About
“Mark Leiren-Young, who has a background in pretty much everything — journalism, television, comedy, theatre and film — is without a doubt one of the most talented, multi-disciplinary voices in Canada.” – Vanessa Farquharson, National Post
MARK LEIREN-YOUNG is the author of Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, winner of the 2009 Leacock Medal for Humour, The Green Chain—Nothing Is Ever Clear Cut and This Crazy Time, written with/about controversial Canadian environmentalist, Tzeporah Berman. He wrote, directed and produced the award-winning feature film The Green Chain and wrote and produced the EarthVision award–winning TV comedy special Greenpieces. His stage plays have been produced throughout Canada and the US and have also been seen in Europe and Australia. As a journalist he has written for such publications as TIME, Maclean’s and the Utne Reader. He’s half of the comedy duo Local Anxiety and has released two CDs—Greenpieces and Forgive Us We’re Canadian and stars in the new solo stage comedy Greener Than Thou.
- To contact: Mark Leiren-Young (email stampedequeen @ me.com)
- Agent (TV and Film): Amy Stulberg, Vanguarde Artists Management
- Agent (Literary): Bruce Westwood & Carolyn Forde, Westwood Creative Artists Ltd.
- Agent (Theatre): Michael Petrasek, Kensington Literary
- Never Shoot a Stampede Queen
- Local Anxiety
- The Green Chain Blog
Author
MARK LEIREN-YOUNG is the author of Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, winner of the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, The Green Chain—Nothing Is Ever Clear Cut and This Crazy Time, written with/about controversial Canadian environmentalist, Tzeporah Berman.
NEVER SHOOT A STAMPEDE QUEEN (2009)
Never Shoot a Stampede Queen WON the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. In 2009 it spent 16 WEEKS on the BC Bestseller’s list!
Click here to join The Stampede Queen Facebook group.
Click here to buy the book online.
Shooting a Stampede queen
By Bill Phillips – Prince George Free Press
For the record, I worked at the Williams Lake Tribune after Mark Leiren-Young did.
I’m not the wacko editor or overly-protective senior reporter he talks about in his new book Never Shoot a Stampede Queen – A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo. (I was the wacko editor who worked there after Leiren-Young left.)
However, I do know all the people Leiren-Young talks about in his book. That’s probably why I liked his book so much. I could put faces to the bevy of characters he describes. So, take it from me, he does describe them very well. If you want an accurate description of how life was (or is) like at a small town newspaper, read his book. It is laced with humour, truth, and unbelievable people.
There’s the judge who wore cowboy boots in the courtroom. This is true. I actually spent a sunny June afternoon walking through a horse pasture with this judge. Had a nice chat.
It was all part of a court viewing. It wasn’t as successful as I thought. When I learned we were going to view a horse pasture in question in an animal cruelty case (which I could, and maybe will, write a book about) I was all excited. I told the Williams Lake Tribune photographer to be at the ready. I wanted a shot of the judge with his cowboy boots on (they were actually gold-coloured boots and you can’t take pictures in the courtroom). However, when I emerged, the good judge was wearing runners. Drats.
This judge gained notoriety in the 70s in the Cariboo because he tossed out a car theft case against a local First Nations fellow. It seems the only evidence they had that this fellow stole the car was that he was seen in the area of the theft about the time it occurred. Up until this judge came along, that was enough to convict a native.
But back to Never Shoot a Stampede Queen:
“The cops wanted to shoot me, my bosses thought I was a Bolshevik and a local lawyer warned me that some people I was writing about might try to test the strength of my skull with a steel pipe,” writes Leiren-Young. “What more could a young reporter want from his first real job?”
The title of the book refers to Williams Lake’s Stampede Queen contest. The winner gets to compete for Miss Rodeo Canada so, as you can imagine, for the contestants and the parents of contestants, there’s lots on the line. And there is a lot of protocol. Leiren-Young talks about being given the assignment to take pictures (i.e. shoot) of the contestants and then dealing with an irate mother complaining about the unflattering pictures shown in the paper. Only later does he learn that the editor (once again, not me) hated the Stampede Queen contest and deliberately ran the worst photos taken.
Welcome to the world of small town newspapers. This is the same editor who would take a story away from a reporter if the big city dailies wanted the story and would pay some freelance dollars. Yup, not surprisingly, Leiren-Young, who had the audacity to take a lunch break during a production day, was there when the paper unionized.
Take it from me, Leiren-Young described life at a small town newspaper to a tee and I can vouch for the fact that he did not make up the characters in his book. They are real and their worth reading about. You’ll shake your head, your jaw will drop, and you’ll laugh.
THE GREEN CHAIN: NOTHING IS EVER CLEAR-CUT (2009)
January Magazine: Dec 11, 2009
By Linda Richards
Regular readers of January Magazine may already know that I’m a major fan of journalist/author-turned-filmmaker Mark Leiren-Young. I’ve been reading Leiren-Young in our mutual hometown alternate weekly, The Georgia Straight, for… well, for a real long time and he is just all the things a journalist of his ilk should be (sez me). He is smart and worldly, but not in an irritating, tweed-and-elbow-patches über-literati kinda way. His world view is sophisticated, certainly, but you imagine he wears soft clothes and that he knows how to laugh and — more importantly, perhaps — he knows how to make his readers laugh, as evidenced by his win of the 2008 Stephen Leacock award for his debut book-length work, Never Shoot A Stampede Queen.
It turns out that, while Leiren-Young was hatching Never Shoot A Stampede Queen, he was also working on a film (if you want to call writing, producing and starring in working, and I think you might) that has since been released into wild success. Since its debut in 2007, The Green Chain has been a sweetheart on the international film festival circuit and, when you consider, how could it not? The Green Chain takes seven fictional tree killers and has them explain why they love trees. It’s fictional and it’s fun, yet it tells the story — from both sides, now — exceptionally well.
In the book of the same title, The Green Chain: Nothing Is Ever Clear Cut (Heritage House), Leiren-Young takes the idea on the road, in a way: asking 22 people who might have opinions on such things “How do you feel about trees?” The resulting book is, in many ways, surprising. Leiren-Young himself observes that when he began these interviews — with noted thinkers, writers, activists, doers — he imagined that he would come away depressed. But, he notes, “most of the interviewees were surprisingly optimistic. They think the solutions are out there, and now that we’re living in the age of Al Gore and green is the new black, our society might be willing to embrace the solutions. Or at least attempt them.”
Leiren-Young’s journey of discovery is inspiring. And I’m not the first to note that it’s lovely and refreshing to encounter someone who sees both forest and trees.
Filmmaker
THE GREEN CHAIN
Mark’s first feature, The Green Chain, which he wrote, directed and produced, is now available on DVD and can be seen on iTunes and Hulu. The script earned Mark a 2008 nomination for “Best Screenplay” from the Writer’s Guild of Canada. The movie won the El Prat de Llobregat Award at the 15th Annual Festival Internacional de Cinema de Medi Ambient (FICMA 2008) in Barcelona. It was one of only three nominees for “best feature” at Mockfest in Los Angeles. The movie earned Jillian Fargey a Leo Award for “Best Supporting Actress.”
The Green Chain explores the issues facing dying logging communities and stars Babz Chula, Brendan Fletcher, Tricia Helfer, Jillian Fargey, Scott McNeil, Tahmoh Penikett and August Schellenberg.
THE GREEN FILM
Mark also wrote and coproduced the award winning short, The Green Film. Starring Jonathan Young (Nightwatching) and Lexa Doig (Andromeda). Directed by Andrew Williamson (Sea), Produced by Scott Renyard (Project Cougar) and Juggernaut Pictures Inc. And featuring Local Anxiety’s Green Guilt Blues.
The Green Film has received a 2009 Gold Remi Award from Worldfest Houston, a 2009 Bronze Palmetto from the Felder Film Festival and a 2009 Slate Award Nomination – The California International Film Festival – Best Mini Short.
OTHER
Mark has several other film scripts in development, including an adaptation of his award-winning play, Shylock, with Middle Child Films.
Here’s the Green Chain podcast series, where Mark talks trees with some world environmental leaders. And here’s Mark on Sci-Fi Talk with Tony Tellado.
Journalist
Mark has written for such publications as Time, Maclean’s and The Utne Reader. He has also written for most newspapers and magazines in western Canada. He received a National Magazine Award as a humour columnist and a Western Magazine Award for feature writing. He’s a regular contributor to The Georgia Straight, The Tyee and The Huffington Post.
(Go to the archive).
The NHL Playoffs — Soccer on Skates?
The playoffs are only starting round two and hockey season is already over.
There are officially eight teams playing for the Stanley Cup in round two — but with the exception of the Philadelphia Flyers I’m not sure what game they’re playing. I just know that if Alexander Ovechkin isn’t allowed on the ice, it can’t possibly be hockey.
In game seven of the first round series against the Bruins the highest paid player in the league, pretty much the only superstar who doesn’t have a history of concussions, played 16:25 in the series ending overtime game ranking eleventh in team ice time for the Washington Capitals. The team captain played less than ten other skaters including future trivial pursuits answer Jay Beagle, the Caps stellar – um, does anyone know what position Beagle plays?
Right wing? Defense? Left tackle? Shortstop?
In game four against Boston Ovy played less than two minutes in the third period of what used to be billed as “the fastest game on ice.” This is not a typo. This is from NBC Sports. The next line in their story, “In Game 5 at Boston, he spent a career playoff low 15:34 on the ice.”
But as the Boston Bruins proved last season skill doesn’t win Stanley Cups. Nevermind the finals where the refs declared that you’re allowed a dozen penalty-free punches per Sedin per game, look at game seven of the eastern finals when the Bruins beat the faster, flashier, more talented Tampa Bay Lightning in what was apparently the cleanest game in the history of the NHL playoffs since it was the only post-season game ever played without a single penalty call.
Based on the Lightning’s electric power play they were one Bruins’ foul away from facing the Canucks in the finals. But the refs couldn’t find a single fault with the gritty play of the team the son of the head of NHL discipline skated for.
As far as I’m concerned Tampa Bay fans were the ones with a legitimate reason to have a hockey riot.
After seeing the Canucks lose the chance to kiss the Cup last season, after watching Mason Raymond carried off the ice on a stretcher with a broken back after an, um, really super clean hit requiring no penalty or supplementary discipline at all, GM Mike Gillis saw which way the whistles were blowing — or not as the case may be — read the writing on the Jumbotron and replaced several fast forwards with players whose biggest qualifications was how big they were. And based on how the Canucks played their opening round series last week against the Kings there’s a case to be made that the player the team missed the most wasn’t top scorer Daniel Sedin, but top defenseman Alex Edler who inexplicably played more like a promising rookie than a future Norris contender.
Clearly the key to winning playoff games in today’s NHL is keeping it dull. These games aren’t about taking shots, they’re about blocking them.
I’ve always mocked “fans” who leave the arena early — especially when the outcome is still in doubt, but there’s one game I left after the second period. It was about a decade ago and I’d paid over $100 I couldn’t really afford for a lower bowl seat to watch the Canucks challenge the New Jersey Devils. Or perhaps I’m confused and it was some other team coached by a defensive guru like Jacques Lemaire. After two periods the score was tied at one and I wasn’t sure I could stay awake for another twenty minutes of alleged hockey.
To be clear I love goaltending duels. My fave players are often goalies, sometimes backup goalies. I’m one of those freaks who finds zero-zero games exciting and I’ve always been willing to watch any two teams in overtime. But this was not a goaltending duel. This was a game where the players spent so much time in the neutral zone the only excitement would have been if the Klingons arrived. Neither team was playing to score, they were playing to avoid being scored against. This was… soccer on skates.
And I thought… if this is what it takes to win the Cup I’m okay watching a team that isn’t a contender. I’d rather see this season’s edition of the Edmonton Oilers play… pretty much anyone… than the Devils or Rangers versus any of the four teams still standing in the West.
Other than the Flyers name a single team left in the race that’s generally fun to watch for anyone who isn’t already a fan of the team.
Before the start of the second round only two of the top nine scorers in the playoffs — and only six of the top nineteen — didn’t belong to the Penguins or Flyers. And that can’t all be racked up to abysmal goaltending — even if the Penguins did take the unorthodox step of replacing Marc-Andre Fleury with Theoren Fleury. The Amazing Ovechkin was in an eleven way tie for twentieth spot with five whole points.
The New Jersey Devils may not win the Cup this year, but if they don’t they should certainly receive an honorable mention. Because unless the Flyers hold down the fort for fans of that fast game on skates I grew up loving — or Caps coach Dale Hunter is willing to risk letting one of the most skilled forwards in the world play hockey — then whoever hoists the NHL’s Holy Grail will be playing the classic Devils game, and that means the fans lose. Whatever this sport is called if Alexander Ovechkin can’t play it, why would anyone want to watch?