Rudy Henry Wiebe (born 4 October 1934) is a Canadian author and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in the department of English at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

since 1992.Rudy Wiebe
s entry in

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

Rudy Wiebe was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in the year 2000.

Early life

Wiebe was born at Speedwell, near Fairholme, Saskatchewan, in what would later become his family's chicken barn. For thirteen years he lived in an isolated community of about 250 people, as part of the last generation of homesteaders to settle the Canadian west. He did not speak English until age six since

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

s at that time customarily spoke

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

at home and

standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

in church. He attended the small school three miles from his farm and the Speedwell

Mennonite Brethren Church The Mennonite Brethren Church is an evangelical Mennonite Anabaptist movement with congregations. History The conference was established among Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in 1860. During the 1850s, some Mennonites were influenced by ...

. In 1947, he moved with his family to Coaldale, Alberta. He received his B.A. in 1956 from the

and then studied under a Rotary International Fellowship at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

in West Germany, near

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. In Germany, he studied

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and travelled to England, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. In 1962, he received a Bachelor of Theology degree from Mennonite Brethren Bible College in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, now

Canadian Mennonite University Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a private Mennonite university located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada and the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba. It has an enrolment of 1,607 students. The ...

Career

While in Winnipeg, he worked as the editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, a position he was asked to leave after the publication of his controversial debut novel '' Peace Shall Destroy Many'' (1962), the book that heralded a wave of Mennonite literature in the decades that followed. Wiebe taught at

Goshen College Goshen College is a Private college, private Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, a ...

Goshen, Indiana Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart–Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend–Elkhart–Mish ...

from 1963 to 1967, and taught at the

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

for many decades after that. In addition to ''Peace Shall Destroy Many'', Wiebe's novels include ''First and Vital Candle'' (1966), ''The Blue Mountains of China'' (1970), ''The Temptations of Big Bear'' (1973), ''The Scorched-wood People'' (1977), ''The Mad Trapper'' (1980), ''My Lovely Enemy'' (1983), ''A Discovery of Strangers'' (1994), ''Sweeter Than All the World'' (2001), and ''Come Back'' (2014). He has also published collections of short stories, essays, and children's books. In 2006 he published a volume of memoirs about his childhood, entitled ''Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest.'' His work has explored the traditions and struggles of people in the

Prairie provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

, both settlers, often

, and

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people. Wiebe won the

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 ...

for Fiction twice, for ''The Temptations of Big Bear'' (1973) and ''A Discovery of Strangers'' (1994). Thomas King says of ''The Temptations of Big Bear'' that "Wiebe captures the pathos and the emotion of Native people at a certain point in their history and he does it well ... Wiebe points out to us that Canada has not come to terms with Native peoples, that there is unfinished business to attend to." Wiebe was awarded the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

Lorne Pierce Medal The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French. The medal was first ...

in 1986. In 2000 he was made an Officer of the

. In 2003 Wiebe was a member of the jury for the

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried co ...

. In 2023 Guernica Editions published, ''Rudy Wiebe: Essays on His Works'' edited by Bianca Lakoseljac which includes 20 articles devoted to Wiebe.

Personal life

In 1958 he married Tena Isaak, with whom he had three children.

Awards

* 1973

for Fiction for ''The Temptations of Big Bear'' * 1994

for Fiction for ''A Discovery of Strangers'' * 2007 Charles Taylor Prize for ''Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest'' * 2009 Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Alberta

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Peace Shall Destroy Many'',

McClelland & Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. ...

, 1962 * ''First and Vital Candle'', Eerdmans, 1966 * ''The Blue Mountains of China'', Eerdmans, 1970 * ''The Temptations of Big Bear'', McClelland & Stewart, 1973 * ''The Scorched-Wood People'', McClelland & Stewart, 1977 * ''The Mad Trapper'', McClelland & Stewart, 1980 * ''My Lovely Enemy'', McClelland & Stewart, 1983 * ''A Discovery of Strangers'', A.A. Knopf Canada, 1994 * ''Sweeter Than All the World'', Vintage Canada, 2002 * ''Come Back'', Penguin Random House, 2015

Short stories

* ''Where is the Voice Coming from?'', McClelland & Stewart, 1974 * ''Alberta, a Celebration'' (with Harry Savage and Tom Radford), Hurtig Publishers, 1979 * ''The Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories'', McClelland & Stewart, 1982 * ''River of Stone: Fictions and Memories'', Vintage Books, 1995 * ''Another Place, Not Here'', Knopf Canada, 1996 * ''Collected Stories, 1955–2010'', University of Alberta Press, 2010

Nonfiction

* ''War in the West: Voices of the North-West Rebellion'' (with Bob Beal), McClelland & Stewart, 1985 * ''Playing Dead: A Contemplation Concerning the Arctic'', NeWest, 1989 * ''Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman'' (with Yvonne Johnson), Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1999 * ''Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest'', Vintage Canada, 2007 * ''Extraordinary Canadians: Big Bear''. Toronto: Penguin Group Canada, 2008

Plays

*''Far as the Eye can See: A Play'', NeWest, 1977

Children's literature

*''Chinook Christmas'', Red Deer Press, 1993 *''Hidden Buffalo'', Red Deer Press, 2003

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiebe, Rudy 1934 births Canadian male novelists Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian Mennonites Academic staff of the University of Alberta Mennonite writers Writers from Edmonton Writers from Winnipeg Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers Living people Canadian male non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian memoirists 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male short story writers Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Novelists from Saskatchewan Novelists from Alberta Novelists from Manitoba