Must Write: Edna Staebler's Diaries

Pauline Carey is an actor, playwright, and fiction writer. She is the
author of Magic and What’s in a Name?

Edna Staebler was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1906, and given the
Order of Canada in 1996. She first drew attention as a Maclean’s
contributor during the 1950s. Twenty years later, she published a wildly
popular book on Mennonite cooking (Food That Really Schmecks). She went
on to write several more cookbooks, as well as Cape Breton Harbour,
which her friend Dr. John D. Robins dubbed “creative non-fiction.”
The label stuck with her, and in 1990 she used her well-earned wealth to
establish the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. Her lifelong
diary has now been edited into a journal of a writer’s existence.

“Interest is everything,” Edna wrote in 1928. In these pages she
reveals her endless curiosity and enthusiasm for other people’s lives
while at the same time harping about her stubborn urge to write, her
insecurity, her hesitations, and her agony when she does not or cannot
write. As she becomes famous, she dismisses remarks that she is a role
model; yet it is heartening for writers of all ages to read her words
when, at close to 80, she declares, “I must write. The passion is not
spent.”

Must Write is divided into decades, and each section is introduced by a
historical overview. We learn of a marriage, a divorce, several lovers,
no children, but the entries touch lightly on the personal life, talking
instead about writing. It took a while to happen; the turning point came
when she visited Neil’s Harbour, Cape Breton, in 1945 and sold an
article about swordfishing to Maclean’s. This piece is included in the
book, along with an article about Mennonites (her father was of
Mennonite stock), an excerpt from Cape Breton Harbour, and “The Great
Cookie War,” a piece she wrote for Saturday Night magazine.

Edna Staebler’s diaries attest to her determination, her courage, and
her easy-flowing pen.