Al Purdy

Alfred Wellington Purdy, O.C. (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was one of the most popular and important Canadian poets of the 20th century. Purdy's writing career spanned more than fifty years. His works include over thirty books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four books of correspondence. He has been called the nation's "unofficial poet laureate", and, "a national poet in a way that you only find occasionally in the life of a culture." [Brooke, James (April 26, 2000). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E5DB1330F935A15757C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Al Purdy, Poet, Is Dead at 81; A Renowned Voice in Canada] . "The New York Times." Retrieved on: April 18, 2008.]

Biography

Born in Wooler, Ontario Purdy went to Albert College in Belleville, Ontario, and Trenton Collegiate Institute in Trenton, Ontario. He dropped out of school at 17 and rode the rails west to Vancouver. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Following the war, he worked in various jobs until the 1960s, when he was able to support himself as a writer, editor and poet.University of Toronto Library. [http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/purdy/bio.htm Al Purdy, Biography] . Canadian Poets Series. Retrieved on: April 19, 2008.]

In the late 1950s, Purdy moved to Roblin Lake in Ameliasburg, Ontario, (near Kingston) and this became his preferred location for writing. In his later years, he divided his time between North Saanich, British Columbia, and his cottage at Roblin Lake.

In addition to his poems and novel, Purdy's work includes two volumes of memoirs, the most recent of which was "Reaching for the Beaufort Sea." He also wrote four books of correspondence, including "Margaret Laurence - Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters" and radio and television plays for the CBC. He was writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities, and edited a number of anthologies of poetry.

He wrote the introduction to the last book of poetry by his friend Milton Acorn, "The Whiskey Jack." Purdy was also a long-time friend of American author Charles Bukowski. Bukowski once said: "I don't know of any good living poets. But there's this tough son of a bitch up in Canada that works the line."

Al Purdy died in North Saanich, B.C., on April 21, 2000. His final collection of poetry, "Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy," was released posthumously in the fall of 2000.

A grass-roots movement to preserve Purdy's house in Ameliasburgh has apparently been successful. Organizers Jean Baird (wife of poet George Bowering) and publisher Howard White of Harbour Publishing founded the A-Frame Trust with the intent of preserving the house as a memorial to Purdy and a possible writing retreat for other writers.

Awards & Recognition

Honours and awards Purdy has received include the Order of Canada (O.C.) in 1982, the Order of Ontario in 1987, and the Governor General's Award in 1965 for his collection "The Cariboo Horses" and in 1986 for "The Collected Poems of Al Purdy." The League of Canadian Poets gave Purdy the Voice of the Land Award, a special award created by the League to honour his unique contribution to Canada.Purdy's collection of poems, "Rooms for Rent in the Outer Planets: Selected Poems, 1962–1996", was chosen for inclusion in "Canada Reads 2006", where it was championed by poet Susan Musgrave.. On May 20, 2008, a large bronze statue of Purdy was unveiled in Queen's Park in downtown Toronto.

Bibliography

*"The Enchanted Echo" — 1944
*"Pressed in Sand" — 1955
*"Emu, Remember!" — 1956
*"The Crafte So Longe to Lerne" — 1959
*"The Blur in Between" — 1962
*"Poems for All the Annettes" — 1962
*"The Caribou Horses" — 1965
*"North of Summer" — 1967
*"The New Romans: Candid Canadian Opinions of the U.S." — 1968 (editor)
*"Wild Grape Wine" — 1968
*"Fifteen Winds: A Selection of Mordern Canadian Poems" — 1969 (editor)
*"Love in a Burning Building" — 1970
*"Storm Warning: The New Canadian Poets" — 1971 (editor)
*"The Quest for Ouzo" — 1971
*"Hiroshima Poems" — 1972
*"Selected Poems" — 1972
*"On the Bearpaw Sea" — 1973
*"Sex & Death" — 1973
*"In Search of Owen Roblin" — 1974
*"Storm Warning 2: The New Canadian Poets" — 1976 (editor)
*"The Poems of Al Purdy" — 1976
*"Sundance at Dusk" — 1976
*"A Handful of Earth" — 1977
*"At Marsport Drugstore" — 1977
*"No Other Country" — 1977
*"Moths in the Iron Curtain" — 1978
*"No Second Spring" — 1978
*"Being Alive: Poems 1958–78" — 1978
*"The Stone Bird" — 1981
*"Bursting Into Song: An Al Purdy Omnibus" — 1982
*"Birdwatching at the Equator" — 1983
*"Morning and It's Summer" — 1984
*"The Bukowski/Purdy Letters 1964–1974" — 1984
*"Piling Blood" — 1984
*"The Collected Poems of Al Purdy" — 1986
*"The Woodcock/Purdy Letters 1964–1974" — 1988
*"The Woman on the Shore" — 1990
*"A Splinter in the Heart" — 1990
*"Reaching for the Beaufort Sea: An Autobiography" — 1993
*"Margaret Laurence — Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters" — 1993
*"Cougar Hunter" — 1993
*"Naked with Summer in Your Mouth" — 1994
*"Starting from Ameliasburgh: The Collected Prose of Al Purdy" — 1995
*"Rooms for Rent in the Outer Planets: Selected Poems" — 1996
*"To Paris Never Again" — 1997
*"No One Else is Lawrence!" — 1998 (with Doug Beardsley)
*"The Man Who Outlived Himself" — 1999 (with Doug Beardsley)
*"Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy" — 2000
*"Yours, Al: The Collected Letters of Al Purdy" — 1998

Notes

External links

* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-74-1617/people/al_purdy/ CBC Digital Archives — Al Purdy, An Uncommon Poet]
* [http://www.judithfitzgerald.ca/alpurdy.html Al Purdy, Milton Acorn, and Eli Mandel]
* [http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/press_releases.php?t=31 Al Purdy - A Permanent Tribute - Statue of Canada’s Favourite Poet Unveiled in Queen’s Park]