On July 8, Keith Landry, the Regina-based writer who found himself thanks to retirement and the pandemic, released his latest book, telling a half-real half-fictional story taking place in Estevan.
The Mercury spoke to the author about his book, his connection to the Energy City and his interest in history.
The new book is called Black Tuesday: A Canadian Love Story. The work is based on the 1931 coal miners' riot. The historical part of the book focuses on the tragic day of Sept. 29 when coal miners from the Bienfait area marched to Estevan to protest the conditions as a part of the strike, organized by the union, and events that led to it.
"The story is based on that event, the historical context based on that. I used a book called A Tale that is Told, which is a two-volume work that the Estevan History Book Committee published in 1981. And it came about from submissions from people in the area about their pioneering family that came to Estevan and settled around Estevan, first of all as farmers. Others entered into businesses in Estevan and area, and coal mining," explained Landry.
His interest in Estevan's past was driven by both a personal connection and general love for significant historical events. His wife Vivian (nee Gervais), who is also his editor, is originally from Estevan, and belongs to one of the pioneer families in the area. And the history of the 1931 strike and riot, as well as coal mining, was always fascinating for Landry.
As he does in all of his books, Landry, who is a historical fiction writer, wanted to approach the significant event from a different perspective, more interesting for readers.
What Landry views as a gap in A Tale That is Told sparked the plot of the novel.
"In A Tale That is Told, there's no mention of the Estevan Riot. I didn't dwell on why or why not that occurred. But what I did was I personalized the story where a young fellow who is an oil executive in Calgary, his grandfather was one of those that were shot by the Mounted Police during the Estevan Riot, his grandfather was a coal miner. So he came down to a reception that was being held in 1981 when a Tale That is Told was being introduced to the Estevan area and he had two purposes for coming down.
"First, to find out why there's no mention of the riot in the book published by the Estevan historic society. And second, to learn more about the death of his grandfather and the condition the coal miners lived in."
In that discovery, the main character of the book meets the Estevan librarian, they fall in love and the new adventure begins.
"The book draws out all the events that happened, that led up to the Estevan Riot and the conditions the miners lived in. And there's a love story that takes place between this young fellow and the Estevan librarian," Landry explained.
The personal connection to the area allowed Landry to do in-depth research and create a realistic setting.
"I had a whole bunch of things to work with. I have my wife's family that I could get stories from about Estevan. And I have the book, the two volumes, A Tale That is Told. And I was able to research a whole bunch of news articles from the 1931 period about the riot. I had all these outlets, so I just fixed in on a story to write around that, which is my method of writing," Landry explained.
The main characters in Black Tuesday: A Canadian Love Story are fictional, but Landry said there are also historical figures who were real.
"I used my wife's family to give the background of what life was like during that period of time," he said.
"In my book, one of the things that I do emphasize is that the miners were oppressed by the big owners, the big mine owners, not the local smaller business mine owners of the time. They oppressed the workers by always using a high supply of people willing to take their place in the mine. So they kept wages down and they made the miners buy products through their own stores and they made them live in houses owned by the mining company. It was very oppressive. They had very little life and very little economic independence."
Landry always had a passion for writing. He wrote two short stories in the late 1980s and submitted them to a magazine in a contest, winning first and second prizes. But with a busy life, he didn't have much time left for writing up until his retirement. The pandemic, which hit at about the same time, gave him even more space to focus his passion.
In his writing, Landry usually researches a historic event and then creates a fiction plot around it.
"My books are generally true crime stories. Record of the number often will go into one book, or I have a detective character called Detective Dalpe, who investigates true crimes that actually happened but Dalpe is fictional. In all my books, there's always a historical background, content," Landry said.
Now that Landry could fully focus on writing, he's been writing non-stop, publishing 11 books in about two years.
"I love it. I don't make a lot of money from this. I priced my books just to break even ... because I'm a self-publisher, but it's fabulous. I look forward every day to getting up and researching or writing," Landry said.
Black Tuesday. A Canadian Love Story is available at Henders Drugs in Estevan, as well as through Amazon along with Landry's other works.
"I certainly hope people enjoy the story because that is a lot of historical information around the miners in the area. And it is quite a story," Landry said.
The next two-volume book by Landry will be published in the fall.
