Even though Danielle Metcalfe-Chanail comes from a family of “plane nuts,” her journey to become a historian of the aviation industry was roundabout.
After completing a master’s degree in history she abandoned her academic career to pursue freelance writing. It was when she was researching a family history project that her father-in-law connected her to a cousin.
It was in his basement that she stumbled upon the cache of materials from his career in the aviation industry that started her on the journey.
“My history geek kind of took over, and I went ‘oh my gosh, there’s a book here,’” Metcalfe-Chenail recalled.
The longest piece of writing she had ever completed was her 50-page master’s thesis, but when her father-in-law commissioned the book she dove in. The result was For the Love of Flying, an account of one aviation company’s 60-year history.
From then on she was hooked, and this Sept. 20 Metcalfe-Chanail will be in Jasper to launch her second book, Polar Winds: A Century of Flying the North. SnowDome Coffee Bar will host the “book hangout” Saturday morning, which will give Jasperites a chance to chat with Metcalfe-Chanail about her book, writing, aviation or publishing.
Her background in social and cultural history means Metcalfe-Chanail is acutely aware of the narratives often left out of many accounts of northern aviation. She explained that a lot of what she hears from the aviation community is the “myth of the bush pilot.” And while many of them did live fantastic and dangerous lives, the stories of women and indigenous bush pilots sometimes get overlooked.
In Polar Winds, she tried her best to include those stories, and to more fully flesh out the complete narrative of that history.
“That’s really my intent—to create more inclusive histories,” she said.
The book launch is a bonus event that Edmonton’s Historian Laureate is offering to complement the free writing workshop she will be hosting later that day, as part of Alberta Culture Days.
Organized with the help of the Jasper Municipal Library, the workshop will provide Jasperites an opportunity to explore how to draw on the past to tell their real-life and fictional stories.
Metcalfe-Chanail said the workshop will be an informal one, where she will offer tips and tricks for how to incorporate history into all kinds of writing, from non-fiction to fiction and even songwriting.
The workshop will take place from 1:30–4:30 p.m. at the Senior’s Lounge at the Jasper Activity Centre. Anyone interested can register at the library.
Trevor Nichols
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