Each summer, The Banff Centre's Literary Journalism program takes in eight senior journalists and writers and charges them with a simple, if daunting task: Write about something you really care about. In this installment of the Banff Centre Press's literary journalism series, participants push boundaries and arrive at some of their most passionate work. Taking Risks collects the work of twelve accomplished journalists on a range of subjects as diverse as their voices: the curious nature of the celebrity interview, writers "borrowing" material from other writers, the extinction of Aboriginal languages, a jazz musician's troubled life. Offering unique insights, the writers take risks with style and substance, laying themselves on the line with an intimacy seldom seen in contemporary journalism.

A nationalist and lifelong journalist, Barbara Moon was the author of hundreds of major articles in magazines such as Maclean's and Saturday Night and features in newspapers such as the Globe and Mail. She wrote dozens of television documentaries, among them several segments of the experimental CBC-TV Images of Canada series, and books, including The Natural History of the Canadian Shield. From 1992 to 1998, she was a senior editor for the Creative Non-fiction and Cultural Journalism Program (now called Literary Journalism) at The Banff Centre. Among relevant honours, Moon held a Maclean-Hunter first prize for Editorial Achievement, the University of Western Ontario's President's Medal, and the National Magazine Foundation's Award for Outstanding Achievement. Barbara Moon died in April 2009 near her home in Picton, Ontario, after a brief illness. Don Obe is a professor emeritus of magazine journalism, a former chair of the school and founder of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. His professional experience includes editor-in-chief of The Canadian magazine and Toronto Life, and associate editor of Maclean's. From 1989 to 1999 he was senior resident editor in and, at times, the director of the Creative Nonfiction and Cultural Journalism Program (now Literary Journalism Program) at the Banff Centre. He won a gold medal in the National Magazine Awards for ethical writing and, in l993, his industry's highest honour, the National Magazine Award for Outstanding Achievement. He retired in 2001.

Barbara Moon's profile page

Don Obe's profile page

Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian writer and historian. His books include Scar Tissue (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), The Russian Album, Blood And Belonging, The Warrior's Honour, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, and The Rights Revolution. His work has been translated into many languages and awarded numerous prizes and awards. Before being elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament in 2006, he was Professor of Human Rights and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. Until May 2011 Ignatieff was leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He lives in Toronto, where he teaches at the University of Toronto.

Michael Ignatieff's profile page

"All of the pieces in this volume have the virtue of being by writers more interested in the world than they are in themselves. They all manage to imply that the world out there is a good deal more fascinating than anything writers have yet managed to say."
- Bert Archer, NOW