Syllables of Recorded Time: The Story of the Canadian Authors Association 1921-1981

Syllables of Recorded Time is a lively look at the development over the last six decades of a national authors’ association, with all its problems and foibles.

Personalities such as Bliss Carman, Nellie McClung, Stephen Leacock, B.K. Sandwell, W.A. Deacon, Mazo de la Roche, John Murray Gibbon, Helen Chreighton, Watson Kirkconnell, Charles G.D. Roberts and Duncan Campbell Scott figure prominently in the amusing anecdotes of the early days, and Hugh MacLennan, Pierre Berton, Dorothy Livesay and Arthur Hailey in the later years.

Syllables of Recorded Time highlights the discussions and legalities regarding issues of copyright, contracts, women’s role, cultural domination by Britain and the U.S.A., government funding and markets for writers. It tells why there was a spinoff of specialized interests including the Canadian Writers’ Foundation, the League of Poets, the Governor General’s Awards, the Canadian Copyright Institute, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers and the Writers’ Union of Canada. Harrington vividly portrays all facets of the organization in this valuable resource book.

Author/Librarian Lyn Harrington, Toronto, was formerly from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She is a long-time member of the Canadian Authors Association, Canadian Copyright Institute, and the Writers' Union of Canada, and received the Vicky Metcalfe Award for her writing in 1975.

Working with her husband, photographer Richard Harrington, she has travelled extensively in Canada and the world. Now, with 2,400 articles in print, and more than 17 books published, she reaches a peak in her career with Syllables of Recorded Time.