The Upper Left-Hand Corner: A Writer's Guide for the Northwest

Dean Tudor is a journalism professor at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute and founding editor of the CBRA.

This guide is a bit of a curate’s egg: the good part is that it treats a geographic and mental region within a set of covers (the Pacific Northwest); the bad part is that there is extensive duplication of lists and advice because two different political and legal systems must be recounted (American and Canadian) and neither is useful to the other. Also, since the area embraces several provinces and states (such as Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Washington, Montana, Oregon, and Idaho), there are funding grants and groups that apply only to local residents, and these must be listed and dealt with separately as well. Apart from the local prizes and events, and local chapters of national and international groups, there is much here that can apply to other regions. It might be fascinating to discover the differences and similarities between the two countries — but in an academic sense, not in a self-help sense. The book was first issued in 1975 through J.J. Douglas Ltd. in Canada; in this current edition four authors are listed on the title page. The major topics are: starting up and research, associations and groups that can be helpful, finances and taxes, how to deal with publishers (both books and magazines), publishing on your own, markets for types of writing (non-fiction, special interest, poetry, plays, songs, humour, fillers, children), and audiovisual markets. About half of the book comprises useful book and magazine publishers’ descriptions and addresses.