Richard Harrison is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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 (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

. His 2017 book, ''On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood'', won the

Governor General's Award for English-language poetry This is a list of recipients and nominees of the Governor General's Awards award for English-language poetry. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama was divided."Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, 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 awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

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 ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1957 and moved to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

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

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

. 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. Founded in 1964, the university is known for its Oxbridge college system, sma ...

(in biology and philosophy) and

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

(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. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

. 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 Poets from Toronto Trent University alumni Academic staff of Trent University Concordia University alumni Poets 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