Frederick James Wah, OC, (born January 23, 1939) 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 ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

and former

Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate The Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (french: Poète officiel du Parlement du Canada) is the national poet laureate of Canada. The current poet laureate is Louise Bernice Halfe. The position is an office of the Library of Parliament. Role A ...

Life

Wah was born in

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, but grew up in the interior (

West Kootenay The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Boundaries The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Koot ...

) 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, ...

. His father was born in Canada and raised in China, the son of a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

father and a Scots-

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

mother. Wah's mother was a Swedish-born

who came to Canada at age 6. His diverse ethnic makeup figures significantly in his writings. Wah studied literature and music at 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 ...

. While there, he was a founding editor and contributor to ''

TISH ''TISH'' was a Canadian poetry newsletter founded by student-poets at the University of British Columbia in 1961. The publication was edited by a number of Vancouver poets until 1969. The newsletter's poetics were built on those of writers associa ...

''. He later did graduate work at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

and

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. He has taught at

Selkirk College Campuses Selkirk College has eight campuses and learning centres across the West Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary regions: * Castlegar Campus * Grand Forks Campus * Kaslo Learning Centre * Nakusp Learning Centre * Silver King Campus * Tenth Str ...

, David Thompson University Centre, and 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 ...

. Well known for his work on literary journals and small-press, Wah has been a contributing editor to ''Open Letter'' since its beginning, involved in the editing of ''West Coast Line'', and with Frank Davey edited the world's first online literary magazine, ''SwiftCurrent''. Wah won the 'Governor General's Award' for his 1985 book "Waiting for Saskatchewan". Wah retired after 40 years of teaching and lives in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia with his wife Pauline Butling. He remains active writing and performing public readings of his poetry. From 2006 to 2007, he served as the Writer-in-Residence at

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 ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

, British Columbia. On December 20, 2011, Wah was appointed as Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate. He is the fifth poet to hold this office. In 2013 he was made an Officer in the Order of Canada.

Education

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

- English Literature and Music -

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

- Literature and Linguistics -

Awards

* ''Waiting for Saskatchewan'' - 1985 ( 1985 Governor General's Award for poetry) * ''So Far'' - 1991 (1982 Stephanson Award for Poetry) * ''Diamond Grill'' - 1996 ( Writers Guild of Alberta Howard O'Hagan Prize for Short Fiction) * ''Faking It'' - 2001 (Gabrielle Roy Prize for Criticism (Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures) * ''Is A Door'' 2010 (Dorothy Livesay B.C. Book Prize for poetry)

Bibliography

* ''Lardeau'' (1965) * ''Mountain'' (1967) * ''Among'' (1972) * ''Tree'' (1972) * ''Earth'' (1974) * ''Pictograms from the Interior of B.C.'' (1975) * ''Selected Poems: Loki is Buried at Smoky Creek'' (1980) * ''Owners Manual'' (1981) * ''Breathin' My Name With a Sigh'' Talonbooks, 1981, * ''Grasp The Sparrow's Tail'' (1982) * ''Waiting for Saskatchewan'' Turnstone Press Canada, 1985, * ''The Swift Current Anthology'' (1986; edited with Frank Davey) * ''Rooftops'' (1987) * ''Music at the Heart of Thinking'' (1987) * ''Limestone Lakes Utaniki'' (1989) * ''So Far'' (1991) * ''Alley Alley Home Free'' (1992) * '' Diamond Grill'' Edmonton:

NeWest Press NeWest Press is a Canadian publishing company. Established in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1977,George Melnyk, ''The Literary History of Alberta Volume Two: From the End of the War to the End of the Century''. University of Alberta Press, 1999. . p. 173 ...

, 1996; NeWest, 2006, * ''Faking It: Poetics and Hybridity Critical Writing 1984-1999.'' NeWest Press, 2000, * Isadora Blue (La Mano Izquierda Impressora, Victoria, 2005) * Articulations (Nomados, Vancouver, 2007) * ''Sentenced to Light'' (2008) * ''is a door'' Talonbooks, 2009. * ''Permissions: Tish Poetics 1963 Thereafter-'' (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2014) 33 pp. * ''Scree: The Collected Earlier Poems 1962-1991'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2015) 633 pp. * '' Music at the Heart of Thinking'' a poetry collection published in July 2020. * ''A Door to be Kicked: A Radio Play by Fred Wah'' a radio play script authored by Fred Wah based on the Diamond Grill. The radio play was produced and recorded by Kootenay Co-op Radio in February 2022

Criticism

*Banting, Pamela. ''Body Inc.: A Theory of Translation Poetics''. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1995. *Diehl-Jones, Charlene. ''Fred Wah and His Works''. Toronto: ECW Press, 1996. * * John Z. Ming Chen: ''The Influence of Daoism on Asian-Canadian Writers''. Mellen, 2008.

References

External links

The Fred Wah Digital Archive

University of Toronto Canadian Poets Profile

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110518024329/http://www.writersunion.ca/ww_profile.asp?mem=454&L=W&N=Fred Wah Writers' Union Membership Page
Fred Wah
Electronic Poetry Center
Records of Fred Wah are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books

Recordings of Fred Wah are available online in the Unarchiving the Margins Collection at Simon Fraser University's Special Collection and Rare Books

A Door to be Kicked: A Radio Play by Fred Wah
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wah, Fred 1939 births 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian Parliamentary Poets Laureate Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of Swedish descent Governor General's Award-winning poets Living people Officers of the Order of Canada People from Nelson, British Columbia People from Swift Current People from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Simon Fraser University faculty University at Buffalo alumni University of British Columbia alumni University of Calgary faculty 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers