Dan Needles Author and Playwright

Author and Playwright

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Books by Dan Needles

True Confessions from the Ninth Concession

A funny and affectionate chronicle of rural life from Dan Needles, creator of the Wingfield Farm series and winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

In 1988, Dan Needles and his wife left the city to start a family on a forty-acre farm two hours north of Toronto, where they raised sheep, cattle, chickens, pigs and, eventually, four children. In essays dated from 1997 to 2016, he chronicles his life on Larkspur Farm and draws us into the wider human community of the Back Settlement. Needles offers tips on the rural wave, how to interpret weather signs and the correct approach to a one-lane bridge. Here too is the tale of an unlikely friendship between a “borderline” collie and an odd duck named Ferdinand, as well as recollections of a rooster gone bad an escaped pig and the risk of giving a name to a Sunday dinner entrée.

With wit and insight, Needles shares the art of neighbouring in a place where truck boxes are built at just the right height for visiting and the sight of  “a figure walking across your field is more of a reason to put the kettle on that to call the police.”

True Confessions from the Ninth Concession provides a wonderful escape for world-weary city dwellers – and affirmative reading for rural denizens – from Canada’s funniest farmer.

Now available to purchase on this website! Click to purchase True Confessions from the Ninth Concession.

Published by Douglas & McIntyre

Available at local bookstores. For more information go to http://douglas-mcintyre.com.

With Axe & Flask

Axe & FlaskThe history of Persephone Township from Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present

Followers of the Wingfield plays will know that Persephone Township is a peculiar place. This local history helps to explain how it got to be that way. From the township’s murky colonial beginnings through to the coming of the weekenders, With Axe & Flask tells the ‘warts and all’ tale of Persephone’s struggle to move from an untamed wilderness to a sleepy backwater.

Canada is a land of limited opportunity … our economic history has been enlivened by a parade of fast-talking moneymen, pirates, second-storey artists and speculators who force the pace of development with the active encouragement of the government, in a way that alarms the more prudent entrepreneurs who have already been through a couple of winters here.”

Stephen Leacock awardWinner of the 2003 Stephen Leacock Medal for humour.

Wingfield’s World

Wingfields World Book by Dan needlesThe complete collection of Wingfield stories following stockbroker-turned-farmer Walt Wingfield as he meets the neighbours, tries to plow the fields with two broken down racehorses and struggles through Persephone Township’s ferocious winters. Over six seasons on the farm, Walt falls in love, becomes a father and bonds with a very eccentric community.

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/214857/wingfields-world-by-dan-needles

News, Fence Posts & Events

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Public Speaker

Dan Needles Guest Speaker

Dan is frequently asked to speak at conferences and banquets across the country, making us laugh about the old rural community and the way it meets the modern world.....read more

Contact Info

​Dan Needles

[email protected]

Tel 705-445-8790
Fax 705-445-9074

Dan needles author speaker

Latest Posts

  • Taking the Learning Curve Too Fast November 28, 2022
  • Suddenly There Came a Tapping September 13, 2022
  • Animal Rights in the Laundry Room June 24, 2022
  • Learning to Visit Again March 29, 2022

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