Andrew Suknaski (July 30, 1942 – May 3, 2012) was a Canadian poet and visual artist.

Early life and education

He was born on a homestead near

Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan Wood Mountain ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Old Post No. 43 and Census Division No. 3. Its name is derived from the Red River Métis words ''"montagne de bois"'' ...

and studied at a number of institutions, receiving a diploma of Fine Arts from the Kootenay School of Art in 1967.

Career

He was an editor for Anak Press and Deodar Shadow Press, and founded the underground magazine ''Elfin Plot'' in Vancouver in 1969. From 1977 to 1978, he was writer-in-residence at

St. John's College, University of Manitoba St. John's College is an Anglican-based independent constituent college of the University of Manitoba, located on the university's Fort Garry campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The college is the oldest Anglophone institution of higher learning in wes ...

. His early works were published in

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...

's anthology ''Storm Warning'' (1971). His first collection was ''Wood Mountain Poems'' (1976), edited by Purdy, followed by ''The Ghosts Call You Poor'' (1978) and ''In The Name of Narid'' (1981). ''Ghosts'' won him the Canadian Authors' Association Poetry Award in 1979. Suknaski also worked as a researcher for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

, contributing to such films as ''Grain Elevator'' (1981), by Charles Konowal, and ''The Disinherited'' (1985), by Harvey Spak. In 1978, Spak made a documentary about Suknaski, ''Wood Mountain Poems''. Suknaski's Polish and Ukrainian heritage, his concern for

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

people and for the history and culture of the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

are strongly reflected in his work. He stopped writing in the 1980s and died in

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians ...

on May 3, 2012. Montage for an Interstellar Cry (1982) and Silk Trail (1985) were the first and third parts respectively of a larger work that was to be called "Celestial Mechanics. The

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

celebrated his Wood Mountain Poems with a documentary film featuring the author and his native

. Suknaski was also known for erratic acts of poetry. He once launched poems that had been folded into paper airplanes from an airplane flying over

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta and he, along with

, launched poems in bottles down the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

. His last full-length book was Silk Trail, which takes a very Poundian look at the construction of the transcontinental railway. see

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

and the Chinese immigrant labourers, known as

Coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

s, that were integral to its success. Suknaski first appeared on the Canadian literary scene in two influential anthologies, Storm Warning, edited by Al Purdy, and Four Parts Sand which also featured

Judith Copithorne Judith Copithorne (born 1939) is a Canadian concrete and visual poet. Life and career Judith Copithorne grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in an artistic family. She started writing and drawing at an early age and, by the time she attende ...

, bill bissett and

Earle Birney Earle Alfred Birney (13 May 1904 – 3 September 1995) was a Canadian poet and novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honour, for his poetry. Life Born in Calgary, Alberta, and raised on a farm in Eric ...

Bibliography

* 1972: Old Mill * 1973: Suicide Notes: Book I * 1974: In Leaving * 1974: Wood Mountain Poems (Macmillan of Canada) * 1975: Leaving Wood Mountain * 1975: Blind Man's House * 1976: Writing on Stone: Poem Drawings 1966 - 76 * 1978: Ghosts Call You Poor * 1981: In The Name of Narid * 1976: Octomi * 1979: East of Myloona * 1982: Montage for an Interstellar Cry * 1982: The Land They Gave Away * 1985: Silk Trail

References

External links

List of Canadian poets This is a list of Canadian poets. Years link to corresponding "earin poetry" articles. A *Mark Abley (born 1955), poet, journalist, editor, and non-fiction writer. *Milton Acorn (1923–1986), poet, writer, and playwright * José Acquelin ...

''Wood Mountain Poems''
at the

Inventory of Andrew Suknaski's papers
at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.1942 births 2012 deaths Writers from Saskatchewan Canadian modernist poets Academic staff of the University of Manitoba National Film Board of Canada people 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian male writers