The Battle of the Atlantic: Gauntlet to Victory
LUNCH AT THE NATIONAL CLUB IN PERSON
AND VIRTUAL MEETING AS WELL!
PREREGISTER: office@rotarytoronto.com by Wed. Nov. 16th!
Rotary Meeting Friday, November 18, 2022
at The National Club, 303 Bay Street, Howland Room
PREREGISTER: office@rotarytoronto.com
no later than the Wednesday!
Keynote Speaker: Ted Barris
Award-Winning Journalist, Author, and Broadcaster
Topic The Battle of the Atlantic: Gauntlet to Victory
Host: Club Past President Robert O'Brien
Rotarian and Guests: RSVP to office@rotarytoronto.com
Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions are those expressed by the Speaker and do not necessarily
reflect the official views or opinions, policy or position of The Rotary Club of Toronto or its Members.
Biography
Ted Barris is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster. His writing has regularly appeared in the national press, as well as magazines as diverse as Air Force, esprit de corps and Zoomer. He has also worked as host/contributor for most CBC Radio network programs, PBS in the U.S. and on TV Ontario. And after 18 years teaching, he recently retired as a full-time professor of journalism at Toronto’s Centennial College.
Barris is the author of 19 bestselling, non-fiction books, including a series on wartime Canada: Juno: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944 … Days of Victory: Canadians Remember 1939-1945 … Behind the Glory: Canada’s Role in the Allied Air War … Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War, 1950-1953 … Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917 … Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan.
His writing has also been published in such anthologies as The Canadian Encyclopedia … Total Hockey: The Official NHL Encyclopedia … A History of Maple Leaf Gardens … and a volume of learned papers presented to the Canada-Korea Conference at the U of T.
Barris’s remaining books are: Rodeo Cowboys … Spirit of the West … Positive Power (Story of the Edmonton Oilers) … Playing Overtime (A Celebration of Oldtimers’ Hockey) … Carved in Granite (125 Years of Granite Club History) … Making Music (Profiles from a Century of Canadian Music) co-authored with his father Alex Barris … and Fire Canoe, a Mark Twain-like retelling of Canada’s 19th century steamboat history.
In 2011, he was one of 19 civilians presented with the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs Commendation. The citation reads: “Ted Barris has made such exemplary contributions … benefiting veterans and making manifest the principle that Canada’s obligation to all who have served in the cause of Peace and Freedom, must not be forgotten.”
In 2012, the Air Force Association of Canada selected Ted Barris to receive Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, recognizing “outstanding Canadians ... who continue to build this caring society and country through their service and achievements."
His 17th book, The Great Escape: A Canadian Story, won the 2014 Libris Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award (shared with astronaut Chris Hadfield).
In 2018, HarperCollins has published Barris’s 18th book – Dam Busters: Canadian Airmen and the Secret Raid against Nazi Germany – about the famous 1943 attack on the Ruhr River dams that powered Nazi Germany’s industrial war production. The RCAF Association awarded Ted Barris and Dam Busters its 2018 NORAD Trophy for “unequalled contribution to the preservation of Air Force values, traditions, history and heritage.”
Rush to Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire, also published by HarperCollins, is Ted’s 19th non-fiction book. It was long-listed for the 2020 Charles Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction in Canada.
In 2022, HarperCollins publishes Ted’s 20th non-fiction book, his largest work to date, on the longest battle of WWII, the Battle of the Atlantic: Gauntlet to Victory (coming in Sept. 2022).