Alden Nowlan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alden Albert Nowlan (; January 25, 1933 – June 27, 1983) was a Canadian
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
,
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
, and playwright.


History

Alden Nowlan was born into rural poverty in Stanley, Nova Scotia, adjacent to Mosherville, and close to the small town of
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, along a stretch of dirt road that he would later refer to as Desolation Creek. His father, Freeman Lawrence Nowlan, worked sporadically as a manual labourer. His mother, Grace Reese, was only 14 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, he discovered the new library in Windsor. Often on weekends he would travel eighteen miles to the library to get books, which broadened his already keen reading. "I wrote (as I read) in secret." Nowlan remembered. "My father would as soon have seen me wear lipstick."


Career and later life

At 19, Nowlan's artfully embroidered résumé 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 New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. 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 The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The newspaper is published by Brunswick News. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' i ...
and continued to write poetry. In 1966, Nowlan was diagnosed with throat cancer. After three surgeries and a subsequent radiation treatment, his health began to improve. He wrote poems about his brush with death. In 1967, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his collection ''Bread, Wine and Salt'' was awarded the Governor General's Award for Poetry. Soon afterward, 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, after collapsing at his home with severe emphysema.


Awards and recognition

Nowlan's most notable literary achievements include the
Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. Th ...
for ''Bread, Wine and Salt'' (1967) and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was writer-in-residence at the
University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...
in Fredericton from 1968 until his death in 1983. In New Brunswick, the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in English-language Literary Arts is 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 Walter John Learning (November 16, 1938 – January 5, 2020) was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick. Biography Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in the Dominion of Newfou ...
. The two collaborated on a number of plays, including '' A Gift to Last'', ''Frankenstein'', ''The Dollar Woman'', and ''The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca.'' Nowlan's Fredericton home is now the residence of the Graduate Student Association at the University of New Brunswick. Dubbed "Windsor Castle" by Nowlan after its location on Windsor Street, the simple building is now officially called the Alden Nowlan House. Nowlan is buried in the Poets' Corner of the Forest Hill cemetery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.


Bibliography


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 Poet''s. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1962. (with Elizabeth Brewster,
Fred Cogswell Fred Cogswell CM (November 8, 1917 – June 20, 2004) was a Canadian poet. Life and career Born in East Centreville, New Brunswick he served overseas in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. A teacher at the age of sixteen, Cogswell gai ...
, Robert Gibbs and Kay Smith) *''The Things Which Are''. Toronto: Contact, 1962. *''Bread, Wine and Salt''. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1967. *''A Black Plastic Button and a Yellow Yoyo'', handmade limited edition folio of 20 copies, printed and illustrated by Charles Pachter, Toronto 1968 *''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. *''I, Icarus''


Fiction

*''Miracle at Indian River''. Clarke, Irwin, Toronto 1968 *''Various Persons Named Kevin O'Brien''. Clarke, Irwin, Toronto 1973 * ''The year of the revolution'', CBC radio anthology, Robert Weaver: ''Small wonders. New stories by 12 distinguished Canadian authors''. CBC, Toronto 1982, pp 85 – 96 *''Will Ye Let the Mummers In''. Irwin, Toronto 1984 *''The Wanton Troopers''. Goose Lane, Fredericton 1988


Drama

*''Frankenstein: The Man Who Became God ''- Clarke, Irwin, Toronto 1973 (with
Walter Learning Walter John Learning (November 16, 1938 – January 5, 2020) was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick. Biography Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in the Dominion of Newfou ...
) *''The Dollar Woman'' – Playwrights Co-op, Toronto 1981 (with
Walter Learning Walter John Learning (November 16, 1938 – January 5, 2020) was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick. Biography Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in the Dominion of Newfou ...
) *''The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca'' – Dramatic Publishing, 1978 (with
Walter Learning Walter John Learning (November 16, 1938 – January 5, 2020) was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick. Biography Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in the Dominion of Newfou ...
) *''A Gift to Last'' (with
Walter Learning Walter John Learning (November 16, 1938 – January 5, 2020) was a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick. Biography Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in the Dominion of Newfou ...
) from the teleplay by
Gordon Pinsent Gordon Edward Pinsent (born July 12, 1930) is a Canadian actor, writer, director, and singer. He is known for his roles in numerous productions, including ''Away from Her'', '' The Rowdyman'', '' John and the Missus'', ''A Gift to Last'', ''Due S ...
*''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)


Recordings

*''Alden Nowlan's Maritimes''. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1972.


See also

*
Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both g ...
* Canadian poetry *
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 Acqueli ...


References

* New, W. H., ed. ''The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. p. 835-837. * Williamson, Margie. ''Four Maritime Poets: a survey of the works of Alden Nowlan, Fred Cogswell, Raymond Fraser and Al Pittman, as they reflect the spirit and culture of the Maritime people''. Thesis (M.A.), Dalhousie University, 1973 icroform


Further reading

* Raymond Fraser. ''When The Earth Was Flat: Remembering Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, the Flat Earth Society, the King James monarchy hoax, the Montreal Story Tellers and other curious matters.'' 2007 * Patrick Toner. ''If I Could Turn and Meet Myself: The Life of Alden Nowlan'' Goose Lane Editions, 2000 * Gregory M. Cook. ''One Heart, One Way: Alden Nowlan, A Writer's Life'' Pottersfield Press, 2003. * ''Alden Nowlan: Essays on His Works'' Guernica Editions, 2006


External links

*
The Alden Nowlan Interviews

"Alden Nowlan"
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...
entry by Douglas Fetherling
Alden Nowlan and Social Class, by Thomas R. Smith
afterword to "My Family Was Poor"
Nowlan
at Athabasca University, with 5 hyperlinks > essays
Documentary on Nowlan

''The fall of a city''
by Alden Nowlan {{DEFAULTSORT:Nowlan, Alden 1933 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Governor General's Award-winning poets Writers from Fredericton Writers from Nova Scotia People from Hants County, Nova Scotia University of New Brunswick faculty Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian male short story writers Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian male writers