It would surprise nobody who knew Vancouver literary matriarch Alma Lee that her last words were a firm, “I’m Scottish.” Read More
Her family talks about the legacy of the Scotland-born creator of the annual literary festival that launched in 1988
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It would surprise nobody who knew Vancouver literary matriarch Alma Lee that her last words were a firm, “I’m Scottish”.
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The declaration, shared by her son Allan Lee, was true to her character, courage and humour, and her formidable determination, as always, to do things her way.
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Those qualities won Lee enduring friendships, and helped her to leave an indelible mark on Vancouver’s cultural landscape as the founder and first artistic director of the Vancouver Writers Fest (then the Vancouver International Writers Festival).
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Lee died at home in Vancouver on Friday at the age of 84, surrounded by friends and family.
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West Coast Table
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Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on May 4, 1940, to a bagpipe maker and a barmaid, Lee’s love of books began at five years old, when her father took her each week to the library. That was when Lee said she became interested not just in stories, but in the people who wrote them.
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“Reading,” she told The Vancouver Sun in 1989, “was a very serious occupation in my family.”
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After marrying at the age of 19, she and her husband immigrated to Toronto in 1967. Lee embraced the spirit of the time as a self-described hippie. After a brief stint as a secretary, where she said lying to cover her boss’s activities went against her Presbyterian nature, she decided the book industry would be a better fit.
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A new acquaintance who later became a close friend, Margaret Atwood, told her that she would have to attend lots of parties, and get a job in publishing.
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Lee later said that the parties were the easy part.
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After getting a foothold in publishing as general manager with the House of Anansi Press, novelist Graeme Gibson noticed that she was extraordinarily organized, and tapped her to help found the Writers’ Union of Canada in 1973.
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Soon she was negotiating a standard first contract for writers with publishing heavyweight Jack McClelland, of Canada’s McClelland & Stewart.
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In 1984, after a divorce, Lee and her two sons, Allan and Kenny, moved to Vancouver where she would turn her formidable organizational skills to the creation of a writers festival in 1988 that would elevate Vancouver’s international reputation, and help Granville Island grow into an important cultural space.
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The festival, where Lee famously paired new authors with some of the world’s greatest literary lights, became a highlight on Vancouver’s cultural scene.
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Over the years, participants included Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Maeve Binchy, Timothy Findley, John Irving, P.D. James, Frank McCourt and Carol Shields, to name a few.
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Leslie Hurtig, the festival’s current artistic director and a longtime friend of Lee, said Lee did her homework, was a voracious reader, and had a keen eye for new talent.
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“She had no pretence,” said Hurtig. “If she read something that she admired, she wouldn’t hesitate to send an email or to pick up the phone to say, ‘I don’t know you, but I think what you do is wonderful.’”
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Hurtig said Lee had a special gift for programming, getting writers to make music on stage at the raucous literary cabaret, or engage in conversation rather than just read from their books.
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She made programming for children and youth a priority, paired literary writers with popular writers, and was committed to “platforming” new writers by giving them a chance to share the stage with headliners.
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Ivan Coyote is one of those local writers Lee championed early on. “She made me feel like a special writer,” said Coyote, of their first appearance at the festival in 2000. “Little did I know that there were 400, 500, 1,500 other Canadian writers that she made feel special.”
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Coyote said it wasn’t just the moments on stage that made the festival a hub for writers. “She knew that the key to a great writers’ festival was to let us get together and create our own culture,” said Coyote, referring perhaps to the infamous, tiny, L-shaped “green room” at the Granville Island hotel where writers would gather after events until the wee hours.
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In 2005, Lee was invested with the Order of Canada. She stayed busy after her retirement in 2005, advocating for writers and for maintaining Granville Island as a cultural centre.
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“Alma was that proverbial force of nature. A tiny woman who got things done,” said author Caroline Adderson.
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Lee’s determination to create change continued to the very end, said Hurtig. “She was making new friends with neighbours where she lived, but she was never just having polite conversation, she was helping them fundraise, advocating for pension improvements, and raising money including for the Carol Shields prize. She just had to pick up the phone.”
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