Alden Nowlan

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Alden Albert Nowlan (January 25, 1933 - June 27, 1983) was a critically acclaimed Canadian poet, novelist, and playwright.

In 2003, American poet Robert Bly called Nowlan "the greatest Canadian poet of the twentieth century."

History
Nowlan was born in the village of Stanley, Nova Scotia, the first child of Grace Reese and Freeman Nowlan. His father, Freeman, was a seasonal worker, in winters as a pulp cutterin winter and in summers as a mill hand in the neighbouring sawmill in summer. Alden's mother, Grace was just 14 years old. Grace gave birth to Alden's sister, Harriet, in November 1935.

His mother, Grace Reese, was only 15 years of age when Nowlan was born, and she soon left the family, leaving Alden and her younger daughter Harriet, to the care of their paternal grandmother. The family discouraged education as a waste of time, and Nowlan left school after only four grades. At the age of 14, he went to work in the village sawmill. At the age of 16, Nowlan discovered the regional library. Each weekend he would walk or hitchhike eighteen miles to the library to get books, and secretly began to educate himself. "I wrote (as I read) in secret." Nowlan remembered. "My father would as soon have seen me wear lipstick."

Career & later life
At 19, Nowlan's artfully embroidered resumÃ© landed him a job with Observer, a newspaper in Hartland, New Brunswick. While working at the Observer, Nowlan began writing books of poetry, the first of which was published by Fredericton's Fiddlehead Poetry Books.

Nowlan eventually settled permanently in New Brunswick. In 1963, he married Claudine Orser, a typesetter on his former paper, and moved to Saint John with her and her son, John, whom he adopted. He became the night editor for the Saint John Telegraph-Journal and continued to write poetry. In 1967, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his collection Bread, Wine and Salt was awarded the 1967 Governor General's Award for poetry.

In 1966, Nowlan was diagnosed with throat cancer. His health forced him to give up his job, but at the same time the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton offered him the position of Writer-in-Residence. He remained in the position until his death on June 27, 1983.

The Canadian Encyclopedia says that Nowlan "was often at the centre of the literary community in Fredericton and Atlantic Canada generally, through the vivid example of his craftsmanship, through his work at University of New Brunswick, ... and through his individualistic personality."

Through this period his "collections of poetry grew steadily in their power and intensity."

Recognition
Nowlan won the Governor General's Award in 1967 for Bread, Wine and Salt.

He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

He held the position of Writer in Residence at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton for fifteen years, from 1968 until his death in 1983.

He has a provincial poetry award named in his honour.

Nowlan is one of Canada's most popular 20th-century poets, and his appearance in the anthology Staying Alive (2002) has helped to spread his popularity beyond Canada.

In the 1970s, Nowlan met and became close friends with theatre director Walter Learning. The two collaborated on a number of plays, including Frankenstein, The Dollar Woman, and The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca.

The home of the Graduate Student Association at the University of New Brunswick is called the Alden Nowlan House.

Nowlan is buried in the Poets' Corner of the Forest Hill cemetery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Writing
The Canadian Encyclopedia describes his poetry as "rich in regional sensibility and in affection for ordinary people but connected by Nowlan's intelligence, temperament and reading to a literary world far beyond folk culture."

Poetry

 * A Darkness in the Earth. Eureka, California: Hearse, 1958.
 * The Rose and the Puritan. Fredericton, N.B.: University of New Brunswick, 1958.
 * Wind in A Rocky Country. Toronto: Emblem, 1960.
 * Under the Ice. Toronto: Ryerson, 1961.
 * Five New Brunswick Poets. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1962. (with Elizabeth Brewster, Fred Cogswell, Robert Gibbs and Kay Smith)
 * The Things Which Are. Toronto: Contact, 1962.
 * Bread, Wine and Salt. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1967.
 * The Mysterious Naked Man. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1969.
 * Playing the Jesus Game: Selected Poems. Trumansburg, N.Y.: New/Books, 1970.
 * Between Tears and Laughter. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1971.
 * I'm a Stranger Here Myself. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1974.
 * Shaped by This Land. Fredericton: Brunswick, 1974.
 * Smoked Glass. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1977.
 * I Might Not Tell Everybody This. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1982.
 * Early Poems. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1983.
 * '' An Exchange of Gifts: Poems New and Selected". Toronto: Irwin, 1985.
 * What Happened When He Went to the Store for Bread. Minneapolis: Nineties Press, 1993.
 * The Best of Alden Nowlan. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot, 1993.
 * Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1996.
 * Between Tears and Laughter Tarset, Northumberland, U.K.: Bloodaxe, 2004. ISBN 1-85224-629-4
 * The Execution, Sunburst, Scarborough, Ontario, 1982
 * '' Helen's Scar
 * ''The Bull Moose
 * ''I, Icarus

Fiction

 * Miracle at Indian River. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1968.
 * Various Persons Named Kevin O'Brien. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1973.
 * Will Ye Let the Mummers In. Toronto: Irwin, 1984.
 * The Wanton Troopers. Fredericton: Goose Lane, 1988.
 * The Glass Roses*

Drama

 * Frankenstein: The Man Who Became God - Clarke, Irwin, Toronto 1973 (with Walter Learning)
 * The Dollar Woman - Playwrights Co-op, Toronto 1981 (with Walter Learning)
 * The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca - Dramatic Publishing, 1978 (with Walter Learning)
 * A Gift to Last (with Walter Learning) from the teleplay by Gordon Pinsent
 * Gardens of the Wind - (CBC radio broadcast) Saskatoon: Thistledown, 1982.

Non-fiction

 * Campobello: The Outer Island. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1975.
 * Double Exposure. Fredericton, N.B.: Brunswick Press, 1978.
 * Nine Micmac Legends. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot, 1983.
 * White Madness. Ottawa: Oberon, 1996.
 * Road Dancers. Ottawa: Oberon, 1999.

Anthologies

 * 15 Canadian Poets X3, ed. Gary Geddes (Oxford University Press, 2001)
 * Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada, ed. Anne Compton, Laurence Hutchman, Ross Leckie and Robin McGrath (Goose Lane Editions, 2002)