Richard Harrison 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 ...

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 ...

and

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

. His 2017 book, ''On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood'', won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry"Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize"

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, November 1, 2017. and the Alberta Writers Guild Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. His fourth book of poetry, ''Big Breath of a Wish'' (1998), was nominated for 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 ...

and won the City of Calgary Book Prize. ''25'', released in the fall of 2019, is a 25th anniversary release celebrating the publication of ''Hero of the Play''. It contains new hockey poems, poems from Hero of the Play (original and revised), and commentary. Harrison was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in 1957 and moved to Calgary in 1995 to spend a year as the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the

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 ...

. He has lived in Calgary since then. He holds degrees from

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.

(in biology and philosophy) and Concordia University (in creative writing). He has had teaching positions at Trent University, the

, and now

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. History Mount Royal University was founded by Alberta provincial charter by the Arthur Sifton government on December 16, 1910 and officially opened on September 8, ...

. He has recently completed work on several books of essays (as an editor and contributor).

Selected bibliography

* 1987 ''Fathers Never Leave You'' (Mosaic Press: out of print) * 1991 ''Recovering the Naked Man'' (Wolsak & Wynn: out of print) * 1994 ''Hero of the Play'' (2004 - 10th Anniversary ed. Wolsak & Wynn) * 1995 ''Big Breath of a Wish'' (Wolsak & Wynn) * 2005 ''Worthy of His Fall'' (Wolsak & Wynn) * 2016 ''On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood'' (Wolsak & Wynn) * 2019 ''Twenty-Five: Hockey Poems New and Revised'' (Wolsak & Wynn)

Essay collections

*''Now is the Winter: Thinking about Hockey'' (2009 Wolsak & Wynn) *''Secret Identity Reader'' (2010 Wolsak & Wynn)

References

External links

Faculty profile at Mount Royal University

Bio at Wolsak & Wynn Publishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Richard 1957 births Living people 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male poets 21st-century Canadian poets Writers from Toronto Trent University alumni Academic staff of Trent University Concordia University alumni Writers from Calgary Academic staff of the University of Calgary Academic staff of Mount Royal University Governor General's Award-winning poets 21st-century Canadian male writers