On Tuesday, November 20, Alberta Theatre Projects will give Fast Forward columnist Gwynne Dyer the 2007 Bob Edwards Award. The award is presented annually to “a distinguished Canadian writer who personifies the spirit of Bob Edwards,” the hard-drinking, straight-talking and frequently shit-disturbing journalist who published the Calgary Eye Opener in the early 1900s. “He drank like a fish,” says Dyer. “Of course, I only drink responsibly.”

Dyer, who is based in London, says his syndicated column on international politics has been “banned” from CanWest newspapers because the company’s owners don’t like his ideological bent. “I have never been expelled from an American paper because of what I write — only Canadian ones,” says Dyer, whose columns used to appear regularly in newspapers now owned by CanWest.

In Canada, Dyer’s column is mostly published in alternative weeklies like Fast Forward. “Frankly, I never made a better move,” says Dyer. “They pay better, and they’ve got probably better exposure — certainly the reader profile is a lot younger. So I’m quite happy not to be in (CanWest) papers anymore.”