Gary Geddes is descended from Scottish ancestors from the Northern tip of Scotland. He wrote me: "Just Scots fisherfolk from the north coast who fished in Orkney waters for herring, until they were all fished out. Then they came over here and did the same nasty thing to the salmon. The family name comes from the ged, a North Atlantic sea pike. The people of the geds, totem animal and all that. Nasty little bite they have, too."
He also has a fascination with things Asian. Nevermind the 1421 voyage of Chinese admiral Zheng He Gary Geddes has written The Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things (HarperCollins, 2005), an entertaining and philosophical travelogue of about the Chinese or Afghan monk named Huishen, who might have reached the west coast of North America about 1,000 years before Columbus. Geddes traveled to the Himalayas, the Taklamakan Desert and Central America (where Huishen is most likely to have landed, according Chinese archives).
Gary also has written poetry collections titled The Terracotta Army (1985), and I Didn't Notice the Mountain Growing Dark (Cormorant, 1986)- translations of Li Pai and Tu Fu, with the assistance of George Liang.
Probably the first time I came across his work was his anthology 15 Canadian Poets. I either shelved it at the Vancouver Public Library or studied it taking poetry or Canadian literature classes at Capilano College. But it was a few years ago that our paths actually converged. Gary was writer-in-residence for the Vancouver Public Library, where I was working at the information desk. Somehow we connected, and we soon were setting appointments to attend events and have a meeting.
Gary shared with me his role in creating Canada's first anthology of Asian-Canadian literature, Many Mouthed Birds. He had a connection with grants and publishers and shared the connection with Jim Wong-Chu, co-editor of the anthology.
Through his many anthologies, his own writings, and his roles as teacher, mentor and community activist, Gary Geddes has created his own indelible mark on both BC and Canadian literary landscape. He has taught at Concordia Univiersity and the Creative Writing School of UBC, as well as being a Distinguised Professor of Candian Culture at Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington. Last year he received an honourary Doctorate of Laws from Royal Roads University in BC.
Here is the Press Release from BC Book Prizes
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE - April
19, 2008
Vancouver
Gary Geddes named recipient of the fifth annual
Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
Vancouver, BC – The West Coast Book Prize Society is proud to recognize Gary Geddes as the recipient of the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. British Columbia ’s Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Steve n Point, will present the award at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala to be held at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver on April 26, 2008. The event will be hosted by broadcaster Fanny Kiefer.
“From 15 Canadian Poets to Skookum Wawa to 20th Century Poetry and Poetics, Gary Geddes has raised the literary profile of both our province and nation, and has long been considered one of Canada ’s most important men of letters. He has given decades of his life to teaching Canadian literature and the craft of writing as well as working as a university professor, writer-in-residence, critic, anthologist, translator, editor, and most importantly, writer. Gary Geddes’ writings have crossed countries and continents in performance and translation. He has received numerous awards, including the E. J. Pratt Medal, a Canadian Authors Association prize, two Archibald Lampman awards, and the Gabriela Mistral Prize for service to literature and the people of Chile . His work as a poet has been generous in its outward-looking gaze. His poems bring song and light into darkened corners of the human experience, document silent and hidden lives, and enter politics through the individual and the personal. His newest book of poems, Falsework, explores the 1958 collapse of Vancouver ’s Second Narrows Bridge . His meditative memoir Sailing Home: A Journey Through Time, Place and Memory (2001) chronicles his return to the West Coast with a deep sense of awe and gratitude for the beauty, wildness, and history of this place. In whatever genre he pursues, Gary Geddes writes with eloquence and intense awareness of mystery within the commonplace, and the single human voice singing inside the crowd. He tells the truth, in all its rawness and splendour.
For the integrity of his creative work, for his active and generous promotion of other writers, and for the words he has given to help map the literary geography of British Columbia , we proudly celebrate Gary Geddes.”
– Jury member Carla Funk
The jury for this year’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award: Carla Funk , poet laureate for the city of Victoria; Margaret Reynolds , executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of BC; and Mel Bolen, owner of Bolen Books, Victoria.
All BC Book Prizes info at www.bcbookprizes.ca
Media Contact: Karen Green , Rebus Creative: 604.687.2405, ext. 21, karen@rebuscreative.com
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