Alden Nowlan

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Alden Albert Nowlan (January 25, 1933 - June 27, 1983) was a Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, and journalist.

Alden Nowlan was born into rural poverty in a home near Stanley, Nova Scotia, along a stretch of dirt road that he would later refer to as Desolation Creek. His father Freeman Nowlan, performed jobs considered as "grunt work".

His mother, Grace Reese, was only 14 years of age when Nowlan was born, and she soon left the family, leaving Alden and her younger daughter Harriet to the care of their paternal grandmother. The family discouraged education as a waste of time, and Nowlan left school after only four grades. At the age of 14, went to work in the village sawmill. At age of 16, Nowlan discovered the regional library. Each weekend he would walk or hitchhike eighteen miles to the library to get books, and secretly began to educate himself. "I wrote (as I read) in secret." Nowlan remembered. "My father would as soon have seen me wear lipstick."

At 19, Nowlan's artfully embroidered résumé landed him a job with The Observer, a newspaper in Hartland, New Brunswick. While working at the Observer, Nowlan began writing books of poetry, the first of which was published by Fredericton's Fiddlehead Poetry Books.

Nowlan eventually settled permanently in New Brunswick, where he earned his living primarily through journalism. In 1963, he married Claudine Orser, a typesetter on his former paper, and moved to Saint John with her and her son, John, whom he adopted. He became the night editor for the Saint John Telegraph Journal and continued to write poetry. In 1967, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his collection Bread, Wine and Salt, was awarded the Governor General's Award for Poetry.

In 1966, Nowlan was diagnosed with throat cancer. His health forced him to give up his job, but at the same time the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton offered him the position of Writer-in-Residence. He remained in the position until his death on June 27, 1983.

Though largely self-educated, some of his most notable literary achievements include the Governor General's Award for Bread, Wine and Salt (1967) as well a Guggenheim fellowship. He was the Writer-in-Residence at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton from 1968 until his death in 1983, and has a provincial poetry award named in his honour.

Nowlan is one of Canada's most popular 20th century poets. His appearance in the anthology Staying Alive (2002) has helped to spread his popularity beyond Canada.

In the 1970s, Nowlan met and became close friends with theatre director Walter Learning. The two collaborated on a number of play scripts including: Frankenstein, The Dollar Woman, and The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca.

The Alden Nowlan House at the University of New Brunswick is named in his honour. It is currently the home of UNB's Graduate Student Association. He is buried in the Poets' Corner of the Forest Hill cemetery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Contents

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Poetry

  • A Darkness in the Earth. Eureka, California: Hearse, 1958.
  • The Rose and the Puritan. Fredericton, N.B.: University of New Brunswick, 1958.
  • Wind in A Rocky Country. Toronto: Emblem, 1960.
  • Under the Ice. Toronto: Ryerson, 1961.
  • Five New Brunswick Poets. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1962. (with Elizabeth Brewster, Fred Cogswell, Robert Gibbs and Kay Smith)
  • The Things Which Are. Toronto: Contact, 1962.
  • Bread, Wine and Salt. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1967.
  • The Mysterious Naked Man. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1969.
  • Playing the Jesus Game: Selected Poems. Trumansburg, N.Y.: New/Books, 1970.
  • Between Tears and Laughter. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1971.
  • I’m a Stranger Here Myself. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1974.
  • Shaped by This Land. Fredericton: Brunswick, 1974.
  • Smoked Glass. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1977.
  • I Might Not Tell Everybody This. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1982.
  • Early Poems. Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1983.
  • An Exchange of Gifts: Poems New and Selected". Toronto: Irwin, 1985.
  • What Happened When He Went to the Store for Bread. Minneapolis: Nineties Press, 1993.
  • The Best of Alden Nowlan. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot, 1993.
  • Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1996.
  • Between Tears and Laughter Tarset, Northumberland, U.K.: Bloodaxe, 2004. ISBN 1-85224-629-4
  • The Execution, Sunburst, Scarborough, Ontario, 1982
  • Helen's Scar

[edit] Fiction

  • Miracle at Indian River. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1968.
  • Various Persons Named Kevin O’Brien. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1973.
  • Will Ye Let the Mummers In. Toronto: Irwin, 1984.
  • The Wanton Troopers. Fredericton: Goose Lane, 1988.

[edit] Drama

  • Frankenstein: The Man Who Became God - Clarke, Irwin, Toronto 1973 (with Walter Learning)
  • The Dollar Woman - Playwrights Co-op, Toronto 1981 (with Walter Learning)
  • The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca - Dramatic Publishing, 1978 (with Walter Learning)
  • A Gift to Last (with Walter Learning) from the teleplay by Gordon Pinsent
  • Gardens of the Wind - (CBC radio broadcast) Saskatoon: Thistledown, 1982.

[edit] Non-fiction

  • Campobello: The Outer Island. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1975.
  • Double Exposure. Fredericton, N.B.: Brunswick Press, 1978.
  • Nine Micmac Legends. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot, 1983.
  • White Madness. Ottawa: Oberon, 1996.
  • Road Dancers. Ottawa: Oberon, 1999.

[edit] References

  • New, W. H., ed. The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. p. 835-837.
  • Williamson, Margie. Four Maritime Poets: a survey of the works of Alden Nowlan, Fred Cogswell, Raymond Fraser and Al Pittman, as they reflect the spirit and culture of the Maritime people. Thesis (M.A.), Dalhousie University, 1973 [microform].

[edit] Further reading

  • Raymond Fraser. When The Earth Was Flat: Remembering Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, the Flat Earth Society, the King James monarchy hoax, the Montreal Story Tellers and other curious matters. 2007. (ISBN 978-0-88753-439-3)
  • Patrick Toner. If I Could Turn and Meet Myself: The Life of Alden Nowlan Goose Lane Editions, 2000. (ISBN 978-0864922656)
  • Gregory M. Cook. One Heart, One Way: Alden Nowlan, A Writer's Life Pottersfield Press, 2003. (ISBN 1-895900-59-X)

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alden_Nowlan"