New Brunswick Author Portal

Jacques  Poitras
Categories: Male AuthorsFrancophone AuthorsAuthors of Non-FictionSoutheast


Biography

I was born in Moncton, where I attended Moncton High School. I've worked at the Kingston Whig-Standard, Prognosis (a newspaper in Prague, Czech Republic), the Telegraph-Journal, and CBC News.



How has New Brunswick influenced your work?

Though New Brunswick is a small province, its diversity provides the journalist/writer with endless material. As a reporter for the Telegraph-Journal and the CBC, I've been privileged to see just about every community along every road in the province, and to talk to a range of people about their lives. From watching "McCain vs. McCain" in a crowded courtroom, to joining Mi'kmaq fishermen on their boat as they hauled lobster from Miramichi Bay after the Marshall decision, I have witnessed what it means to be a New Brunswicker in the broadest sense.

What is your favourite New Brunswick book, and why?

My favourite book: Gentlemen, Players and Politicians by Dalton Camp.

What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?

As a journalist, I've had many highlights that left an impression on me. One of my most satisfying was telling the story of Dan Allen, the retired police chief and volunteer hospital board member who exposed financial fraud at the Miramichi hospital. (This was a CBC documentary, available at http://www.cbc.ca/maritimemagazine/archives/2006_jun_w2.html). I consider my two books to be works of journalism, so obviously they would be the two biggest and most satisfying "stories" I've told.






Literary Prizes

Shortlisted, British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction - 2008 In recognition of: Beaverbrook : a Shattered Legacy
Best Atlantic Published Book (Atlantic Book Awards), - 2007 In recognition of: Beaverbrook : a Shattered Legacy
Shortlisted, National Business Book Award - 2007 In recognition of: Beaverbrook : a Shattered Legacy
Atlantic Independent Bookseller’s Choice Award (Atlantic Book Awards) - 2007 In recognition of: Beaverbrook : a Shattered Legacy
Shortlisted, Atlantic Independent Bookseller’s Choice Award (Atlantic Book Awards) - 2004 In recognition of: The Right Fight : Bernard Lord and the Conservative Dilemma

Featured Publication

 
Beaverbrook : a Shattered Legacy
(2007)
Excerpt:

New Brunswickers knew little of the controversies and the secret dealings so essential to Beaverbrook's life in England. In their minds, he had earned every honour and then some. "I, like every other kid in Fredericton, was brought up with the idea that Lord Beaverbrook was close to God," recalls Colleen Thompson, a Fredericton travel writer who became well acquainted with him. "He was revered."


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Source(s): Author.