Bernard Slade is one of the few Canadian writers who has achieved a major commercial success, and not surprisingly, he did this in the United States. He became rich writing television in California, then famous as the author of the award-winning Broadway play Same Time, Next Year. The play tried out in Boston in 1975 and went on to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York, opening on 13 March of the same year. Same Time, Next Year was nominated for a Tony Award, won the Drama Desk Award, and has been presented in thirty-three foreign productions. In 1978 the film version, starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, was released, and Slade's screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Slade's slick, sophisticated comedy reveals little of his Canadian heritage, but nevertheless, Canada is eager to claim him as her own.

Born Bernard Slade Newbound in St. Catharines, Ontario, Slade was sent...