A valuable addition to any bibliophile's collection! The rich history of a province's literature, in the essays of well-known writers from across the Prairie and Canadian literary landscapes. Saskatchewan's literary history is both colourful and complex. It is also mature enough to deserve a critical investigation of its roots and origins, its salient features and its prominent players. This collection of scholarly essays, conceptualized and compiled by well-known Saskatchewan novelist,essayist and scholar David Carpenter, examines the Saskatchewan literary scene, from its early Aboriginal storytellers on through to the decades to the burgeoning 1970s. The dozen essays, preceded by a David Carpenter introduction, include such topics as "Our New Storytellers: Cree Literature in Saskatchewan"; "The Literary Construction of Saskatchewan before 1905: Narratives of Trade, Rebellion and Settlement" and "The New Generation: The Seventies Remembered." Also included are special topics, among them n "Playwriting in Saskatchewan"; "Feral Muse, Angelic Muse n The Poetry of Anne Szumigalski", and tribute pieces to John V. Hicks, R.D. Symons, Terrence Heath and Alex Karras. Contributing scholars include the likes of: Kristina Fagan, Jenny Kerber, Susan Gingell, Ken Mitchell and Martin Winquist.

David Carpenter spent his first twenty-three years in Edmonton, working during the summers as a car hop, a driver for Brewster Rocky Mountain Grayline, a fish stocker, a trail guide, and a folksinger. He read French and German at the University of Alberta to indifferent effect. He graduated and taught high school in Edmonton until 1965, then migrated south to do an M.A. in English at the University of Oregon. He returned to Canada in 1967 and once again taught school until the summer of 1969, when he enrolled for his Ph. D. at the University of Alberta.

Between 1985 and 1988 Carpenter published a series of novellas and long stories -- Jokes for the Apocalypse, Jewels and God's Bedfellows. Jokes for the Apocalypse was runner up for the Gerald Lampert Award, and his novella The Ketzer won first prize in the Descant Novella Contest.

In 1997 Carpenter turned to writing full-time. A first novel, Banjo Lessons was published in 1997 and won the City of Edmonton Book Prize. During the early nineties he also finished the last of his personal and literary essays which make up Writing Home, his first collection of nonfiction. The essays explore his engagements with such writers as Richard Ford, the French writer/scientist Georges Bugnet, and the late Raymond Carver. Several of these pieces won prizes for literary journalism and for humour in the Western Magazine Awards. One of these essays was featured on CBC Radio's `Ideas`. He brought out a second book of essays about life around home, a month-by-month salute to the seasons entitled Courting Saskatchewan. It won the Saskatchewan Book Award for nonfiction.

Throughout the years he has always been a passionate outdoorsman and environmentalist. This abiding love of lakes, trails, streams and campsites translates into city life in Saskatoon as well, where he lives with his wife, artist Honor Kever, and their son Will.

David Carpenter's profile page