In 2005, at age 21, Beaton headed to the Alberta oil sands in the midst of financial scarcity in Cape Breton and an economic boom out west.

In this working class environment, the message is that any job is a good job,' Beaton said to Shelagh Rogers in an interview on The Next Chapter. 'Growing up in Cape Breton, we had lived through so much economic collapse. How to tune in to Canada Reads 2023: Watch, listen or stream the debates The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books. The great Canadian book debate will take place on March 27-30. Now, the graphic memoir is set to be championed by J eopardy! super-champion Mattea Roach on Canada Reads 2023.

In 2022, Ducks was named one of CBC Books' top Canadian comics and was also one of two Canadian books on Barack Obama's list of favourite books of 2022. Her success continued with the book Step Aside, Pops! and two children's books, King Baby and The Princess and the Pony. The sassy historical webcomic gained a following of 500,000 monthly visitors and was eventually turned into a bestselling book. With the goal of paying off her student loans, Beaton leaves her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community and heads west, where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses.īeaton launched her career by publishing the comic strip Hark! A Vagrant online. In Ducks, the cartoonist explores the impacts of that choice on her life.ĭucks is an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts Beaton's time working in the Alberta oil sands between 20. Stay in community and struggle or leave everything you know behind to find stable work. Home or opportunity: that is the choice Kate Beaton says people in Atlantic Canada are taught to make growing up.

Ducks by kate beaton