Elaine Ingalls Hogg
Categories: Female Authors - Anglophone Authors - Novelists - Authors of Young Adult Literature - Fundy Coast
Biography
Elaine Ingalls Hogg is an award-winning author who lives near Sussex, N.B. She is the author of Historic Sussex (2010), Historic Grand Manan (2007), the popular history, When Canada Joined Cape Breton (2005) and Remembering Honey (2000) as well as the editor of the best-selling anthology, Christmas in the Maritimes (2006). Hogg writes an inspirational column for the Kings County Record and has had stories included in more than a dozen anthologies, in magazines, newspapers, and on CBC radio.
Elaine and her husband, Hugh, share their home with two adopted rag-doll cats, Angus and Alex. She is a graduate of Harbour High School in Saint John, N.B.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
I was born in New Brunswick, on the island of Grand Manan. Although I only lived there a few short years of my childhood, the influence of family and the ties of a strong community have brought me back to this beautiful province. While I was living in Quebec, I wanted my children to know their family history, so I began collecting family stories. Through them, I learned how my ancestors met and dealt with hardship and loss, how they valued the written word and the power of stories. Through my research, history became more than names and dates, it became the story of real people. As a result, I began to share my findings, first through non-fiction, and more recently through fiction. This beautiful province is a magnificent place in which to live and a great place for a story teller to find inspiration for the next article, poem, or book.
What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?
Holding my first book, Remembering Honey, a story to help children talk about their grief when losing someone or something they love, in my hands and receiving the Marianna Dempster Memorial Award for it a few months after it was published.
Writing was a private dream and I'd had it since childhood. Over the years several friends encouraged me to pursue it. Their words watered the seed, dormant for so many years but there were still a number of obstacles to overcome. Perhaps the main one was my lack of conviction that the dream was really attainable. I had no trouble encouraging my friends to believe their dreams would come true but I did have a problem believing in mine.
When the lights were off at night and I lay listening to the darkness, I'd think about my dream. I wanted to be an author. Alone with my thoughts, I'd think about the kind of story I'd write someday but when morning came, the duties of the day pushed aside those thoughts and nothing appeared on paper. One morning I was thinking about how I had always enjoyed telling stories to children. That’s what I should do, write stories and tell them to children. Your own children are adults and you haven’t told stories for years, my inner voice reminded me. But this time I didn’t listen for long. Before my feet touched the floor, I made my decision, "I'll never know until I try," and I set out to do just that.
Being totally naïve about how to become an author came in handy. Back then I thought all I had to do next was contact a publisher; they would assign an editor to make sure my spelling was correct and viola, I would be a real author with a book. I had a lot to learn.
But I had a dream and I had promised myself to pursue it, so I did. When I look back over the past few years, I have to admit my first dream has already come true but now there is a new dream, to have another book published, to finish my children’s novel, and to tell more stories.
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Literary Prizes |
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| 2nd place, Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Literary Competition - 2009 | In recognition of: Willa, the Diary of a Maritime Girl (1914-1918) |
| Barnabas Fellowship, InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship - 2008 | |
| Nomination - The Word Guild Writing Award - 2006 | In recognition of: "The Preacher who Lost his Voice" |
| 3rd place, InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship - 2006 | |
| Marianna Dempster Memorial Award - 2000 | In recognition of: Remembering Honey |
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Featured Publication |
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Historic Sussex : Images of our Past (2010) |
Excerpt: Another contribution to the dairy industry that had its beginning in the Sussex area was the invention of the ice cream cone. The inventor, Walter Donelly, a baker by trade, was born in Sussex Corner. One day he made a bad batch of dough and was at a loss as to what to do with his hard, crispy pastry. He took his pastry to the ice cream parlour next door and turned the potential baking flop into a favoured treat. Hugh McMonagle, an influential citizen and large landowner, raised objections to the idea of a railway cutting through his prized race-tracks. As a result of his protests, the land was resurveyed and a decision was made to locate the Sussex station two miles west of Sussex Vale. Hugh McMonagle represented the area in politics and in 1867 Sir John A. Macdonald convinced him to switch parties in order to give Macdonald the numbers he needed in an important upcoming vote. McMonagle voted with Macdonald giving his party the numbers he needed to win the vote and form Canada, a new country. |
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Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.
Source(s): Author
