George McWhirter

George McWhirter (2009)

George McWhirter (born September 26, 1939 in Belfast , Northern Ireland ) is a Canadian writer , poet , translator , editor , university professor and Vancouver's first poet laureate from Northern Ireland .

Life

Born in Belfast in 1939, the son of a shipyard worker, George McWhirter grew up in an extended family on Shankill Road in Belfast. In 1957 he began a combined degree in English and Spanish at Queen's University Belfast , as well as education at Stranmillis College, Belfast. His tutor at Queen's University was the poet Laurence Lerner , his classmates the later literary critic Robert Dunbar and the poets Seamus Heaney and Seamus Deane .

After graduation, McWhirter taught in Kilkeel and Bangor , County Down , Northern Ireland, and Barcelona , Spain , before moving to Port Alberni , British Columbia , Canada . After completing his master's degree from the University of British Columbia , where he studied with Michael Bullock and J. Michael Yates , he stayed at the university to become a full professor there in 1982. From 1983 to 1993 he headed the creative writing department there . In 2005 he retired.

From 1968 to 2005 he worked for PRISM international magazine . George McWhirter is the author and editor of various books and has received several awards.

His first collection of poems, Catalan Poems , won the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize along with Chinua Achebes Beware, Soul Brother . In 1987 he won the the BC Book Prizes belonging Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize . McWhirter has been an honorary member of the League of Canadian Poets since 2005 and a member of the Canadian Writers 'Association , PEN International , the Federation of BC Writers and the Literary Translators' Association of Canada.

In March 2007 he was named Vancouver's Poet Laureate for two years. In preparation he named the motives for his commitment to poetry: “One of the first things I try to make clear to anybody is that every day, in every way, they're involved in poetry because they're at word play, ( ...) adding that gossip is the best poetry. People always work at their gossip because they want the most memorable lines. ”During his tenure, McWhirter himself planned public readings, inviting local and national colleagues to such events and organizing poetry workshops for high school students. He had already initiated the latter activity during his time as a university lecturer. He also intended to publish an anthology of local poets entitled Streets Vancouver Front and Back - the compilation eventually appeared under the title A Verse Map of Vancouver, a large-format illustrated book to bring the urban squares into harmony with the poems. As a Poet Laureate Vancouvers, he received an annual expense allowance of 5,000 Canadian dollars and a project-related grant of the same amount. The foundation was made possible by a $ 100,000 donation from philanthropist Yosef Wosk and administered by the BC Arts Renaissance Fund.

He currently lives in Vancouver with his wife, with whom he has two children, and continues to be a writer.

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Poems

• Catalan Poems (1971, Commonwealth Poetry Prize winner , 1972)
• Queen of the Sea (1976)
• Twenty-Five (1978)
• The Island Man (1981)
• Fire before Dark (1983)
• A Staircase for All Souls (1996)
• Incubus: The Dark Side of the Light (1997)
• The Book of Contradictions (2002)
• The Incorrection (2007, nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize )
• The Anachronicles (2008)

Novels

• Bodyworks (1974)
• God's Eye (1981)
• Coming to Grips with Lucy (1982)
• A Bad Day to Be Winning (1984)
• Paula Lake (1985)
• Cage (1987, winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize )
• The Listeners (1991)
• Musical Dogs (1996)

Published anthologies

• Contemporary Poetry of British Columbia (1970, with J. Michael Yates and Andreas Schroeder )
• Words From Inside: Prison Arts Foundation (1974, 1975)
• Where Words Like Monarchs Fly: A Cross-generational Anthology of Mexican Poets in Translation (1998)
• A Verse Map of Vancouver (2009)

Edited volumes of poetry and translations (selection)

• José Emilio Pacheco : Selected Poems (1987, winner of the FR Scott Prize for Translation )
• Homero Aridjis : Eyes to See Otherwise / Ojos de Otro (2001, 2002, with Betty Aridjis)
• Homero Aridjis, Solar Poems / Poemas Solares (City Lights, San Francisco, 2010)

literature

• Trevor Carolan (Ed.): Making Waves: Reading BC and Pacific Northwest Literature. Anvil / University of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver 2010.

Web links

• George McWhirter's homepage
• Teaching tributes
• Reading poetry
• Writing Poetry ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Photo at the 2008 BC Book Prizes Gala . Retrieved July 12, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Brian Edwards, Daddy was a German Spy and other scandals . 2008, pp. 271-276
2. ^ Henri Cole, Interview with Seamus Heaney: “The Art of Poetry No. 75 ” , The Paris Review 144, Fall 1997, accessed May 12, 2014
3. ↑ George Woodcock, "The Magic of the Ordinary: Various Fictions of George McWhirter," Canadian Fiction Magazine 89 (1994) 39-53
4. ↑ Under Another Sky: The Commonwealth Poetry Anthology ed. Alastair Niven (1987) pp. 12-13, 22-24
5. ^ ^{A b} Bryony Lewicki: New poet laureate has plans for Vancouver. In: Quill & Quire . Retrieved July 13, 2012: “One of the first things I try to make it clear to everyone every day is that everyone is involved in poetry by playing with the words, and gossip is the best example for poetry. People would also constantly hone their gossip because they intend to write the most memorable lines. "
6. ↑ Review: “The book's coffee-table dimensions and gloss make it something of a hybrid in the world of poetry anthologies; while it uses a unique map-based organization for its varied place renderings, a certain upmarket “tourist” aesthetic abounds. Still, many readers of poetry will appreciate this effort to bring poetry about Vancouver to a larger audience, even if it demands the accompaniment of the vibrant, accessible photographs contributed by Derek von Essen. “In: BC Studies 165, spring 2010  ( page not more available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 13, 2012.  
7. ^ Nicholas Bradley: Review of Making Waves: Reading BC and Pacific Northwest Literature. ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Malahat Review . Retrieved July 13, 2012.