Anyone who ever saw one of W.O. Mitchell's readings will know why they were described as unforgettable. Unruly white hair flying, fist raised, voice husky or thundering, eyes wide in innocent astonishment at a double entendre raising a laugh, W.O. Mitchell did not give readings from his work; he performed them. He loved "the immediate thrust of a live audience as it responds to story magic," and audiences loved him. Recorded live at the Stratford Festival, Trent University, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, selections include The Day I Spoke for Mister Lincoln, How to Fail at Public Speaking, Old Kacky and the Vanishing Point, Take Once Giant Step and Melvin Arbuckle's First Course in Shock Therapy.

W.O. Mitchell is one of the most recognized Canadian authors of the last century. He was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan in 1914, and during a varied career he was everything from a Depression hobo to the fiction editor of Maclean's. His best-loved book, Who Has Seen the Wind (1947) is hailed as the quintessential Canadian coming-of-age novel. Other works include Jake and the Kid (1961), The Kite (1962), The Vanishing Point (1973), How I Spent My Summer Holidays (1981), Since Daisy Creek (1984), Ladybug, Ladybug (1988), According to Jake and the Kid (1989), Roses are Difficult Here (1990), For Ark's Sake (1992), An Evening with W.O. Mitchell (1997) and the play The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon (1993). He won the Leacock Medal for Humour for Jake and the Kid and again for According to Jake and the Kid. Mitchell was made an officer in the Order of Canada in 1973 and has been the subject of an NFB documentary entitled W.O. Mitchell: A Novelist in Hiding.

W.O. Mitchell's profile page

"One and a half hours of pure pleasure." — Saskatoon Star Phoenix

"His performance pieces stand with the best of his work." — Financial Post

"Mitchell's great love of the spoken and the written word is captured in this live performance." — Best of the West

"Mitchell's great love of the spoken and the written word is captured in this live performance." — Best of the West

"His performance pieces stand with the best of his work." — Financial Post

"One and a half hours of pure pleasure." — Saskatoon Star Phoenix