Cape Breton-born writer Sheldon Currie named to the Order of Canada

Cape Breton-born writer Sheldon Currie is one of the newest members of the Order of Canada.

The Reserve Mines native was given the honour for his contributions to Canadian literature, particularly for his 30 years of service as the fiction editor of The Antigonish Review.

"It was very hard work. We used to get probably 300 [pieces of writing] a month, and we'd publish about four or five at most," he said in an interview this week with CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia.

Currie wrote short stories, plays and novels about life in mining towns in Cape Breton, and taught English at St. Francis Xavier University.

Most notably, his 1976 short story, The Glace Bay Miners' Museum, which was originally published in the Review, was made into a feature film called Margaret's Museum starring Helena Bonham Carter.

"Well, I was very lucky. The way that happened was pure luck," he said.

Currie said a St. FX colleague took the book to Quebec and gave it to Gerald Wexler, a Canadian film screenwriter who then sent a script to the agent of Bonham Carter.

"She looked at it. She said to her agent, 'I want to do this.' She says, 'I would just love to be able to portray a snot-nosed girl,' so they came in and did it in Glace Bay," he said.

Currie said when he first received the letter about being named to the Order of Canada, he thought it was a scam.

"They sent me some stuff which indicates that it was real. It's pretty good — mostly, mostly to justify the quality of writing in Cape Breton."

To hear more about Currie's writing career and this latest recognition, listen to part of his interview from his home in Antigonish with CBC reporter Rose Murphy below.