The Writers’ Guild of Alberta Golden Pen Award is presented to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of outstanding Alberta writers. Past recipients are W.O. Mitchell, Grant MacEwan, Rudy Wiebe, Myrna Kostash, Robert Kroetsch, Merna Summers, Aritha van Herk, Fred Stenson, George Melnyk, Alice Major, Betty Jane Hegerat, Greg Hollingshead, Candas Jane Dorsey, Cecelia Frey, Bob Stallworthy, Vivian Hansen, Chris Wiseman, Joan Crate, and Marty Chan.
Richard Harrison was introduced to Alberta as the University of Calgary’s Canadian Writer in Residence with the Saddledome launch of Hero of the Play – poems in the language of hockey. In the 30 years since, he has been part of Alberta’s literary life as a poet, essayist, editor, teacher, and mentor. He has written eight books, with the most significant of them created here – Big Breath of a Wish, poems about his infant daughter learning to speak, and On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood (winner of the 2017 Governor General’s Award). His work has been translated into seven languages, including French, Italian, Farsi, and Arabic. He has edited the work of scores of poets, sometimes privately, other times as editor for presses like Frontenac House and Banff Centre. He has contributed to ongoing conversations of literature and civic life in our province through reviews, poems, and essays appearing in filling station, Freefall, Alberta Views, Secret Identity Reader, a book of essays on comics and graphic novels, and numerous anthologies including Reimagining Fire and Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here. Hundreds of people have received popup poems from his typewriter. He is now Professor Emeritus at Mount Royal University, where he helped found the Creative Writing Program. And for decades Richard has been a resource and inspiration for writers at all stages through organizations like the Alexandra Writers Society and Poetry in Voice, and his Thursday Group Workshop, which has run weekly since 2001. Over fifty books now note his editorial contribution and support. Richard lives in Calgary where he and Lisa Rouleau raised their two children, Emma and Keeghan.
Comments from the WGA Golden Pen Committee:
Not only has Richard Harrison held space to voluntarily mentor emerging writers, he has gifted his audience with a sense that sharing creative work can be fun by using performative elements, and having an open spirit. His impact is felt in his body of work, but equally importantly, through his rippling effect on the writing community in Alberta.
The Golden Pen Award is supported by Aritha van Herk.