Art Montague's Bio

EARLY ON

Toronto-born in 1943, Arthur (Art) Montague moved to Vancouver in his teens, and was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in clerical and, later, public relations work. He began his writing career in the mid-60's, contributing as staff, freelance writer, and book reviewer to several Canadian newspapers: Western Producer, Globe & Mail, Northern Miner, and Daily Commercial News.

A LONG "DAY JOB"

Rather than pursue a journalism career, which was both financially and creatively prohibitive, Art attended the University of Saskatchewan briefly, then worked for two decades in the field of community economic development in Saskatchewan and Ontario, including tenures as Executive Director of Cheshire Homes Foundation (Canada) in Toronto and the Ottawa-based West End Community Ventures. For Ventures he edited A Global Trading Guide for Non-Profit Organizations,

a manual funded by International Development Research Canada. 

BACK TO WRITING

Early upon his return to a writing career at the time of the millennium, Art published short stories in Internet and print media, won a fiction contest or three, and  published feature articles in several leading U.S. and international print periodicals including the Old Farmer's Almanac, The Growing Edge, and Law and Order.  Also, during the first few years, he sold more than sixty short informational articles (25 bylined) to the Internet search site, Essortment (pagewise.com) on topics ranging from early childhood education and Indian plant remedies to historical figures and northern lifestyle. 

WRITING 2002-2005

Art contributed forty-three creative non-fiction pieces to eleven of the best selling Uncle John's Bathroom Reader anthologies, three of which were published in Australia.  He also wrote and published mystery, crime. and mainstream short fiction, and essays, among them the Travels With K.C. collection. "Rainy Day Rainbows" from this collection appears in Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's Soul (2002).  His short story "Gourmet Takeout" may be found in Hardbroiled, an anthology of food-related crime stories (TENN: Betancourt & Co, 2003) edited by Michael Bracken, and a personal favourite, "Busted," in Short Attention Span Mysteries (Memphis: Kerlak Publishing, 2005).

In 2003, under contract to Altitude Publishing Canada Ltd., Art produced his first popular history, Canada's Rumrunners: Incredible Exploits and Adventures During Canada's Illicit Liquor Trade, for the Amazing Stories series and continued to write for this market.  Three more books have now been  released: Meyer Lansky: The Shadowy Exploits of New York's Master Manipulator, Crime Boss Killings: The Castellammarese War, and Disasters Across Canada.

WRITING 2006-2009

A return to magazine feature articles, kicking off with Carving Out the Cariboo Road in the 2006 Old Farmer's Almanac, Canadian edition, and a fourth contribution over as many years to the definitive hydroponics magazine, The Growing  Edge, on the subject of hydroponic island farming; a Travels With K.C. essay for the anthology, Cup of Comfort for Grandparents; a feature article for an upcoming History magazine issue on the contributions of the British Royal Engineers to Canada's sovereignty, and a collaborative venture in biography research and ghostwriting. May to August, 2006, Art was Social Issues: Crime Editor for Suite 101, for which he wrote thirteen thought-provoking articles on contemporary crime and justice issues. These continue to be read and commented on.

The 2008 Old Farmer's Almanac, Canadian edition, was released September 15, 2007. It contained Art's feature article about Canada's unpredictable winds entitled "Blown Away."

Art participated in writing and editing a different sort of guidebook in the Book of Everything series, now available from MacIntyre Purcell Publishing (Oct. 2007) -- the Ottawa Book of Everything. For a writer who labours mostly in isolation, helping to  promote this book locally was a new and challenging experience. 

Further to the fiction market, Virtual Tales, which features "paperless fiction perfected" accepted Art's crime caper novella, "The Family Planck: Lawless in L.A." for serializing. The serial is now an e-book available at Kindle and other ebook outlets.

LOOKING AHEAD FOR 2010

Writing and ghostwritng of articles continues to be a promising field with more requests for Art's editorial collaboration than can possibly be fulfilled within the year. He has had to be selective in order to use his time wisely.

Personal projects of long standing such as one novel, two non-fiction books, and an essay collection, are on the back burner at all times.

Art is an at-large member of Professional Writers Association of Canada. He makes his home in Ottawa, Ontario, with his creative wife Joanne, their elderly ragdoll cat, Hampton, and her feline companion, a feisty tortoiseshell named Rudi. A noisy guinea pig called Hunney completes the little family. Rambunctious granddaughter, K.C., now twelve years old, and a subject of many earlier lighthearted essays, is a weekend visitor, along with her 5-year old brother,Quinton from time to time, who promises to become a regular guest.