WORDSTOCK is privileged to have Major-General Richard Rohmer as our 2011 Honorary Chair. Major-General Rohmer – Officer of the Order of Canada, Commander of the Order of Military Merit, holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross, former Chief of Reserves of the Canadian Armed Forces, and Knight of the Order of St. John – is not only Canada’s iconic military hero, but also a practicing lawyer/Queen’s Counsel.

In the early 1970s, Major-General Rohmer chaired the Royal Commission on Book Publishing. Their 1972 findings laid the foundation for the growth of Canada’s book publishing industry and for federal government support of book publishing; but more importantly, for authors, in the form of the Public Lending Right program. This program ensures authors are compensated for their books, which are lodged and used in Canada’s libraries.

If that weren’t enough, Major-General Rohmer is Canada’s premier author of fiction and non-fiction! His fiction is based on well-researched and timely factual scenarios dealing with energy, the environment, geopolitics and relationships between the governments of Canada and the US. His non-fiction works range from biographies through to aviation, book writing, wartime experiences, plans for the orderly development of Canada’s boreal forest area, and to the construction of some of Canada’s economic structures.

Recently, Rohmer established a new publishing house, RailCore Press Inc., which is printing and publishing his 2011 writings in both paper and e-book formats. As well, a growing selection of his prior fiction and non-fiction work can be found in e-book form at www.rohmer-ebooks.com.

We can’t think of a more fitting Honorary Chair than Major-General Rohmer