Roy MacGregor (born 1948) is a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction.
Career
Roy MacGregor was born in Whitney, Ontario in 1948 and grew up in
Huntsville, Ontario
Huntsville is a town in Muskoka district, Ontario. It is located north of Toronto and south of North Bay. Of the three major Muskoka towns (the others being Gravenhurst and Bracebridge), Huntsville has the largest population (21,147 per 2 ...
. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from
Laurentian University
Laurentian University (), officially Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Laurentian offers a variety of undergr ...
and a graduate diploma in journalism from the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
in 1972. His work tends to focus on Canadian topics; Shelagh Rogers has dubbed him the "heir to
Peter Gzowski
Peter John Gzowski (July 13, 1934 – January 24, 2002), known colloquially as "Mr. Canada", or "Captain Canada",Mary Gazze Canadian Press via The ''Toronto Star'', August 23, 2010. Retrieved 2016-06-27. was a Canadian broadcaster, write ...
". He has a longstanding interest in the life of Tom Thomson, and has written both a novel and a biography exploring the artist's life and mysterious death.
MacGregor has also been called "the Wayne Gretzky of hockey writing" and the Washington Post once declared him to be "the closest thing there is to a poet laureate of Canadian hockey." In 2012, he was awarded the
Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award
The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspap ...
by the
Professional Hockey Writers' Association
The Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) is a North American professional association for ice hockey journalists writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. The PHWA was founded in 1967 and has approximately 180 voting members. The ...
and named the media honouree to the
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...
. In 2015 he was named to the
Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...
as winner of the Brian Williams Media Award. He is also a member of the Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame, Huntsville being the small town where he played competitive hockey, lacrosse and baseball. In 1960, he played - as a second- and third-liner - on the Huntsville team that won the all-Ontario Pee Wee 'A' lacrosse championship.
He is the winner of multiple awards for his writing, including the prestigious Rutstrum Award, which is given out every five years to the best book on wilderness writing in North America. MacGregor won in 2001 for his memoir on his father, A Life in the Bush. MacGregor is a multiple winner of National Magazine Awards, National Newspaper Awards and twice was awarded the
ACTRA Award
The ACTRA Awards are Canadian accolades presented since 1972 to celebrate excellence in cinema, television and radio industries.Tyler''.Donn Downey, "CBC scores landslide in ACTRA awards". ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'', April 5, 1979. He has received honorary degrees from Laurentian University,
Trent University
Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Founded in 1964, the university is known for its Oxbridge college system, sma ...
and Loyalist College.
In 2005, Roy MacGregor was named an Officer in the Order of Canada. In 2012, he was awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He and Ellen, an artist, live in Kanata, Ontario, and have four grown children and five grandchildren.
Bibliography
*'' The Screech Owls Mystery Series for young readers.'' 29 volumes, 1995-2015.
* ''Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada.'' Co-author with Ken Dryden, McClelland & Stewart, 1989.
* ''Chief: The Fearless Vision of Billy Diamond.'' Viking/Penguin, Canada, 1989.
* ''Quantity Time: Words of Comfort for Imperfect Parents.'' McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 1990.
* ''The Road Home: Images of the Ottawa Valley.'' Photography by Steve Evans. General Store Publishing House, Canada, 1992.
* ''Road Games: A Year in the Life of the NHL. ''Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Canada, 1993.
* ''The Home Team: Fathers, Sons & Hockey.'' Viking/Penguin, Canada, 1995.
* ''Valley Christmas.'' Gener''T''al Store Publishing House, Canada, 1996.
* ''The Seven A.M. Practice.'' McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 1996.
* ''A Life in the Bush: Lessons from my father.'' Viking/Penguin, Canada, 1999.
* ''A Loonie for Luck: A True Fable about Hockey and the Olympics.'' McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 2002.
* ''Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada,'' McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 2002.
* ''Canoe Lake.'' Novel, originally published as ''Shorelines'', McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 2002.
* ''The Weekender: A Cottage Journal.'' Penguin Books Canada, 2005.
* ''The Dog and I: Confessions of a Best Friend.'' Penguin Books Canada, 2006.
* ''Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People.'' Viking/Penguin, Canada, 2007''.''
* ''Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him.'' Random House, Canada, 2010
* ''Wayne Gretzky's Ghost: And Other Tales from a Lifetime in Hockey.'' Random House, Canada, 2011.
* ''Canoe Country: The Making of Canada.'' Random House, Canada, 2015.
* ''Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada,'' Random House Canada, 2017, winner of Ottawa Book Award 2018.
* ''The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink,'' with Kerry MacGregor, Illustrated by Kim Smith, Harper Collins, 2018.
* ''The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane,'' with Kerry MacGregor, Illustrated by Kim Smith, Harper Collins, 2018.
*''Paper Trails: From the Backwoods to the Front Page : A Life in Stories''. Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 978-1-0390-0073-5.