Sarah Klassen (born 1932) is an award-winning Canadian writer living in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
, Manitoba. Klassen's first volume of poetry, ''Journey to Yalta'', was awarded the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 1989. Klassen is the recipient of Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry and Klassen's novel, ''The Wittenbergs'', was awarded the Margaret McWilliams Award for popular history.
Career
Sarah Klassen was born in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
,
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Win ...
, and currently resides there. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Education degree from the
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and kinesiology and applied health as well as gr ...
. Sarah Klassen taught English in the public school system in Winnipeg, and at summer institutes in Lithuania and Ukraine. Klassen has been recognized as part of a flourishing of
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Ra ...
novelists and poets emerging in the 1980s. Much of Klassen's writing reflects creatively on the experiences and locations of
Russian Mennonite
The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for a ...
settlements in the early part of the twentieth century, a topic relayed to her in stories by her own mother.
CMU Press
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a private Mennonite university located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 1607 students. The university was chartered in 1999 with a Shaftesbury campus in southwest Winnipeg, as well as M ...
(2022)
Poetry
*''Journey to Yalta'' Winnipeg:
Turnstone Press
Turnstone Press is a Canadian literary publisher founded in 1976 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the oldest in Manitoba and among the most respected independent publishers in Canada.
Turnstone was founded in 1976 by academics David Arnason, John Beaver, ...
Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995.
...
: Songs for Hunger and Love'' Hamilton: Wolsak and Wynn (1999)
*''A Curious Beatitude'' Winnipeg: The Muses' Company (2006)
*''Monstrance'' Winnipeg: Turnstone Press (2012)
*''Tree of Life'' Winnipeg:
Turnstone Press
Turnstone Press is a Canadian literary publisher founded in 1976 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the oldest in Manitoba and among the most respected independent publishers in Canada.
Turnstone was founded in 1976 by academics David Arnason, John Beaver, ...
Gerald Lampert Award The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is made annually by the League of Canadian Poets
The League of Canadian Poets (LCP), founded in 1966, is a national non-profit arts service organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The organization acts as t ...
for ''Journey to Yalta'', 1988.
* Short Grain Contest, first prize, prose poem, 1989.
* Shortlisted,
Pat Lowther Award
The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is an annual award presented by the League of Canadian Poets to the year's best book of poetry by a Canadian woman.Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry, 2006.
* Winner, Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry for ''A Curious Beatitude'', 2007.
* Winner, High Plains Book Award for Fiction for ''A Feast of Longing'', 2008.
* Winner, Word Award for ''Monstrance'', 2013.
* Winner, Margaret McWilliams Award for Popular History for ''The Wittenbergs'', 2013.
Weblinks
Giessener Elektronische Bibliothek: Julia Michael, ''Narrating communities: constructing and challenging Mennonite Canadian identities through narrative,'' thesis
Universität Gießen
University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus vo ...
2017, therein ''Demythologizing Stories of Martyrdom as Narratives of Victimization in Sarah Klassen's "Dangerous Elements",'' pp 59 – 73