EditorCharlotte Gray, award-winning biographer and historian, kicked off the EAC conference with her thoughtful—and thought-provoking—keynote address. She praised the editor for saving her “from my own hideous mistakes.” Although she hears some writers complain that editors took out their voice, she says she recognizes that “my voice can either be a strength or a weakness.” The editor, she says, is “not only the first professional reader—but the best,” because he or she aims to help and support the editor, whereas the second professional reader—the reviewer—often approaches the text with the opposite goal.
As a writer of popular history, Gray also reflected on the malleability of history, acknowledging that words are themselves living artifacts. “In shaping history,” she wondered, “am I pulling it out of shape?” Memoirs are often assumed to be nonfiction until proven otherwise, she said, whereas John Updike’s view was that “biographies are really just novels with indexes.” She went on to describe how carefully and rigorously she seeks out primary sources for her work, walking the fine line between imagining and inventing as she uses novelistic techniques to flesh out a historical narrative.
Gray described the research and writing process for her book Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike, in which she yet again sheds light on the role of women in Canadian history, this time in Dawson—a setting she called a “pioneer Petri dish.” The book focuses on six people, including two women—a journalist and a businesswoman—and Gray colourfully recounted the “war dance” that she did at Library and Archives Canada every time she found solid evidence that her characters had actually met, allowing her to weave together their stories into a coherent narrative.
In an age where we’re constantly bombarded with information of all sorts, readers are generally less trusting, but that’s not necessarily a reflection of the veracity or integrity of sources we find today. History, Gray concluded, has always been—and likely will remain—malleable.