Aritha van Herk

Christl Verduyn (Mount Allison University)

Ed. by Wendy Roy, University of Saskatchewan
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.2: Canadian Writing and Culture (Anglophone): The Twentieth Century and beyond, 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

Born 26 May 1954
Activity 1978-ongoing

Places

Born in Canada
Active in Canada

Activities

Primary

Literary Critic/ Historian
Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

van Herk's Works

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Aritha van Herk swept to international literary acclaim at an early age, winning the first ever Seal Books (Canada) $50,000 First Novel Award in 1978 for

Judith

, the story of a young woman who leaves her secretarial job to take up pig farming. She has continued to capture readers’ attention ever since, with five novels, two collections of (ficto)-criticism, five edited anthologies, numerous short stories, essays, and reviews, and, most recently, a “maverick” history of Alberta, the province in Canada where she lives.

Aritha van Herk was born on 26 May 1954 in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, to Dutch immigrants, Meretje (van Dam) and William Herk. She grew up with her four siblings on the family farm near Edberg, Alberta, where she attended primary and secondary school. At the University of

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698 words

Citation: Verduyn, Christl. "Aritha van Herk". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4521, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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