Betty Jane Wylie

Betty Jane Wylie, CM (born February 21, 1931) is a Canadian writer and playwright.

Betty Jane Wylie
BornBetty Jane McKenty
(1931-02-21) February 21, 1931
Winnipeg, Manitoba
OccupationScreenwriter, playwright, author
Alma materUniversity of Manitoba
Notable awardsOrder of Canada
SpouseWilliam Tennant (Bill) Wylie

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 and a Master of Arts degree in 1952 from the University of Manitoba.

In her book "The Write Track" she discusses how to succeed as a freelance writer in Canada. Bettyjane Wylie was a published poet first, then a puppet playwright, then a live-stage playwright for both children and adults, then an author, and then a screenwriter for TV and film. She concentrates now on screenplays and books. Her stage plays have been produced at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, St. Lawrence Centre, National Arts Centre, Stratford Third Stage (now the Tom Patterson Theatre), Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and Theatre Direct in Toronto, and other theatres in Canada (Saskatchewan, Alberta, NW Territories, etc. as well as various fringe festivals; in New York (AMAS Repertory Theatre), Minneapolis and Waterloo, Iowa, and in New Zealand, London, England, and South Africa. She has had 36 stage plays (and musicals) produced and published about 40 books of non-fiction, biography, belles letters, poetry and cooking.

Her first TV movie (with Donald Martin) won two Geminis (for best supporting actors). She was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe, has been named a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA, and given an Alumni Jubilee Award by the University of Manitoba where she received an honorary doctorate (D. Litt) in May 2003.

In 2003, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor.[1]

Selected bibliography

  • PUBLICATIONS

NON-FICTION

Letters to Icelanders: Exploring the Northern Soul

Enough: Lifestyle and Financial Planning for Simpler Living

Family: An Exploration

Beginnings: A Book for Widows (20th anniversary edition)

The Best Is Yet to Come - Enjoying a Financially Secure Retirement (with Christopher Cottier)

Life's Losses (reprint of New Beginnings)

Everywoman's Money book (with Lynne Macfarlane)

New Beginnings: Living Through Loss and Grief

All in the Family: A Survival Guide for Living and Loving in a Changing World

Successfully Single

COOKBOOKS

Solo Chef: Recipes, Tips, Advice and Encourage for Single Cooks

The Betty Jane Wylie Cheese Cookbook

Encore: The Leftovers Cookbook

POETRY

The Better Half: Women's Voices

Something Might Happen

The Second Shepherds' Play (one version)

BELLES LETTRES

Reading Between the Lines: The Diaries of Women

Men! A Collection of Quotations About Men by Women

BIOGRAPHY

The Book of Matthew

The Horsburgh Scandal (play as well)

INSPIRATIONAL

Betty Jane's Diary: Lessons Children Taught Me

Betty Jane's Diary: Passages

Betty Jane's Diary: Holidays and Celebrations

No Two Alike

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

John of a Thousand Faces

Tecumseh

PLAYS

Veranda

Time Bomb

Double Vision

The Horsburgh Scandal (with Theatre Passe Muraille)

Mark

Jason

Androgyne

Angel

Speculum

Grace Under Pressure

The Second Shepherds' Play (2 translations, 1 adaptation; see Musicals)

Steps

How to Speak Male

Help Is on the Way (six-part series)

A Day In the Life (two short plays, one theme)

A Place on Earth (one-hander)

Double Swap (with Michael Cole)

Size Ten

I See You

An Enemy of the People (adaptation, set in Saskatchewan)

PLAYS FOR CHILDREN

Don't Just Stand There - Jiggle! (a collection of 5 puppet plays)

Kingsayer

The Old Woman and the Pedlar

RADIO PLAYS

Memories of Canada

How to Speak Male

Sybil: A Novel for Radio

Mountain Woman

Victorian Spice (Award Winner)\

Betty Jane's Diary (a daily personal column, written and performed; syndicated by Berkeley Studio, Toronto, broadcast by independent radio stations in Canada)

MUSICALS/OPERA

Beowulf (music by Victor Davies)

Soap Bubbles (music by Victor Davies

The Second Shepherds' Play (church version, music by Quenten Doolittle)

Boy in a Cage (chamber opera, music by Ken Nichols)

4 five-minute operas for Tapestry New Opera Works (produced for a Lib-Lab)

Gotcha (15-minute opera for Tapestry New Opera Works)

RECORDINGS

Beowulf (three-record album, Golden Toad Label)

Beowulf (two-record album, Daffodil Label), and a CD

TELEVISION AND FILM

Women, Lifestyle, and Money 13-part series- writer/narrator host)

Coming of Age (MOW-movie of the week, with Donald Martin)

CrossTalk (12-part series for VISION TV- writer, facilitator, host)

Shadow Lake (MOW, story credit) became Paradise Falls (2 episodes in first year)

JOURNALISM

Published in Canadian magazines and newspapers including MacLean's, Chatelaine, Homemakers, Toronto Life, Miss Chatelaine (now Flare), Calgary Magazine, Canadian Living, Performing Arts, Canadian Theatre Review, Recipes Only, Fiddlehead, Forum, Fifty Plus, Gourmet (USA), Today, The Canadian, The Icelandic Canadian, Prairie Fire, Quest, City Woman, City Magazine, Ontario Living, Leisureways, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Boston Globe

SPECIAL NEWSPAPER ASSIGNMENTS

"The Old Lady Caper" and "The Psycho Trip" (2 5-part series of investigative journalism)

"Summer Soap (three-month daily summer serial)

BOOKS ABOUT HER WORK

Female Parts: The Art and Politics of Female Playwrights, by Yvonne Hodkinson

The Canadian Dramatist, volume Two, by Diane Bessai

ANTHOLOGIES WHERE HER WORK HAS APPEARED

Dropped Threads: What We Aren't Told ("The Imaginary Woman")

Inter S E C T I O N S: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre for the Arts ("Mirror Image", excerpt from an unpublished novel)

Going Some Place ("A Guest of Karen Blixen")

Six Fantasy Plays for Children ("The Old Woman and the Pedlar")

Unexpected Fictions ("Memories of Chocolate Sauce")

Recipes Only

First Class Acts ("The Discovery Trunk")

The Perfect Piece ("Anna")

Another Perfect Piece ("Jason")

AND DESCRIBED, REFERRED TO IN

Pierre Berton's book about writing, and

a collection of essays by Jane Rule

References

  • "Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry". Retrieved May 19, 2006.
  • Betty Jane Wylie fonds
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