Adrian Hayes – författare

Francis Pegahmagabow was a remarkable aboriginal leader who served his nation in time of war and his people in time of peace. In wartime he volunteered to be a warrior. In peacetime he had no option. His life reveals how uncaring Canada was about those to whom this land had always been home.A member of the Parry Island band (now Wasauksing First Nation) near Parry Sound, Ontario, Francis served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Belgium and France for almost the entire duration of the First World War, primarily as a scout and sniper. Through the horrific battles and inhumane conditions of trench warfare, his actions earned him three decorations for bravery — the most ever received by a Canadian aboriginal soldier. More recently, they inspired the central fictional character in Joseph Boyden’s highly acclaimed novel Three Day Road.Physically and emotionally scarred by his wartime ordeals, Francis returned to Parry Island to try to rebuild his life. He had been treated as an equal in the army, but quickly discovered things hadn’t changed back in Canada. As a status Indian his life was regulated by the infamous Indian Act and by local Indian agents who seemed bent on thwarting his every effort to improve his lot.So, Francis became a warrior once more — this time in the even longer battle to achieve the right of aboriginal Canadians to control their own destiny. In compiling this account of Francis Pegahmagabow’s remarkable life, Adrian Hayes conducted extensive research in newspapers, archives, and military records, and spoke with members of Pegahmagabow’s family and others who remembered the plight and the perseverance of this warrior.

A deeply moving story of the beauty and brutality of life, and death, on the world's most unpredictable and perilous mountain.Sitting just lower than Everest at 8,611 metres above sea level on the China-Pakistan border, the Savage Mountain claims the lives of even the most experienced climbers. Alongside severe altitude, the weather is notoriously volatile and the climb relentlessly steep. A staggering one in four attempts result in death on the mountain.In _One Man's Climb_, Adrian Hayes details an intensely personal account of his attempts to climb K2 - first in 2013 and again in 2014\. Absorbing and self-reflective, his journey is as much a story of climbing a mountain as it is a testament to the human spirit's ability to endure.

Parry Sound, at the mouth of the Seguin River on Georgian Bay, traces its history back to William Beatty Jr. and the purchase of timber rights. From the heyday of lumbering, through mining ventures, the period of Prohibition, the arrival of the railway and the impact of the Great Wars, the unfolding years are all accompanied by an intriguing mixture of colourful personalities, politics and scandal. The story of this growing community has a richness that few Ontario towns can match. Today Parry Sound embraces its entrepreneurial heritage, its hockey history, its commitment to the arts and its place as a popular tourist destination.