Patricia Kathleen Page, (23 November 1916 – 14 January 2010) was a British-born Canadian poet,Peter Scowen
P.K. Page dies at age 93
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', 14 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010. though the citation as she was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada reads "poet, novelist, script writer, playwright, essayist, journalist, librettist, teacher and artist." She was the author of more than 30 published books that include poetry, fiction, travel diaries, essays, children's books, and an autobiography.Rosemary Sullivan,
"The Constant Writer: P.K. Page Remembered"
CBC News, 15 January 2010, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Web, 11 April 2011. As a visual artist, she exhibited her work as P.K. Irwin at a number of venues in Canada and abroad. Her works are in the permanent collections of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

, the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

and the Burnaby Art Gallery. By special resolution of the United Nations, in 2001 Page's poem "Planet Earth" was read simultaneously in New York, the Antarctic, and the South Pacific to celebrate the International Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.

Life

P.K. Page was born in Swanage, Dorset, England, and moved with her family to Canada in 1919. Page's parents moved her to

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 in 1919, when she was only 3, and later to Calgary and

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, ...

.P. K. Page biography
University of Calgary. Retrieved 16 January 2010. Her father was

Lionel Frank Page Major-General Lionel Frank Page, (December 17, 1884 – April 26, 1944) was a Canadian Army officer who served in both world wars. Biography Page was born in Yorkshire and was educated at Berkhamsted School. After failing the entrance examina ...

, a

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 res ...

officer. Page said her parents were creative, encouraging non-conformists who loved the arts, recited poetry and read to her. She credited her early interest in poetry to the rhythms she unconsciously imbibed as a child.Grania Litwin
"At 87, P.K. Page is moving ahead"
''Victoria Times Colonist'', 25 May 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2010. A year in England when she was 17 opened her eyes to galleries, ballets and concerts. Page "later moved to

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, where she worked as a shop assistant and radio actress during the late 1930s."P.K. Page
" eNotes.com, Web, 11 April 2011. In 1941 Page moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and came into contact with the

Montreal Group The Montreal Group, sometimes referred to as the McGill Group or McGill Movement,Dean Irvine,Montreal Group" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian History''. Answers.com, Web, March 25, 2011. was a circle of Canadian modernist literature, modernist writers ...

of poets, which included A. M. Klein and

F. R. Scott Francis Reginald Scott (1899–1985), commonly known as Frank Scott or F. R. Scott, was a lawyer, Canadian poet, intellectual, and constitutional scholar. He helped found the first Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwe ...

. She became a founding member of Patrick Anderson's ''Preview'' magazine in 1942, and of its successor, '' Northern Review,'' in 1945. Some of her poetry appeared in the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

anthology, ''Unit of Five,'' in 1944, along with poems by

Louis Dudek Louis Dudek, (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books. In ''A Digital Hist ...

, Ronald Hambleton,

Raymond Souster Raymond Holmes Souster (January 15, 1921 – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian poet whose writing career spanned over 70 years. More than 50 volumes of his own poetry were published during his lifetime, and he edited or co-edited a dozen volumes ...

, and James Wreford. In 1944 she published a romantic novel, ''The Sun and the Moon,'' under the pseudonym Judith Cape. The novel was reprinted in 1973, along with some of her short stories from the 1940s, as ''The Sun and the Moon and Other Fictions''. Later she became a scriptwriter at Canada's

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 ...

, where she met W. Arthur Irwin, a former editor of

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

magazine, whom she married in 1950. Following her marriage, "Page devoted her time to writing the poetry collection ''The Metal and the Flower'' (1954), for which she received a

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 ...

." Page travelled with her husband on his diplomatic postings to Australia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Guatemala. In Brazil and Mexico, not hearing the rhythms of spoken English, she said, "I had a long dry spell, so I started painting and keeping a journal," published as ''Brazilian Journal'' and illustrated with her own paintings. She began writing poetry again following her return to Canada in the mid-1960s. Her visual art, under her married name as P. K. Irwin, is in galleries and private collections, including the

in Ottawa.Grania Litwin and Jim Gibson
"Writer's skill spanned the arts"
''

Victoria Times Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily C ...

'', 15 January 2010, p. D1. Retrieved 15 January 2010. She remained an active cultural collaborator and wrote steadily throughout the last years of her life in

Oak Bay, British Columbia Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordere ...

Writing

Page's career can be divided into two periods: the first being the 1940s and 1950s, and the second starting with her return to Canada in the 1960s. Her early poems "were inward-looking, imaginary biographies," which "rely heavily on suggestive imagery and the detailed depiction of concrete situations to express social concerns and transcendental themes ... such poems as 'The Stenographers' and 'The Landlady' focus on isolated individuals who futilely search for meaning and a sense of belonging. 'Photos of a Salt Mine' considered one of Page's best early poems, examines how art both conceals and reveals reality."

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...

wrote about her 1954 volume, ''The Metal and the Flower'', that "if there is anything such as 'pure poetry,' this must be it: a lively mind seizing on almost any experience and turning it into witty verse.... Miss Page's work has a competent elegance about it that makes even the undistinguished poems still satisfying to look at."Northrop Frye,
Letters in Canada – 1954
" ''The Bush Garden'' (Toronto: Anansi), 1971, 39–40. Her later works showed "a new austerity in form and a reduction in the number of images presented." As well, there is a difference in type of image: "her later poems are often set abroad and suggest a path of liberation for the isolated, alienated individual.... Such poems as 'Bark Drawing' and 'Cook's Mountains' contain images outside the self as does 'Cry Ararat!' — a poem concerning the reconciliation of internal and external worlds, in which Mount Ararat symbolizes a place of rest nbetween." Critic

George Woodcock George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...

has said that Page's "most recent poems are more sharply and intensely visual than ever in their sensuous evocation of shape and color and space; their imagery takes us magically beyond any ordinary seeing into a realm of imagining in which the normal world is shaken like a vast kaleidoscope and revealed in unexpected and luminous relationships." Page's 1972 apocalyptic tale of climate change, ''Unless the Eye Catch Fire'', appeared in the literary journal ''The Malahat Review'' in the late 1970s and, in 1981, as the only prose piece in her poetry collection ''Evening Dance of the Grey Flies''. Created later as a one-woman play by actor

Joy Coghill Joy Dorothy Coghill-Thorne, CM, (May 13, 1926 – January 20, 2017) was a Canadian actress, director, and writer. Her obituary in ''The Vancouver Sun'' described her as having had "a seven-decade run at the top of the Vancouver theatre world." ...

and flautist Robert Cram at the Banff Centre for the Arts, it was performed in 1994 as part of the British Empire Games Festival in Victoria, B.C. and, in 2002, at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, and Trent University. A performance directed by David Duke was part of the Vancouver International Writers Festival in October 2009. Composer Gavin Bryers wrote music for a film version of Page's story by Anna Tchermakova, produced by Hilary Jones-Farrow for CBC Television. The June 1999 concert of Bryers' score, presented by The May Street Group and CBC Radio Two, was recorded for future broadcast.

Recognition

Page won the Governor General's Award in 1954 for ''The Metal and the Flower'', and the

Canadian Authors Association The Canadian Authors Association is Canada's oldest association for writers and authors. The organization has published several periodicals, organized local chapters and events for Canadian writers, and sponsors writing awards, including the Gover ...

Award in 1985 for ''The Glass Air.'' In 1977 she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

and was promoted to Companion of the Order in 1998. In 2003, she was made a member of the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier ...

. BC Lt. Gov.

Iona Campagnolo Iona Victoria Campagnolo, (née Hardy, born October 18, 1932) is a Canadian politician who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 2001 to 2007; Campagnolo was the first woman to hold that office. Prior to becoming Lieut ...

awarded her the first

Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence The Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence is administered by the BC Book Prizes and recognizes a writer who has contributed significantly to the development of literary excellence in British Columbia, as well as having written a substa ...

in 2004, calling Page "a true Renaissance woman." Page was also the recipient of the 2004 Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, she was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She held honorary degrees from

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

(1985),

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

(1989),

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

(1990),

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

(1990),

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

(1998),

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and kinesiology and applied health as well as gra ...

(2001),

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

(2004) and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a 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 among the top thre ...

(2005). Artworks by Mimmo Paladino inspired by and incorporating her poetry were installed with Page's calligraphy text panels for exhibits in Toronto (Istituto Italiano di Cultura/Italian Government Cultural Office, October 1998), in Victoria, B.C. (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, October 1999) and in Winnipeg (Winnipeg Art Gallery, January 2000). Several of Page's poems have been translated into languages other than English. A symposium on her work, "Extraordinary Presence: The Worlds of P.K. Page", was held in 2002 at Trent University. Page was a "true Canadian literary and artistic icon," according to B.C. Premier

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

."The Passing of P. K. Page"
, Premier's Statement, 14 January 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2010. "As an author, poet, teacher, scriptwriter and painter, P. K. Page was an extraordinary and varied force in promoting and developing Canadian culture. Her efforts helped to set the stage for decades of cultural growth in our nation.... It is the passion of people like Patricia that forged our country's cultural and artistic identity." 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 ...

dedicated a 38-minute documentary to her career (''Still Waters'', directed by Montrealer

Donald Winkler Donald Winkler (born 1940) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and French-to-English literary translator. He lives in Montreal with his wife Sheila Fischman. Life and career Early life Winkler was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up loving th ...

),
Still Waters: The Poetry of P.K. Page
', NFB documentary. Retrieved 15 January 2010. In a special issue of ''The Malahat Review'' about Page and her work, Winkler writes about filming Page for the documentary segment on her childhood. ''Coal and Roses'', her last collection, was posthumously shortlisted for the

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

. ''Journey with No Maps'', a biography of Page by Sandra Djwa, was published in late 2012Book
Biography reviewed: Joan Givner, "Notre Grande Dame," ''BC BookWorld'', Winter 2012–2013, p. 23 and was a finalist for the 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction.Five short-listed titles on Canadian Press wire service, "Charles Taylor Finalists Include Past Winner," ''Victoria News Daily'', 10 January 2013, p. 7.

P. K. Page Founders' Award for Poetry

A $1,000 poetry prize is awarded annually by the '' Malahat Review'' in Page's name.New Award honours renowned poet P. K. Page"
Press release, University of Victoria, 16 November 2006. Retrieved 2010-001-16. Its editor,

Marilyn Bowering Marilyn Bowering (born April 13, 1949) is a Canadian poet, novelist and playwright. As well as several adventure novels and many books of poetry, Bowering has also scripted a number of dramatic works and a libretto. Early life Bowering was born i ...

, said, " eraccomplishments have been an inspiration to several generations of writers," and declared that the award, called the P. K. Page Founders' Award for Poetry, would formalize Page's "long association with the ''Malahat Review''!"

Works

Poetry

* ''Unit of five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P.K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford''. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1944.P.K. Page: Publications
" Canadian Poetry Online, Web, 24 April 2011. * ''As ten, as twenty''. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1946. * ''The Metal and the Flower''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1954. * '' Cook's Mountains'' – 1967 * ''Cry Ararat!: poems new and selected''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1967. * ''P.K. Page: Poems Selected and New''. Toronto: Anansi, 1974. * ''Planes: poems''. Toronto: Seripress, 1975 (with artist Doyle, Mike, 1928–). (limited edition of 50 numbered copies, signed by author and artist) * ''Five Poems''. Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1980. * ''Evening Dance of the Grey Flies''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1981. . * ''The Glass Air: poems selected and new''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, (1985, 1991). , . * ''Two Poems''. Comox, B.C.: Nemo Press. 1988. (Limited edition of 150 copies.) * ''Hologram: a Book of Glosas''. London, Ont.: Brick Books, 1994. . (Contains poems Hologram, The Gold Sun, Autumn, Poor Bird, Inebriate, In Memoriam, Presences, Planet Earth, Love's Pavilion, Alone, A Bagatelle, Exile, The Answer, The End.) * ''The Hidden Room, Vol. 1''. Erin, Ont.: The Porcupine's Quill, 1997. . * ''The Hidden Room, Vol. 2''. Erin, Ont.: The Porcupine's Quill, 1997. . * ''Alphabetical''. Published for the Hawthorne Society. Victoria, B.C.: Reference West, 1998. . * ''Cosmologies''. Victoria, B.C.: Poppy Press, 2000. . (Limited edition boxed set of 500 copies with ''Alphabetical'', .) * ''And Once More Saw the Stars''. – 2001 * ''Schizophrenic''. * ''This Heavy Craft'' * ''Planet Earth: poems selected and new''. Edited and with an introduction by Eric Ormsby. Erin, Ont.: Porcupine's Quill, 2002. * ''Hand Luggage: A Memoir in Verse''. Erin, Ont.: Porcupine's Quill, 2006. . *''Coal and Roses'.' – 2009 (shortlisted for the 2010 Canadian

) *''The Golden Lilies – Poems by PK Page''. – 2009 *''Cullen''. Outlaw Editions, 2009. *''Single Traveller''

Prose

* ''The Sun and the Moon''. s Judith Cape– 1944 * ''The Sun and the Moon and Other Fictions''. Toronto: Anansi, 1973. (contents: The Sun and the Moon, The Neighbour, The Green Bird, The Woman, The Lord's Plan, Miracles, As One Remembers a Dream, George, The Glass Box) * ''To Say the Least: Canadian Poets from A to Z''. Edited and introduced by P.K. Page. Toronto: Press Porcépic, 1979. * ''Brazilian Journal''. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1988. . * ''A Kind of Fiction''. Erin, Ont.: Porcupine's Quill, 2001. . (Contents include "Unless the Eye Catch Fire.") * ''The Filled Pen: selected non-fiction''. Edited by Zailig Pollock. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. . * ''Up on the Roof''. Erin, Ont.: Porcupine's Quill, 2007. . * ''You Are Here''. Sidney, B.C.: Hedgerow Press, 2008. .

Children's books

* ''A Flask of Sea Water''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989. Illustrated by Lazlo Gal. * ''The Travelling Musicians''. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1991. Illustrated by

Kady MacDonald Denton Kady MacDonald Denton (born 22 July 1941) is a Canadian creator of children's books, primarily an illustrator of picture books. She observed in 2011 that "I'm in that quickly-shrinking group of illustrators who doesn’t use a computer at any s ...

. (Adaptation of ''

The Musicians of Bremen The "Town Musicians of Bremen" (german: link=no, Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' in 1819 (KHM 27). It tells the story of four aging domestic animals, w ...

''.) * ''The Goat that Flew''. Victoria, B.C.: Beach Holme, 1993. Illustrated by Marika Gal. (Sequel to ''A Flask of Sea Water''; second of the trilogy completed by ''The Sky Tree''.) * ''A Grain of Sand''. (2003) * ''A Brazilian Alphabet for the Young Reader''. (2005) * ''Jake, the Baker, Makes a Cake''. (2008) * ''The Old Woman and the Hen''. (2008) * ''There Once Was a Camel''. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 2008. Illustrated by Kristi Bridgeman. * ''The Sky Tree: A Trilogy of Fables''. Lantzville, B.C.: Oolichan Books, 2009. Illustrated by Kristi Bridgeman. . * ''Uirapurú: Based on a Brazilian Legend''. Fernie, B.C.: Oolichan Books, 2010. Illustrated by Kristi Bridgeman. .

References

External links

* PKPage.ca:
Griffin Poetry Prize biography

Griffin Poetry Prize readings, including video clips

Watch ''Still Waters: The Poetry of P.K. Page''
a 1990

documentary
Canadian Poetry Online: P.K. Page
– Biography and six poems (The After Rain, Autumn, This Heavy Craft, Deaf Mute in the Pear Tree, Single Traveller, Motel Pool)
"Poem", 1944
by P K Page about the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, by Brittany Kraus
The Galvanizing Force for her "Generation": P.K. Page's Spanish Civil War
by Jane Boyes, 2015 * Archives of P.K. Pag
(P.K. Page (Patricia Kathleen) Page fonds, R2411)
are held at Library and Archives Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, P. K. 1916 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets Artists from British Columbia Canadian modernist poets Canadian women painters Canadian women poets Companions of the Order of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Governor General's Award-winning poets Members of the Order of British Columbia Naturalized citizens of Canada People from the Capital Regional District People from Swanage Writers from British Columbia 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women artists