St. Thomas University has nurtured exemplary people for a century — from its first alighting in Newcastle to its current perch on a Fredericton hilltop. Here, in celebration of St. Thomas's 100th anniversary, is the first-ever collection of fiction, poetry, and prose by the university's most celebrated writers, including David Adams Richards, Sheldon Currie, Leo Ferrari, Sheree Fitch, and Kathy Mac.
Philip Lee's thrumming account of a public auction kicks off the collection. Next up: Sheree Fitch's poem, "Cop," which wends through undercover prostitution and a child's abduction. Hard on its heels: Sheldon Currie's pitch-perfect story from a Nova Scotia coal-mining town. Once you begin, you're sure to read until the entire, delectable volume is consumed.
A journalist, lecturer, and bestselling writer, Philip Lee began his career as an investigative reporter on Canada's east coast. Restigouche emerged from his long-standing interest in rivers and the people who love them. His first book, Home Pool: The Fight to Save the Atlantic Salmon, grew out of his award-winning reporting on the decline of the Atlantic salmon. Lee is also the author of Frank: The Life and Politics of Frank McKenna, a national bestseller, and Bittersweet: Confessions of a Twice-Married Man, which was long-listed for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
A professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, Lee developed the Dalton Camp lecture series, broadcast annually by CBC Radio's Ideas and edited The Next Big Thing (a published collection from the lectures). When he is not writing and teaching, Lee spends as much time as he can following the currents of rivers.
Herménégilde Chiasson is one of Canada's most accomplished writer-artists. He is the author of more than 20 books of poetry, over 30 plays, and several collections of essays. A multi-disciplinary artist, he has received numerous awards for his work, including the Governor General's Award for poetry, the Molson Prize, le prix France-Acadie, le Grand prix de la francophonie canadienne, the prestigious Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the Prix littéraire Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie. From 2003 to 2009, he served as Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.
Fred Cogswell (d. 2004) was a poet, UNB professor, editor, translator, and mentor to many aspiring writers. A long-serving editor of The Fiddlehead and founder of Fiddlehead Poetry Books, he was the author of more than twenty books of verse. With Jo-Anne Elder, he translated Climats and Conversations by Herménégilde Chiasson and edited and translated Rêves inachevés / Unfinished Dreams (Goose Lane, 1990), an anthology of contemporary Acadian poets.
Wayne Curtis was born in Keenan, New Brunswick, on the banks of the Miramichi River. He was educated at the local schoolhouse and at St. Thomas University. He started writing prose in the late 1960s. His essays have appeared in the
Globe and Mail,
Outdoor Canada,
Fly Fishermen, and the
Atlantic Salmon Journal.
Douglas Vipond joined the psychology department in 1977. He taught in the writing program and has published a number of articles and reviews on reading and writing, many of them with Russ Hunt. He co-edited special issues of
Poetics and Textual Studies in Canada and has written two books:
Writing and Psychology (Praeger, 1993) and
Success in Psychology: Writing and Research for Canadian Students (Harcourt, 1996).
