- Rudy Wiebe
Rudy Henry Wiebe (born
4 October 1934 ) is a Canadian author andprofessor emeritus in the department of English at theUniversity of Alberta since1992 .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 Mennonites customarily speakPlautdietsch (Low German) at home and standard German at Church. He attended the small school three miles from his farm and the SpeedwellMennonite Brethren Church .He received his B.A. in
1956 from the University of Alberta and then studied under a Rotary International Fellowship at theUniversity of Tübingen inWest Germany , nearStuttgart . In1958 he married Tena Isaak; they now have three children. In Germany, he studiedliterature andtheology and traveled toEngland ,Austria ,Switzerland andItaly .Wiebe taught at
Goshen College inGoshen, Indiana from1963 to1967 , and he has travelled widely. He is deeply committed to the literary culture of Canada and has shown a particular interest in the traditions and struggles of people in the prairie provinces, both whites and Aboriginals.Wiebe won the
Governor General's Award for Fiction twice, for "The Temptations of Big Bear" (1973) and "A Discovery of Strangers" (1994). He was awarded theRoyal Society of Canada 'sLorne Pierce Medal in1986 . In2000 he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada . In2003 Wiebe was a member of the jury for theGiller Prize .Books by Rudy H. Wiebe
* "Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest"
* "River of Stone: Fictions and Memories"
* "Sweeter Than All the World"
* "Fruits of the Earth"
* "Peace Shall Destroy Many"
* "My Lovely Enemy"
* "A Discovery of Strangers"
* "The Blue Mountains of China"
* "Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman" (with Yvonne Johnson)
* "Playing Dead: A Contemplation Concerning the Arctic"
* "War in the West: Voices of the North-West Rebellion" (with Bob Beal)
* "The Temptations of Big Bear"Awards
* 1973
Governor General's Award for Fiction for "The Temptations of Big Bear"
* 1994Governor General's Award for Fiction for "A Discovery of Strangers"
* 2007Charles Taylor Prize for "Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest"External links
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008582 Rudy Wiebe's] entry in [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=HomePage&Params=A1 The Canadian Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.randomhouse.ca/author/results.pperl?authorid=33129&view=full_sptlght Random House, Author Spotlight]
* [http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/2007/winner_2007.asp Charles Taylor Prize]
* [http://www.goshen.edu/facultypubs/Ervin_Beck/GOSPELH.html A Reader's Guide to Mennonite Literature]
* [http://www.plautdietsch-freunde.de/home.php4?action=22&gruppe=20&artikelnr=14060PD Plautdietsch FRIND]
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