David Arnason
David Arnason (born 23 May 1940) is a Canadian author and poet of Icelandic heritage from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Life[edit]
Born in Gimli, Manitoba, Arnason is of Icelandic descent and often writes about the Icelandic community in Canada. He is the son of Baldwin and Gudrun Arnason[1] and the eldest of seven children. He attended the University of Manitoba where he received a B.A. (1961), a Certificate in Education (1963) and M.A. (1969), and has a PhD from the University of New Brunswick (1983-1984).[1][2] Arnason co-founded the Journal of Canadian Fiction[1] with John Moss at the University of New Brunswick in 1972.
He was one of the co-founders of Queenston House Press in Winnipeg and has been an editor of Turnstone Press in Winnipeg since 1975. He was chairman of the Literary Press Group and a member of the executive of the Association of Canadian Publishers. He served on the Manitoba Arts Council 1985–1987. He was a general editor of the Macmillan Themes in Canadian Literature series.[1] He has been a member of the advisory board of Anansi Press.[1] He began working for the CBC in the early 1970s; he has reviewed books and theatre, as well as created various radio adaptations.[1] He has written short stories, poetry, and novels, fiction and non-fiction.[1] He edited Dorothy Livesay's Right Hand, Left Hand.[1]
He has taught at the University of Manitoba since 1973[1] and was the head of the English Department from 1997 to 2006.[2] He was Acting Head of the Department of Icelandic, at the University of Manitoba from 1998 to 2006. As of 2018 he is a full professor at the University of Manitoba and chair of both the Icelandic and the English departments.[1] The University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections hold the David Arnason Fonds, which includes manuscripts and correspondence.[1][3]
Works[edit]
- 1980: Marsh Burning
- 1981: The Icelanders
- 1982: Fifty Stories and a Piece of Advice
- 1984: The Circus Performers' Bar
- 1987: Skrag
- 1989: The Happiest Man in the World and Other Stories
- 1992: The Pagan Wall
- 1994: The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess
- 1994: The New Icelanders: A North American Community
- 1995: If Pigs Could Fly
- 2001: King Jerry
- 2002: The Demon Lover
- 2005: The Imagined City: A Literary History of Winnipeg Edited by David Arnason & Mhari Mackintosh, ISBN 978-0-88801-298-2 – The Imagined City won both The Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and The Mary Scorer Book Award for best book by a Manitoba publisher in 2005.
- 2010: Baldur's Song: A Saga
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "David Arnason fonds – University of Manitoba Archives". umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Gimli born writer". Archived from the original on 1 October 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ^ Description of David Arnason's archives at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
External links[edit]
- "“The fiction that makes us real”: Playful Accreditation in David Arnason's “The Sunfish”", JSSE, Héliane Ventura
- "Icelanders in North America:A Bibliography", Patrick J. Stevens, 17 June 1994
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1940 births
- Canadian male novelists
- 20th-century Canadian poets
- 20th-century Canadian male writers
- Canadian male poets
- Canadian people of Icelandic descent
- Living people
- Writers from Winnipeg
- People from Gimli, Manitoba
- 20th-century Canadian novelists
- 21st-century Canadian novelists
- 21st-century Canadian poets
- 21st-century Canadian male writers