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‘How to Survive a Bear Attack’ author Claire Cameron on the books she loves and the ones she doesn’t (sorry, Harry Potter)

The award-winning writer answers our author questionnaire.

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Claire Cameron is the author of “How to Survive a Bear Attack.”

In 1991, a couple on a camping trip near Algonquin Park was killed in a rare predatory bear attack. While working as a wilderness instructor at the park a year later, Claire Cameron heard the story circulating among co-workers and clients. Fascinated by the tragic event, began researching all the ways that one could defend against a hypothetical mauling.

Cameron’s new memoir “How to Survive a Bear Attack” (Knopf Canada) catalogues these means of defence, as well as the way that the figure of the bear somehow became entwined with the memory of her father Angus, who died in 1983 from a rare form of skin cancer. A genetic mutation meant that he did not possess natural protection from the sun’s UV rays, making him susceptible to developing melanomas.

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“How to Survive a Bear Attack,” by Claire Cameron, Knopf Canada, $34.95.

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Claire Cameron loved the audiobook of “The Knowing,” then bought a print copy.

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“Nobody Asked for This” made Claire Cameron both laugh and cry. 

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Claire Cameron doesn’t understand the appeal of the Harry Potter books.

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Claire Cameron considers the mountaineering adventure “Touching the Void” a comfort read.

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Claire Cameron wishes she had written “Small Things Like These.”

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Jean Marc Ah-Sen is the Toronto-based author of “Grand Menteur,” “In the Beggarly Style of Imitation” and “Kilworthy Tanner.”

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