Sarah Klassen is shown reading from The Russian Daughter at the book's launch at McNally Robinson Boookstore, Winnipeg in 2023. Klassen has short grey hair, glasses, and light coloured skin. They are wearing a collared shirt in a dark red print. They are behind a wooden podium with the words McNally Robinson printed on it. The store's bookshelves are visible behind the reader. So is a banner with the bookstore's logo.
Sarah Klassen reading at the launch of The Russian Daughter at McNally Robinson Bookstore Winnipeg, 19 January 2023.

Sarah Klassen (born 6 October 1932) is a Canadian writer and retired educator living in Winnipeg, Manitoba.[1][2] Klassen's first volume of poetry, Journey to Yalta, was awarded the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 1989. Klassen is the recipient of Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry[3] and Klassen's novel, The Wittenbergs, was awarded the Margaret McWilliams Award for popular history.[4]

Career

Sarah Klassen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and currently resides there.[1] She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Winnipeg. Sarah Klassen taught English in the public school system in Winnipeg, and at summer institutes in Lithuania and Ukraine.[1] Klassen has been recognized as part of a flourishing of Mennonite novelists and poets emerging in the 1980s.[5] A subject of Klassen's writing (in Journey to Yalta, The Wittenbergs and The Russian Daughter) is the experiences and locations of Russian Mennonite settlements in the early part of the twentieth century, a topic relayed to her in stories by her own mother.[1][6]

Sarah Klassen has served as poetry editor for Prairie Fire and editor of Sophia magazine.[7]

Bibliography

Novels

Poetry

Short stories

Translation

Edited works

Anthologies

Limited Editions (chapbooks and artist books)

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gordon, Ariel (14 January 2023). "In Conversation with Sarah Klassen: Nonagenarian Manitoba writer's historical novel owes a debt to her mother, time spent teaching in Ukraine". Winnipeg Free Press. pp. F3.
  2. ^ Hostetler, Ann Elizabeth (2003). A cappella: Mennonite voices in poetry. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-87745-874-X. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  3. ^ Unrau-Poetker, Emily (13 October 2020). "Sarah Klassen — 'The Tree of Life'". The Manitoban. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "MHS Resources: Margaret McWilliams Award Winners". The Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  5. ^ Redekop, Magdalene (2020). Making Believe: Questions About Mennonites and Art. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. pp. 5, 178–9. ISBN 978-0-88755-857-3.
  6. ^ a b Spenst, Kevin (2022). "Chuffed about Reading the Migration Library". SubTerrain. 8 (90): 96–97.
  7. ^ Dueck, Dora (2006). "Reflections on Sophia" (PDF). Mennonite Historian. 32 (3): 1–2.
  8. ^ Birnie, Sheldon (18 September 2020). "These roots run deep: Celebrated local poet to release new collection". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 4 January 2024.

External links


Recipients of the Gerald Lampert Award
Authority control databases
Categories