Daybreak Alberta

Each year, the clubs belonging to the National Hockey League take it in turns to select amateur players from all over the world. Some of the young athletes already come with reputations for greatness but most of the teams draft in hope of finding raw talent. During the last 50 years, a handful of these drafts have played a pivotal role in shaping the NHL for a generation. The story of those drafts is detailed in a new book, "Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years in NHL...

Books reviewer, Angie Abdou stops by for the month of October to have a chat about "Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas" by Omar Mouallem of Edmonton.

Julie Sedivy is an award-winning writer and linguist who has just published her latest book, "Memory Speaks - On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self." Its a scientific and personal meditation on language loss and the possibility of renewal. As a child, Julie Sedivy left Czechoslovakia, eventually settling in Alberta. The English language soon took over her life and she writes that for her there was more at stake than the loss of language: there is also the loss of identity. Julie Sedivy...

Jon Turk has been an adventure writer over the last 6 decades. His new book will be featured at the Banff Mountain Book Festival and it's available from Rocky Mountain Books. The new book is called "Tracking Lions: Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu." Books Reviewer, Angie Abdou, sat down with Russell to discuss it.

During the federal election, politicians and pundits have plenty of opportunity to express their views, so at Daybreak, Russell decided to reach out to some of the voters who will actually cast a ballot this year. Bonnie Beaumier is a part-time teacher, James Raworth is lawyer, and Wendy Stans is a florist.

The Calgary International Film Festival will be celebrating the province's film-making talent during their 22 annual festival scheduled from September 23 to October 3. CIFF's Alberta Spotlight will showcase four diverse feature movies, including "Here and After." It's directed by Calgarian, Shaun Crawford, and the story focuses Ray and Arora as Arora makes an audacious claim that she can predict the outcome of their day together and it only gets more intriguing from there. Shaun Crawford is...

During the federal election, politicians and pundits have plenty of opportunity to express their views. Meanwhile at Daybreak, Russell decided to reach out to some of the voters who will actually cast a ballot this year. Jeff Yip is an oil and gas engineer in Calgary, Chuck Orlick is an accountant from Stettler, and Kismet Caffet is an office manager in Medicine Hat.

Books reviewer Angie Abdou is back for the month of August. Angie is a professor of creative writing at Athabasca University and she's the author of "The One Wild Life," a memoir about hiking and adventuring with her daughter. However, Angie joins Russell to chat about 3 Alberta books on her desk this week-end.

This past week, Russell wandered into a shop in the Mission district of Calgary, called Inspirati, a shop that sells tea towels. Many people have memories of the tea towels we would see in kitchens as children. As it turned out, Russell got quite a lesson in tea towels and other types of linens from the shop's proprietor, Wendy Brownie.

Ten years ago this month, the multiple award-winning Canadian travel blog Toque & Canoe launched here in Calgary. Co-founders Jen Twyman and Kim Gray portaged a bright red canoe through downtown to mark the occasion. The two women, one a photojournalist and another a writer, were determined to re-invigorate what media coverage of travel in Canada could look like. They felt like mavericks in the digital media space however, a decade on, Toque & Canoe continues to produce their own brand of...

Best-selling author, and long-time New Yorker writer, Tony Hiss has written a prescription for a planet in trouble as he looks at the damage done to Earth and how to move forward. "Rescuing The Planet" takes readers on a journey to meet people who trying to save place for nature to flourish and explains why it is in all our interest. He's especially excited by climate efforts being made in Canada and in Alberta. Russell reached Tony Hiss in New York City.

In her latest look at a new Alberta book, Angie Abdou (This One Wild Life, The Bone Cage) reviews a new memoir by Reinekke Lengelle, "Writing the Self in Bereavement."

Born and raised in small town Alberta, singer, Jennie Harluk, has spent much of her life exploring music and honing her craft. She was studying piano at six, and by age 10 she was performing regularly and writing her own songs. She's already been on the stage at the Calgary Stampede and the Country Thunder Festival. Jennie's debut single “Blame It On Me” came out to all streaming platforms on July 23 and she spoke with Russell about her life and new single.

The amount of physicians and health care professionals available to cover shifts in rural Alberta have been scarce and it's led to a string of temporary emergency room closures, as well as breaks in certain medical procedures for months in smaller communities. A shortage of physicians and other health care staff in rural Alberta isn't new as rural hospitals have always struggled with attracting and retaining physicians and health care professionals for various reasons. However, what hasn't...

Calgary educator, David Gaudet, has been on a mission to help others improve their lives by thinking about our thinking habits. During 2020 , he blogged and podcasted daily about ways to undo our patterns of behavior. He's collected those thoughts, but a host of exercises for readers, into "The Daily Undoing: Being Better At Being Human." He spoke with Russell about his 8 pillars of competency.

Grab a pen and paper to take notes. Author and book reviewer, Angie Abdou, has a strong list of 4 non-fiction books connected to Alberta.

For most women, the birth of a child is the most memorable and emotional moment of their lives. However, that isn't always the case and for some women, the aftermath of giving birth is post-partum depression. For women affected by this, it can be frustrating because they may not realize what's happening to them and the medical profession isn't always ready to spot the signs. Yalda Kazemi experienced post-partum depression following the birth of her son and she's just published a book about...

It's being called an antidote for the Stay-at-home blues. Geologist Dale Leckie is back with a new book that guides readers through Alberta’s landscape evolution with a trek that goes from Waterton Lakes National Park, to Dinosaur Provincial Park, into the Prairies, and across Alberta’s North. “The Scenic Geology of Alberta - A roadside touring and hiking guide" is now at local bookstores and award-winning geologist, Dr. Dale Leckie will give a talk from his book, with a focus on parks like...

During the week of May 24th, three major events happened for 3 of the major international oil companies. Firstly, a court in the Netherlands ordered Royal Dutch Shell that it has to reduce it's carbon footprint to 45% of their 2019 emissions. Meanwhile, the corporate board of Exxon saw two new directors appointed who were from an activist hedge fund intent on making Exxon fight climate change. And then Chevron shareholders voted in favor of a proposal to cut emissions generated by the use of...

On Daybreak, there have been several conversations about the impact of loneliness and isolation on our mental health and loneliness is at the heart of a debut novel from Genki Ferguson, "Satellite Love." It's a simple story, about a girl, a boy, and a satellite. In the end, the book reveals what it can mean to be human. Genki Ferguson joined Russell to chat about his new life as a writer.