5 January 2009
Don McKay Receives Order of Canada Appointment

Gaspereau Press is delighted to report that author Don McKay has been appointed a member of the Order of Canada. McKay has been recognized “for his contributions to Canadian literature as a nature poet and mentor of many emerging writers from coast to coast.”

Governor General Michaëlle Jean announced the new appointments on Tuesday, December 30. Sixty appointments were made, with four companions, 14 officers and 42 members. Other notable inclusions in the arts fields this year were author Joyce Barkhouse and publisher James J. Douglas, co-founder of Douglas & McIntyre Books. Established in 1967, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, particularly in service to Canada. The order’s motto is Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam (They desire a better country). The new appointees will be presented with their insignia in a ceremony to be held later this year.

BACKGROUND
Don McKay has published ten books of poetry, two of which, Nightfield (1991) and Another Gravity (2000), won Governor General’s Literary Awards. His most recent collection, Strike/Slip, won the Griffin Prize for Poetry in 2007. He is the author of two prose works, Vis à Vis (GP 2001) and Deactivated West 100 (GP 2005). The Muskwa Assemblage will be published later this winter. McKay has taught creative writing at University of Western Ontario and University of New Brunswick. He is presently the associate director for poetry at the Banff Centre for the Arts. McKay lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

For more information, contact:
Emily Leeson, Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue, Kentville, NS, B4N 2M7
(902) 678-6002 | booksales@gaspereau.com
www.gaspereau.com