George McWhirter in 2009. Photo by Readerwild. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
| George McWhirter |
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George McWhirter (born September 26, 1939) is a Northern Irish-Canadian poet, prose writer, translator, editor, and academic, who served as Vancouver’s inaugural Poet laureate.
Life[]
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of a shipyard worker, George McWhirter was raised in a large extended family on the Shankill Road in Belfast.
In 1957 he began a “combined scholarship” studying English and Spanish at Queen’s University, Belfast, and education at Stranmillis College, Belfast.[1] His tutor at Queen’s was poet Laurence Lerner, and he was a classmate with future literary critic Robert Dunbar and the poets Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane.[2]
After graduating, McWhirter taught in Kilkeel and Bangor, co. Down, Northern Ireland, and in Barcelona, Spain, before moving to Port Alberni, B.C. Canada.
After earning an M.A. from the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he studied under Michael Bullock and J. Michael Yates, McWhirter was hired by UBC, becoming a full professor in 1982 and head of the creative writing department from 1983 to 1993. He was named a professor emeritus on his retirement in 2005.
He was associated with PRISM international magazine from 1968 to 2005. He is the author and editor of numerous books and the recipient of many awards.[3] He is a life member of the League of Canadian Poets and also a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, PEN International, the Federation of B.C. Writers, and the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada.
He writes full–time and lives in Vancouver with his wife. They have 2 children.
Recognition[]
His debut collection of poetry, Catalan Poems, was a joint winner of the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize with Chinua Achebe’s Beware, Soul Brother.[4]
His poetry was included in the 1984 Penguin Book of Canadian Verse.
His 1987 translation of Jose Emilio Pacheco's Selected Poems won the F.R. Scott Prize for Translation.
For his novel Cage, he was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.
His "Ovid in Saskatchewan" was awarded the Canadian Poetry Chapbook prize by the League of Canadian Poets in 1998.[5]
He was made a life member of the League of Canadian Poets in 2005.
In March 2007, McWhirter was named Vancouver’s inaugural Poet Laureate for a 2-year term.
Awards[]
- Macmillan Co. of Canada Prize, poetry, 1969.
- Commonwealth Poetry Prize (co-winner), 1972.
- Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, 1988.
- F.R. Scott Translation Award, 1988.
- League of Canadian Poets Canadian Poetry Chapbook Competition, winner, 1998.
- Killam Prize for Teaching, University of British Columbia, 1998.
- Killam Award for Mentoring, 2004.
- Sam Black Award for Service to Creative & Performing Arts, 2005.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Catalan Poems. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1971.
- Bloodlight for Malachi MacNair. Kanchenjunga, 1974
- Queen of the Sea. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1976.
- Twenty-Five. Fredericton: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1978.
- The Island Man. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1981.
- Fire before Dark. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1983.
- A Staircase for All Souls. Oolichan Books, 1993.
- Incubus: The Dark Side of the Light. Ottawa Oberon Press, 1997.
- Ovid in Saskatchewan. League of Canadian Poets, 1998.
- The Book of Contradictions. Oolichan Books, 2002.
- The Incorrection. Oolichan Books, 2007.
- The Anachronicles. Ronsdale Press, 2008.
- The Gift of Women. Holstein, ON: Exile Editions, 2014.[6]
Novels[]
- Paula Lake. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1985.
- Cage. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1988.
- The Listeners. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1991.
Short fiction[]
- Bodyworks. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1974.
- God’s Eye. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1981.
- Coming to Grips with Lucy. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1982.
- A Bad Day to Be Winning. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1984.
- Musical Dogs. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1996.
Translated[]
- Jose Emilio Pacheco: Selected poems. New York: New Directions, 1987.
- Homero Aridjis, Eyes to See Otherwise / Ojos de Otro (with Betty Aridjis). Carcanet / New Directions, 2002.
- Homero Aridjis, Solar Poems / Poemas Solares. San Francisco: City Lights, 2010.[6]
- Homero Aridjis, Tiempo de angeles / Time of Angels (contributions by Francisco Toledo). San Franciso: City Lights, 2012.[6]
Edited[]
- Contemporary Poetry of British Columbia (with J. Michael Yates & Andreas Schroeder), 1970.
- Words From Inside. Prison Arts Foundation, 1974, 1975.
- Where Words Like Monarchs Fly: A Cross-generational Anthology of Mexican Poets in Translation. Anvil, 1998.
- A Verse Map of Vancouver. Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2009.[6]
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the University of British Columbia.[7]
See also[]
References[]
- The Canadian Who’s Who
- The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature 1997
- The Concise Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature 2001
Notes[]
- ↑ Brian Edwards, Daddy was a German Spy and other scandals (2008) 271 –276
- ↑ Henri Cole, Interview with Seamus Heaney: “The Art of Poetry LXXV” The Paris Review 144 (Fall 1997): 92
- ↑ George Woodcock, “The Magic of the Ordinary: Various Fictions of George McWhirter”, Canadian Fiction Magazine 89 (1994) 39 - 53
- ↑ Under Another Sky: The Commonwealth Poetry Anthology ed. Alastair Niven (1987)12-13, 22-24
- ↑ George McWhirter, Ronsdale Press, Web, June 15, 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Search results: George McWhirter, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 29, 2014.
- ↑ Biographical history, George McWhirter fonds, University of British Columbia Archives, MemoryBC, British Columbia Archival Information Network, Archives Association of British Columbia, Web, June 15, 2012.
External links[]
- Poems
- Under the Thorn Tree - 5 poems at the Other Voices International Project
- Excerpt: Solar Poems by Homero Aridjis (translated by McWhirter)
- Audio / video
- Books
- George McWhirter at Amazon.com
- About
- George McWhirter in the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature
- McWhirter, George at Irish Writers Online
- George McWhirter at ABC Bookworld
- George McWhirter Official website
- George McWhirter at Canadian Literature
- Tribute to George McWhirter
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