This series comprises files relating to John Ralston Saul's speeches and lectures; honours and awards; and interviews, book tours, and other public appearances. The files hold the texts and drafts of speeches; correspondence with organizers and contracts; background information about the events; travel itineraries and arrangements; and posters, publicity material, programs, and press clippings. This material was arranged in different ways at different times; in the 1990s, for example, texts of speeches and information relating to speeches were filed separately for several years.
The series includes his lectures for academic, professional and public audiences like the Massey Lectures (CBC), inaugural Harold Innis Lecture (University of Toronto), Hagey Lecture (University of Waterloo), Dal Grauer Lecture (UBC), Jackman Lecture, Whelan Lecture (Saskatchewan), inaugural Templeton Lecture on Democracy (Manitoba); inaugural Christina Sabat Memorial Lecture (Beaverbrook Art Gallery), Chancellor Dunning Lecture (Queen's), the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs; Festival Canada; the Winnipeg International Writers' Festival; Harbourfront Festival; the Ottawa College of Physicians; Liberal Party Policy Conference; State Budget Officers; Peel Teachers; Canadian Bar Association; Canadian Library Association; and the Canadian Museums Association, among many others. Speeches for foreign audiences and events, most notably from his book tours, are represented, including addresses to the PEN International Congress in Barcelona in 1992; Smithsonian Institution in 1993; "C'est La Fête à Voltaire (Les Voltariens d'aujourd'hui)" event in Geneva in 1994; Strindberg Festival in Sweden in 1997; events promoting the Spanish edition of Voltaire's Bastards in Chile 1998; and lectures on The Unconscious Civilization in Vienna and Oxford in 1998. His speaking tour of Australia in 1999 included an address to the Sydney environmental education conference, a public lecture in Sydney on "Globalization and democracy", and public appearances in other cities.
The records of the awards and honours he received are included with the speeches and appearances series. These award files hold material for the Governor-General's Award for Literature for Non-Fiction, and the Gordon Montador Award, both for The Unconscious Civilization; France's Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1997; the Italian Premio Letterario Internazionale (Modena Prize) for Literature in 1990; and various honorary doctorates and convocation addresses. The files for his Governor-General's Award include a poster and letters of congratulations from Timothy Findley, Bill Graham, Farley Mowat, Alex Colville, and Paul Quarrington, among others. His honorary doctorates from University of Victoria and McGill are commemorated by an album and colour photographs.
