Literary Arts

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Although Alberta began as a province in 1905, the region has been written about for much longer. In The Literary History of Alberta, critic and publisher George Melnyk notes that the Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park is the site of numerous wall pictographs that depict centuries of the Blackfoot history.

As more traders, explorers and settlers arrived, so did literature that captured the rugged and exciting life of the frontier. Even the government entered into the literary fold with writings that encouraged more settlers to come and farm the area.

Today, Alberta is home to Governor General Award-winning novelists, poets and publishers, all striving to express the Alberta perspective to the world.

Writing in Alberta has moved from documenting the landscape to imagining the unknown. From award-winning historians, to the many best-selling novelists, Alberta’s literary community is as exciting and diverse as anything imagined by even the avant-garde poets who call this province home.

	Even though author W.O. Mitchell was born in Saskatchewan, spent his high school years in Florida, and began his University years in Manitoba, it was in Alberta where his writing career really took off.  In this audio clip, listen as W.O. Mitchell discusses his struggles, and techniques of writing. [Listen]

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