Eugene Benson

Eugene Benson (born 1928) is a professor of English and a prolific novelist, playwright and librettist.

As an activist advancing the cause of writers, Benson served as president of PEN Canada (an association of writers formed to defend freedom of expression) in 1984 and, in 1983, as chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada – a position also once held by noted authors Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, June Callwood, Timothy Findley, Graeme Gibson, Susan Musgrave, Paul Quarrington and David Lewis Stein.

Now retired from the University of Guelph, Benson continues to write. "Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English" (1994) was updated and re-issued in 2005. He also wrote "Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature" (1997), "Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre" (1989), "English Canadian Drama" (1987), the biography "J.M. Synge" (1980), a novel "Bulls of Ronda" (1976) and "Encounter: Canadian Drama in Four Media" (1973). Other works include libretti for operas – "Psycho Red" (1978) and "Héloise & Abélard" (1973) – four plays broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and translations of Quebec plays with his wife Renate Benson. He edited the periodical "Canadian Drama".

Born in Northern Ireland, Benson obtained a masters degree from the University of Western Ontario and his Ph.D from the University of Toronto. He married Renate (née Niklaus), a retired languages and literature professor at University of Guelph, in 1968. Together they have two sons: Ormonde Benson, a lawyer, and Shaun Benson, an actor. Shaun has starred in the Canadian television series “The Associates”, the soap opera “General Hospital” and the movie . Renate is author of "German Expressionist Drama" (1984).

In 2003, Benson and Bill Fraser adapted Benson’s 1980 political satire "Powergame" into the made-for-TV movie "North of America". It is unproduced but was a finalist in a national script competition broadcast on the CBC.

Benson twice served as president of the Guelph Spring Festival, an annual music fair.