Western Canada is home to many accomplished writers. One of which being Eden Robinson the author of Monkey Beach. Another one being William Patrick Kinsella or more commonly known as W.P. Kinsella. This accomplished author has a connection with me that hits close to home, that being his connection with Iowa, where I grew up.
W.P. Kinsella was born on May 25, 1935 in Edmonton, Alberta. The majority of his books are based on Canadian issues and Canada's first nations. Kinsella was a very well educated man receiving his Bachelor of Arts with his concentration being in English in 1974. He continued his education by going on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in English from the famous Iowa Writers' Workshop which is held at the University of Iowa in 1978. Lastly, he received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree in 1991 from the university where he first started his education, the University of Victoria.
Kinsella's childhood was not exactly a common one. He grew up on a farm in northern Alberta and was an only child. He didn't attend school until fifth grade which made his childhood a pretty lonely one. Due to him not having any playmates he created imaginary friends to keep him company, this created a basis for many of his characters that he wrote about from age six on.
Aside from all of the Canadian topics that Kinsella explores in his works he also wrote a great deal about baseball. Most say that his most well known book would be Shoeless Joe. This was one of his books about baseball and the novel was made into a very accomplished film Field of Dreams which takes place in Iowa. Two of his other famous books about baseball are The Thrill of the Grass and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy.
W.P. Kinsella's list of accomplished works are very impressive. He published over 200 short stories and 16 books.
Below is a list of some of the works of one of the best western Canadian writers:
Dance Me Outside- 1977
Scars- 1978
Shoeless Joe Jackson Goes to Iowa-1980
Born Indian-1981
Moccasin Telegraph-1983
The Thrill of the Grass-1984
The Alligator Report-1985
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy-1986
The Fence Post Chronicles-1986
Five Stories-1985
Red Wolf, Red Wolf-1987
The Further Advantages of Slugger McBatt-1988
The Miss Hobbema Pageant-1989
Box Socials-1991
If Wishes Were Horses-1996
Magic Time-1998
The Secret of the Northern Lights-1998
Baseball Fantastic-2000
Japanese Baseball and Other Stories-2000
Sites Used:
http://www.lib.odu.edu/litfest/14th/kinsella.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._P._Kinsella
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/bios/Kinsella.html