Sharon Butala

Sharon Butala (born Sharon Annette LeBlanc, August 24, 1940 in Nipawin, Saskatchewan)[1] is a Canadian writer and novelist.

Life

Butala was born in an outpost hospital in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. She was the second of five daughters[2] born to Amy Graham, a nurse, and Archie LeBlanc, who ran a sawmill.[3] Butala spent the first six years of her life in the rural northern Saskatchewan town of Garrick.[3] In 1946 her family moved to the French-Canadian town of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. She attended school at the local convent and moved again when she was thirteen years old to the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.[4] She attended the University of Saskatchewan obtaining both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Education degree. Between her third and fourth year of university she married for the first time. This marriage lasted 14 years, and her son, Sean Hoy, was born during this time.[4]

After graduating she taught English in Saskatchewan and British Columbia and also taught in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[5] She eventually returned to Saskatoon and worked in special education at Princess Alexandra School in Saskatoon.[4] In 1972 she returned to the University of Saskatchewan to work on a post-graduate diploma in education and began teaching for the College of Education.[4]

By 1975 she was divorced and working on her Master of Education degree with a budding academic career when she met Peter Butala while visiting her mother.[6] She abandoned her degree, and they were married on May 21, 1976, after which she moved to his ranch near Eastend, Saskatchewan.[6] It was here that she began writing seriously, and this environment became the setting of much of her non-fiction writing.[7] Her first book, Country of the Heart, was published in 1984[5] and won the Books in Canada First Novel Award.

As head of the Eastend Arts Council she spearheaded the creation of the Wallace Stegner House Residence for Artists in which Wallace Stegner's childhood home was turned into a retreat for writers and artists.[8] She lived in Eastend until Peter's death in 2007.[9] She now lives in Calgary, Alberta.[10]

She was shortlisted for the Governor General's award twice, once for fiction for Queen of the Headaches, and once for nonfiction for The Perfection of the Morning. The Fall 2012 issue of Prairie Fire, entitled The Visionary Art of Sharon Butala [11] was dedicated to Butala and her work and influence. She and her husband, Peter Butala, were also involved in the creation of the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area.[12][9] The Butala homestead is now the interpretive centre for this area of original and restored long grass prairie.[13]

Awards

Works

Fiction

Non-fiction

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia Saskatachewania at the University of Regina
  2. ↑ Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature: Sharon Butala. Oxford University Press. 1997. line feed character in |title= at position 41 (help)
  3. 1 2 McClane, Brian (October 27, 2004). "Sharon Butala to receive honorary degree". Nipawan Journal.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hyde, Samarra (2001). perennialcanada Author Guides: Sharon Butala. HarperCollins. p. 4.
  5. 1 2 "Butala won't be stopped now". The Leader-Post. 3 May 1984. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  6. 1 2 Riess, Kelly-Anne (8 September 2007). "Peter Butala; cowboy conservationist". Globe and Mail.
  7. ↑ Isle, Walter (Spring 1999). "History And Nature Representations Of The Great Plains In The Work Of Sharon Butala And Wallace Stegner". Great Plains Quarterly 19 (2).
  8. ↑ "South West Quest for Saskatchewan Art & History".
  9. 1 2 "Butala's memorial service set for today". Regina Leader-Post. August 13, 2007.
  10. ↑ Hancock, Geoff (November 22, 2012). "An interview with Sharon Butala". Prairie Fire.
  11. ↑ The Visionary Art of Sharon Butala at Prairie Fire
  12. ↑ Foss, Krista (13 May 2002). "Preserving a piece of the Prairies: a Canadian author is glad she gave her Saskatchewan ranch over to conservation.". Globe and Mail.
  13. ↑ Old Man on His Back Ranch at the Nature Conservancy of Canada
  14. ↑ Honorary degree recipients,
  15. ↑ Sharon Butala Receives Literary Award at University of Saskatchewan

External links

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