Leslie Hurtig & Jan Walter on Patriotic Canadian Publisher & Bookseller Mel Hurtig
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Leslie Hurtig was born into a house of books and has had a long, successful career in Canada\\u2019s book industry. She has worked for some of Canada\\u2019s best bookstores, acted as a sales representative and publicist for some of North America\\u2019s great publishers, and worked as a foreign rights and contracts manager at Raincoast Books. Leslie sat on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Writers Fest before taking on her "dream job" position as Artistic Director.\\xa0
Jan Walter has spent her life around books: selling, editing, publishing, promoting. She began as a bookseller at Mel Hurtig\\u2019s store in Edmonton, eventually running her own \\u2013 Fifth Business Books.
She has worked as an editor and in executive positions with several Canadian publishing companies. In 1988, with Gary Ross and John Macfarlane, she started Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, which became Canada\\u2019s premier publisher of quality non-fiction, publishing titles including\\xa0Boom, Bust & Echo\\xa0by David Foot,\\xa0The Danger Tree\\xa0by David Macfarlane, and\\xa0On the Take\\xa0by Stevie Cameron\\xa0
Jan has been involved in publishing education at institutions across Canada, teaching at Simon Fraser and Ryerson Universities.\\xa0She moved to Kingston, Ontario in 2004. A few years later, teaming with Merilyn Simonds, she helped\\xa0 professionalize the Kingston WritersFest.
I met with Leslie and Jan in Kingston to talk about Mel Hurtig and his legacy as bookseller, publisher and patriot.\\xa0
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