (later the founder of the
University of Toronto's School of Medicine).
"Two men are accused of stealing an ox and one is sentenced to
be hanged. His daughter, a young doctor and a young Methodist clergyman set out
to save him....the play is funny, fascinating and reflects the thoughts and
customs of early Ontario." - Lindsay This Week, July
22, 1981
To order, contact:
orders@playwrightscanada.com
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Corpus
Delectable
An aging, eccentric Canadian film pioneer is
interviewed by a comely oral historian while each is planning a bloodless
murder. A full length, two-act play for two actors.
"... a delectable feast... cooked to
perfection... thoroughly enjoyable... Highly recommended." - Stephen Beecroft, Stoney Creek News, March 1, 1995
To order, contact:
orders@playwrightscanada.com
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