Birk Sproxton (August 12, 1943 – March 14, 2007) was a Canadian poet and novelist who lived in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

, Alberta. Born in

Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within M ...

, Manitoba, Sproxton studied in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

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.Red Deer College , mottoeng = To Greater Things Through Learning , established = 1964 , type = Public polytechnic institute , president = Stuart Cullum , city = Red Deer , state = Alberta , country = Canada , students = 7,500 , undergrad = , campus = Ur ...

for over three decades, while working on his own projects. Sproxton was a prolific writer and editor. One of his later works, ''Phantom Lake, North of 54'' (University of Alberta Press, 2005) won both the Margaret McWilliams Local History Award as well as Grant MacEwan Alberta Author Award. His edited volumes include: Sounds Assembling: The Poetry of Bertram Brooker (Turnstone Press, 1980); Trace: Prairie Writers on Writing (Turnstone Press, 1986); and Great Stories from the Prairies (Red Deer Press, 2003) and ''The Winnipeg Connection: Writing Lives at Mid-Century'' (Prairie Fire Press, 2006) in the year before his death. His archival records are held at the

University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections is a department of the University of Manitoba Libraries which holds historical records related to and created by the University of Manitoba. It is also a collector of private records of indi ...

Selected bibliography

*''Headframe'' (1985), *''The Hockey Fan Came Riding'' (1990), *''The Red-Headed Woman with the Black Black Heart'' (1997), *''Headframe: 2'' (2006),

Photographs

File:Dennis Cooley, John Lent, Birk Sprokton.jpg, Cooley, Lent, Sproxton, Winnipeg, 2004 1943 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian male writers {{Canada-poet-stub University of Manitoba alumni