Betty Jane Wylie
| Betty Jane Wylie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Betty Jane McKenty February 21, 1931 Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Alma mater | University of Manitoba |
| Notable awards | Order of Canada |
| Spouse | William Tennant (Bill) Wylie |
Betty Jane Wylie, CM (born February 21, 1931) is a Canadian writer and playwright.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 and a Master of Arts degree in 1952 from the University of Manitoba.
In 2003, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor.[1]
In her book "The Write Track" she discusses how to succeed as a freelance writer in Canada.
Selected bibliography
- PUBLICATIONS
NON-FICTION
Letters to Icelanders: Exploring the Northern Soul
Enough: Lifestyle and Financial Planning for Simpler Living
Family: An Exploration
Beginnings: A Book for Widows (20th anniversary edition)
The Best Is Yet to Come (with Christopher Cottier)
Life’s Losses (reprint of New Beginnings)
Everywoman’s Money book (with Lynne Macfarlane)
New Beginnings: Living Through Loss and Grief
All in the Family: A Survival Guide for Living and Loving in a Changing World
Successfully Single
COOKBOOKS
Solo Chef: Recipes, Tips, Advice and Encourage for Single Cooks
The Betty Jane Wylie Cheese Cookbook
Encore: The Leftovers Cookbook
POETRY
The Better Half: Women’s Voices
Something Might Happen
The Second Shepherds’ Play (one version)
BELLES LETTRES
Reading Between the Lines: The Diaries of Women
Men! A Collection of Quotations About Men by Women
BIOGRAPHY
The Book of Matthew
The Horsburgh Scandal (play as well)
INSPIRATIONAL
Betty Jane’s Diary: Lessons Children Taught Me
Betty Jane’s Diary: Passages
Betty Jane’s Diary: Holidays and Celebrations
No Two Alike
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
John of a Thousand Faces
Tecumseh
PLAYS
Veranda
Time Bomb
Double Vision
The Horsburgh Scandal (with Theatre Passe Muraille)
Mark
Jason
Androgyne
Angel
Speculum
Grace Under Pressure
The Second Shepherds’ Play (2 translations, 1 adaptation; see Musicals)
Steps
How to Speak Male
Help Is on the Way (six-part series)
A Day In the Life (two short plays, one theme)
A Place on Earth (one-hander)
Double Swap (with Michael Cole)
Size Ten
I See You
An Enemy of the People (adaptation, set in Saskatchewan)
PLAYS FOR CHILDREN
Don’t Just Stand There - Jiggle! (a collection of 5 puppet plays)
Kingsayer
The Old Woman and the Pedlar
RADIO PLAYS
Memories of Canada
How to Speak Male
Sybil: A Novel for Radio
Mountain Woman
Victorian Spice (Award Winner)\
Betty Jane’s Diary (a daily personal column, written and performed; syndicated by Berkeley Studio, Toronto, broadcast by independent radio stations in Canada)
MUSICALS/OPERA
Beowulf (music by Victor Davies)
Soap Bubbles (music by Victor Davies
The Second Shepherds’ Play (church version, music by Quenten Doolittle)
Boy in a Cage (chamber opera, music by Ken Nichols)
4 five-minute operas for Tapestry New Opera Works (produced for a Lib-Lab)
Gotcha (15-minute opera for Tapestry New Opera Works)
RECORDINGS
Beowulf (three-record album, Golden Toad Label)
Beowulf (two-record album, Daffodil Label), and a CD
TELEVISION AND FILM
Women, Lifestyle, and Money 13-part series- writer/narrator host)
Coming of Age (MOW-movie of the week, with Donald Martin)
CrossTalk (12-part series for VISION TV- writer, facilitator, host)
Shadow Lake (MOW, story credit) became Paradise Falls (2 episodes in first year)
JOURNALISM
Published in Canadian magazines and newspapers including MacLean’s, Chatelaine, Homemakers, Toronto Life, Miss Chatelaine (now Flare), Calgary Magazine, Canadian Living, Performing Arts, Canadian Theatre Review, Recipes Only, Fiddlehead, Forum, Fifty Plus, Gourmet (USA), Today, The Canadian, The Icelandic Canadian, Prairie Fire, Quest, City Woman, City Magazine, Ontario Living, Leisureways, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Boston Globe
SPECIAL NEWSPAPER ASSIGNMENTS
“The Old Lady Caper” and “The Psycho Trip” (2 5-part series of investigative journalism)
“Summer Soap (three-month daily summer serial)
BOOKS ABOUT HER WORK
Female Parts: The Art and Politics of Female Playwrights, by Yvonne Hodkinson
The Canadian Dramatist, volume Two, by Diane Bessai
ANTHOLOGIES WHERE HER WORK HAS APPEARED
Dropped Threads: What We Aren’t Told (“The Imaginary Woman”)
Inter S E C T I O N S: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre for the Arts (“Mirror Image”, excerpt from an unpublished novel)
Going Some Place (“A Guest of Karen Blixen”)
Six Fantasy Plays for Children (“The Old Woman and the Pedlar”)
Unexpected Fictions (“Memories of Chocolate Sauce”)
Recipes Only
First Class Acts (“The Discovery Trunk”)
The Perfect Piece (“Anna”)
Another Perfect Piece (“Jason”)
AND DESCRIBED, REFERRED TO IN
Pierre Berton’s book about writing, and
a collection of essays by Jane Rule
References
- "Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry". Retrieved May 19, 2006.
- Betty Jane Wylie fonds
Bettyjane Wylie was a published poet first, then a puppet playwright, then a live-stage playwright for both children and adults, then an author, and then a screenwriter for TV and film. She concentrates now on plays and books. Her plays have been produced at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, St. Lawrence Centre, National Arts Centre, Stratford Third Stage (now the Tom Patterson Theatre), Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and Theatre Direct in Toronto, and other theatres in Canada (Saskatchewan, Alberta, NW Territories, etc. as well as various fringe festivals; in New York (AMAS Repertory Theatre), Minneapolis and Waterloo, Iowa, and in New Zealand, London, England, and South Africa. She has had 36 plays (and musicals) produced and published about 40 books of non-fiction, biography, belles letters, poetry and cooking. Her first TV movie (with Donald Martin) won two Geminis (for best supporting actors). She was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe, has been named a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA, and given an Alumni Jubilee Award by the University of Manitoba where she received an honorary doctorate (D. Litt) in May 2003. She was also awarded an Order of Canada in 2003.
Plays list coming