Saskatchewan Book Awards - Guest Speakers

Previous Guest Speakers

2008 - Maria Campbell

Maria Campbell

Born in Northern Saskatchewan in 1940 of Cree, Scottish, and French ancestry, Maria Campbell witnessed firsthand the often horrific reality of growing up as an Aboriginal woman in Canada. Her written account of her experiences is documented in her groundbreaking 1973 autobiography Halfbreed. With its’ publication, Maria Campbell laid the foundations for Aboriginal writers in Canada.
As an accomplished writer, ardent social activist and community worker, Maria has been the recipient of numerous awards including a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1996, the Gabriel Dumont Medal of Merit from the Métis Nation, the Canada Council for the Arts’ 2004 Molson Prize, the Chalmers Award for the Best New Play (Jessica), a Dora Mavor Moore Award for playwriting, the Woman at the Top Award from the City of Saskatoon, and the 2006 Distinguished Canadian Award presented by the Seniors University Group and the Seniors Education Centre at the University of Regina.. In July 2008 Maria became an Officer of the Order Of Canada for her contributions to Canadian literature and media as a writer, playwright, filmmaker and educator, as well as for her advocacy of Métis and Aboriginal issues. She holds three honorary doctorates, speaks four languages, and is in much demand as speaker throughout North America.

2007 - Sandra Birdsell

Sandra Birdsell

Giller Prize nominee for The Russlander in 2001
Two-time Governor General Award nominee in 1997 and 1992
Won the Marion Engel Award in 1993, Canada's most prestigious prize given to a woman in mid-career.
Her first novel, The Missing Child, received the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1989.
One of Saskatchewan's best-loved writers.

2006 - Jane Urquhart

Jane Urquhart

Her fifth and most recent novel, The Stonecarvers was published in 2001 and shortlisted for the Giller prize.
Her novel, The Underpainter won the 1997 Governor General's Award.
In 1992, her novel The Whirlpool was the first Canadian book to win France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (Best Foreign Book Award)

2005 - Lorna Crozier

Lorna Crozier

Born in Swift Current, SK
Won Governor General's Award for Poetry in 1992 for Inventing the Hawk
Currently teaches creative writing at the University of Victoria

(Lorna Crozier, kindly provided a copy of her Gala address to us. You can also just read, Crow, the poem she composed from the titles of all of this year's nominated books.)

2004 - Alistair MacLeod

Alistair MacLeod

Born in North Battleford, SK
His first novel, No Great Mischief, won the Trillium Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and many other awards across Canada
Currently a creative writing instructor at the University of Windsor

2003 - Yann Martel

Yann Martel