Roy MacGregor

Topics

Presentations

Northern Light
MacGregor explores the enduring mystery of Tom Thomson and the woman who loved him. MacGregor is able to  prove that the woman Thomson was engaged to was wrongly identified for the better part of a century and able to show, for the first time, the real woman he was engaged to through forensic art and photo compilations. This presentation is very powerful and has the ability to hold a crowd spellbound!

This Country
In this presentation, MacGregor explores Canada. MacGregor knows the country intimately and, in all likelihood, has seen more of it than almost any living Canadian.

Canadian Nature
MacGregor discusses the importance of the outdoors, the landscape, to Canadians, and why "escape" is as much a part of the Canadian psyche as the rivers and railroads.

Kid's Literacy
The Screech Owls were created by MacGregor to attract "the reluctant reader," - boys who will not pick up books. The Screech Owls, a peewee hockey team that solves everything from the theft of the Stanley Cup to murders, is Canada's most popular current series.

The National Game
MacGregor has been hailed by the Globe and Mail as "Canada's best hockey writer." Author of several classics in the game, MacGregor's love of the national game is infectious.

Summary Profile

Whether it's our love of hockey, our frustrations with Parliament Hill or the great Canadian wilderness, MacGregor brings a unique perspective and sense of humour to each subject, backed by years of experience with Canadians from all parts of the country. He continues to explore even the smallest corners of Canada through his column in The Globe and Mail, This Country.

MacGregor poured his insight to Canadians via more than two-dozen books, and struck a chord with such works as the award-winning A Life in the Bush, and the bestselling Canadians: A Portrait of A Country and Its People. Young readers around the globe have been entertained by his Screech Owls mystery series, with more than one million copies in print in Canada alone. His book, Northern Light, explores the enduring mystery of Tom Thomson and the woman who loved him.

For nearly 40 years Roy MacGregor, has kept our national sport, alive on the page. From tales of the game's greats (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne) to today's stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin), his magazine and newspaper coverage has revealed so much about these and so many other personalities, in moments of promise, victory and defeat.

His new book, Wayne Gretzky's Ghost (Nov. 2011) is a personal book, one of challenging ideas: that Wayne Gretzky, through no fault of his own, was the worst thing to happen to hockey; that CBC's Hockey Night in Canada has lost sight of what it is; that goaltending has become a position out of all proportion to what was intended. And who could offer a better perspective on the game than a writer who, playing as a youngster, had to face an onrushing phenom from Parry Sound named Bobby Orr.

Named the heir apparent to the late Peter Gzowski, MacGregor is in touch with what Canadians are thinking and feeling. When MacGregor was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 2005, the citation read: "One of our most gifted storytellers, Roy MacGregor is renowned for evoking the subtle nuances of our Canadian identity in his columns and books." No other writer and speaker so successfully captures the essence of what it means to be Canadian and to live in this country.

Highlights

• Officer of the Order of Canada, 2005
• Governor-General's Award nominee, 1996, Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey
• Two-time ACTRA Award winner, best television drama writer in Canada
• National Newspaper Award winner
• National Magazine Award winner

Client Testimonials:

"Roy is a tremendous story-teller and a genuinely likeable and accessible guy. His sharp insights into what it means to be Canadian were delivered with gentle humour. The audience had great fun asking him questions after his speech on a wide variety of subjects and his responses were honest, animated, wry and very funny! We received many compliments from our delegates for having Roy as our luncheon speaker. He truly is a national treasure."

President, Canadian Biosphere Reserves Association