On Sunday, Nov. 2, Ted Barris makes his second appearance at the International Festival of Authors at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. At 2 p.m., Ted will join authors Hugh Brewster and Jack Granatstein in a roundtable discussion, entitled “How we remember war.” Ted will draw some of his thoughts from his national bestselling book, The Great Escape: A Canadian Story. On the night of March 24, 1944, eighty Commonwealth airmen crawled through a 360-foot-long tunnel, code-named “Harry,” escaping from Stalag Luft III, a German POW compound near Sagan, Poland. The event became known as “The Great Escape.” What audiences who’ve seen/heard Ted Barris present this story have learned is that “The Great Escape” was in many ways “made in Canada.” Based on his original interviews, research and assembly of memoirs, letters, diaries and personal photos, Barris reveals that many of the escape’s key players were Canadians.

A book signing will follow the panel.

Ted Barris is an author, journalist and broadcaster. As well as hosting appearances on CBC Radio and regular contributions to the National Post and Legion, Air Force and Zoomer magazine, he is a full-time professor of journalism and broadcasting at Centennial College in Toronto. He has authored 17 published, non-fiction books.

In 2011 he received the Canadian Minister of Veterans’ Affairs Commendation and in 2012 the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. On June 2, The Great Escape: A Canadian Story received the 2014 Libris Best Non-Fiction Book Award.