If you have ever wondered about the personalities of some of this country’s most prolific authors, journalists, and power brokers, or hope to join the chattering classes, Douglas Gibson can help. The iconic Canadian publisher, who has an eponymous imprint at McClelland & Stewart, has gathered together 21 tales of behind-the-scenes publishing hijinks and backroom intrigue that traverse Canada’s geography from the Haida Gwaii to the Arctic and on through to the Maritimes.

The anecdotes, vignettes, colourful snippets, and fascinating marginalia collected in this volume span Gibson’s career, which covers more than four decades of Canadian history, including such monumental events as the FLQ crisis and the Brian Mulroney-Karlheinz Schreiber fiasco.

There are some gems collected here. Gibson once asked CBC Radio giant Peter Gzowski to appeal to his listeners to help novelist Hugh MacLennan by providing him with a new typewriter, his ancient Underwood having died of old age and overwork. Readers obliged, and the aging MacLennan used the new machine to write his last novel, Voices in Time. Gibson also recounts sitting on a hat belonging to former prime minister John Diefenbaker’s wife, listening to Robertson Davies confide backstage before a reading at the Art Gallery of Ontario that he had butterflies, and other engaging anecdotes about Canada’s literati and politicos.

Although Gibson celebrates the importance of the lives of everyday Canadians, he is, despite some mild protests to the contrary, the ultimate insider. For better or worse, this may be even more reason to read the book than Gibson’s not inconsiderable storytelling savvy. This is the ultimate CanLit cocktail party book.