Evan Andrew Mackay has been on hiatus from writing for [fill in period of time here]. Along with teaching English as a Second Language, Evan has recently been taking on more work as a freelance editor and proofreader.
For a time he was a theatre critic with Post City Magazines. His most recent play, Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid, which he co-wrote with Karri Yano, premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2015 and had an encore presentation at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre later that year. This play takes a new approach to the historical subject matter of another of his plays, Father Hero Traitor Son (2013), about a war hero with a traitorous son, (not as many laughs as the play about colo-rectal cancer which he co-wrote and performed in at the 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival).
Evan is taking has taken a few weeks couple of decades off from his first novel which he has been rewriting since the end of the previous millennium. Evan writes drama, prose and humour in any form, and he is a journalist an enemy of the people of culture and social justice. Also, he is obsessed with languages.* He has been a regular contributor to Post City Magazine and Nikkei Voice, national newspaper of Japanese Canadians.
Raised in the Maritimes, he tends now has good reason to live in Toronto.
A list (in need serious need of updating) of some of Evan’s publications:
Activism
- Green hero Laura Reinsborough: Not Far From The Tree, Apr 5, 2011
- Climate Change Advocate Tim Flannery, April 18, 2011
- Andy Bichlbaum’s Best Corporate Hoaxes, May 11, 2011
- Watching Big Brother Watch You, May 12, 2011
- Who Needs Electoral Reform?, May 18, 2011
Books
- Robert J. Sawyer: A Sunnier Tomorrow, AE Canadian Sci Fi, 10 January 2011
- Here Comes My Big Brother: Robert J. Sawyer’s Wonder, AE Canadian Sci Fi, 28 March 2011
- Toronto’s “One Book” author Judy Fong Bates, April 1, 2011
Culture
- Obituary for the Canadian Penny http://www.postcity.com/Eat-Shop-Do/Do/February-2013/Goodbye-penny-it-was-nice-knowing-you-but-not-really/
- Questions about Robert Burns http://www.postcity.com/Eat-Shop-Do/Do/January-2013/Great-Scot-Questions-About-Robbie-Burns/
- Black History Month, February 1, 2012
- Nuit Blanche vs. Culture Days, September 29, 2011
- McLuhan 100, September 22, 2011
- Cultural Festivals, September 15, 2011
- Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo at Hot Docs 2011, Nikkei Voice, August 2011
- Shinsedai Japanese Film Festival, July 18, 2011
- Sake Primer, May 13, 2011
Drama
- Father Hero Traitor Son, a feature-length drama premiering August 21 to 25, 2013 at the first Fundy Fringe Festival, in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Film
- Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo at Hot Docs 2011, Nikkei Voice, August 2011
- Filmmaker Interview, Eco Warrior: The Story of Paul Watson, July 20, 2011
- Japanese Films at TIFF 2011, Nikkei Voice, October 2011
- Shinsedai Japanese Film Festival, July 18, 2011
- Suzuki Force of Nature at TIFF, Nikkei Voice, October 2010
Food
- Enjoying Wine and Cheese, March 16, 2012
- Gi’ Us a Haggis, January 25, 2012
- Chef Vikram Vij, March 10, 2011
- Sustainable Seafood at Hooked, April 8, 2011
- Chefs Raise Awareness for Food Banks, April 11, 2011
- NFB’s The Chocolate Farmer, May 5, 2011
- Sake Primer, May 13, 2011
Humour
- Chomsky vs Chimpsky, April 6, 2011
- How to Enjoy the Wine Tasting, May 6, 2011
Interviews
- Marina Nemat’s Memoir “Prisoner of Tehran” on Stage, April 13, 2012
- Singer, songwriter, movie dude Goh Nakamura, Nikkei Voice, March 2012
- One-Man Showman Rick Miller, “Bigger Than Jesus”, October 5, 2011
- Singer et cetera Jann Arden, July 26, 2011
- Canadian SF Writer Robert J Sawyer, March 21, 2011
- Actor “Beverley” Leslie Jordan, Mar 11, 2011
- Dr Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at SETI, March 7, 2011
Languages and Communication
- McLuhan 100, September 22, 2011
- Getting Over the Alien Language Barrier, aescifi.ca, 25 July 2011 [Sadly, this link no longer works and I can’t find the original manuscript. I was quite proud of it and think the ideas it contained could have been used to make Arrival (director: Denis Villeneuve, 2016, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker) a much better movie.]
Music
- Yakudo Concert, Nikkei Voice, January 2011
- Trio Kano Tosh and Ken, Nikkei Voice, November 2010
- Singer et cetera Jann Arden, July 26, 2011
Theatre
- Marina Nemat’s Memoir “Prisoner of Tehran” on Stage, April 13, 2012
- Seeds, Monsanto vs. Schmeiser, February 22, 2012
- One-Man Showman Rick Miller, “Bigger Than Jesus”, October 5, 2011
If you are looking for a kind of writing other than what I do, take a look at http://www.freelancewritingjobs.ca/writer-links/
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Hey Evan – I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Take yo’ praise.
Wow, Graham, thanks! Just in case, I’d better go start working on my acceptance speech.
…or maybe I should be nominated for the “Skeptical Blogger Award”. I bet you got the award logo and the list of requirements from the blog that nominated you. The source of the award itself seems rather elusive.
Regardless of the credibility of the award, I am flattered that you consider my writings worthy of any non-ironically-intended nomination. So again, thank you.
Here’s something neat (hopefully).
So I’m teaching a graduate seminar on Canadian science fiction. It has been a great course (because of the students).
And on Wednesday, I mildly shrieked in class because of a handout that one of my PhD students circulated.
Here’s why:
On that handout was a familiar name: Evan Andrew Mackay. She was quoting from Sawyer’s interview with you.
So, there you were, providing content to a bunch of grad students (whether you like it or not!). Cheers, a former roommate!
P.S. We read *Wake* in that course. Students hated it in ways that would be impossible to express in polite language except to say “they really f-ing hated it!”
How gratifying to know that academia is keeping up with my efforts! Considering how much coverage Sawyer gets, I’d be interested to know what your student quoted from my article.
Did you assign “Wake” with the expectation the students would hate it? Why did you choose “Wake” for the class? Discuss.
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Hi Mr Mackay, I’m a researchist working on a historical documentary series about WWII in Canada. I would like to get in touch with you and Karri Yano. My email is guylaine.bombardier@icloud.com
Thank you for your interest.
Guylaine Bombardier from Montreal