ANDREW SUKNASKI (July 30, 1942 – May 4, 2012)

A memorial celebration of the life of Andrew Suknaski will take place in Moose Jaw in the theatre of the Library/Art Museum complex at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 3rd. Sid Marty will give the main remembrance of Suknaski. Marty and Suknaski became friends in their late teens.

It is expected that other writer-friends of Andy’s will also tell anecdotes and read some of Andy’s poems. Sid has suggested that he will bring along some of Andy’s artwork and early chapbooks, photos and similar memorabilia. Others are encouraged to do the same if they have something they would like to share with those in attendance.

If you are interested in attending and participating in any way, do let Bob Currie know at rgcurrie@shaw.ca . The theatre will hold 100 people and I expect there will be a considerable turn-out for the event on June 3rd. In the meantime, the Andrew Suknaski Memorial Fund is up and running at the Sask. Writers Guild. The present idea is that any expenses of the memorial celebration will be paid first, then the remaining funds will be be used in some way to honour Andy’s name by way of helping other writers in need, or possibly some award or bursary in his name. Please make donations to the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild. Payments may be made by cheque (mailed to Box 3986, Regina, SK, S4P 3R9) or dropped off or couriered to our office (1150 – 8th Avenue, Regina), or by PayPal (http://www.skwriter.com/payments-and-donations/guild-donations

Poet and visual artist Andy Suknaski was born on a homestead near Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan 30 July 1942, to parents Julia (Karasinski) and Andrew Suknaski Sr. To develop his interest in visual arts, Suknaski studied at the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, British Columbia, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ School of Art and Design, receiving a diploma of Fine Arts from the Kootenay School in 1967. He also attended the University of Victoria, Notre Dame University in Nelson, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University. For a time he worked as a migrant worker across Canada, including being a farmhand and a night watchman, traveled and wrote. He was editor for Anak Press and Deodar Shadow Press, among others. In 1969 in Vancouver he founded the underground magazine Elfin Plot and created concrete poems, exhibiting at the Expo in Buenos Aires in 1971. From 1977 to 1978 Suknaski was writer-in-residence at St. John’s College, University of Manitoba. Among his early works published in chapbooks, pamphlets and Al Purdy’s anthology Storm Warning (1971), was the notable On First Looking Down From Lions Gate Bridge (1976). Suknaski’s first collection was Wood Mountain Poems (1976), edited by Al Purdy, followed by The Ghosts Call You Poor (1978) and In The Name of Narid (1981). Ghosts won Suknaski the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award in 1979. Octomi (1976) and East of Myloona (1979) were published as small chapbooks. Montage for an Interstellar Cry (1982) and Silk Trail (1985) were the first and third parts respectively of a larger work that was to be called “Celestial Mechanics.” Suknaski’s poems have appeared in such anthologies as Number One Northern (1977) and Studio One: Stories Made for Radio (1990). For a time Sukanski worked as a researcher for the National Film Board, contributing to such films as Grain Elevator (1981) by Charles Konowal and The Distinherited (1985) by Harvey Spak. Spak made a documentary of Suknaski in 1978 entitled “Wood Mountain Poems,” considered by Steven Scobie in The Land They Gave Away to be “the best critical statement we have on the poet’s life and work.” Suknaski’s Polish and Ukrainian heritage, his concern for First Nations and the people and place of Wood Mountain feature strongly in his realist poetry. Although poor health in more recent years has prevented Suknaski from writing, his work continues to be studied across Canada.