Kevin Patterson (born December 27, 1964) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and writer. His short story collection, ''Country of Cold,'' won the

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

in 2003. His latest book, ''Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of its Participants'', published in 2008, is a collection of first-hand accounts written by soldiers, doctors and aid workers on the front lines of Canada's war in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Early life

Kevin Patterson was born on December 27, 1964, in

Kapuskasing Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another railw ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and raised in Selkirk,

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. He put himself through medical school 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.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 749,6 ...

by enlisting in the

Canadian army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

. When his service was up, he worked as a doctor in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and on the coast of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

while pursuing his MFA in creative writing at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Writing career

In 1999, Patterson published ''The Water in Between'', a travel memoir of his sailing expedition in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The book was nominated for the 2000

Edna Staebler Award The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction is an annual literary award recognizing the previous year's best creative nonfiction book with a "Canadian locale and/or significance" that is a Canadian writer's "first or second published book of ...

for

Creative Non-Fiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...

.''Wilfrid Laurier University''
2000: Wayson Choy, (retrieved 11/17/2012) His first novel, ''Consumption'', was published in September 2006 in Canada. He co-edited ''Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of its Participants'', which was released in January 2008.

''Talk to Me Like My Father''

''Talk to Me Like My Father'', Patterson's account of spending six weeks as a doctor with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

forces in

in the winter of 2007, was published in the July–August issue of ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'' magazine in the U.S. The article created news headlines in Canada because of Patterson's graphic description of the dying moments of

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 ...

-born soldier Kevin Megeney. Although Megeney's name had previously been published in Canadian media, the Canadian Department of National Defence initiated a

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

investigation into Patterson's conduct to determine whether or not he breached doctor-patient confidentiality. He was later cleared when the DND received confirmation from Megeney's mother that she had consented to the publication of the article. However, in January 2009 he was officially censured by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons and ordered to pay $5,000 in costs.

Awards and honours

*2003 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (for ''Country of Cold'') *2003 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize (for ''Country of Cold'')

Bibliography

Novels

*''Consumption'' (2006) Vintage Canada *''News from the Red Desert'' (2016)

Short stories

*''Country of Cold'' (2003) Anchor

Non-fiction

*''The Water in Between: A Journey at Sea'' (1999) Vintage Canada *co-editor, ''Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of its Participants'' (2008) Vintage Canada

References

External links

Kevin Patterson author spotlight at Random House Canada
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Kevin 1964 births Living people Canadian male short story writers Canadian male novelists 21st-century Canadian memoirists Writers from British Columbia Physicians from British Columbia People from Kapuskasing People from Selkirk, Manitoba 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers