Anne Szumigalski

Anne Szumigalski, SOM (b. 3 January 1922 in London, England, d. 22 April 1999) was a Canadian poet.

Life She was born Anne Howard Davis in London, England, and grew up mostly in a Hampshire village. She served with the Red Cross as a medical auxiliary officer and interpreter during World War II, following British Army forces in 1944-5 across parts of newly liberated Europe. In 1946, she married Jan Szumigalski, (d. 1985) a former officer in the Polish Army, and lived with him in north Wales before immigrating to Canada in 1951. They had four children: Kate (born 1946), Elizabeth (1947), Tony (1961) and Mark (1963). She spent the rest of her life in Saskatchewan, first in the remote Big Muddy valley, then in Saskatoon. The Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry is named for her. Her papers are held at the University of Regina, and University of Saskatchewan.

Awards In 1989, she was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. Her 1995 collection Voice, featuring paintings by Marie Elyse St. George, won the Governor General's Award for English language poetry. She also received many other honours over the years.

Works

Memoirs A Woman Clothed in Words. Regina: Coteau Books, 2012 The word, the voice, the text: the life of a writer. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1990

Plays Z, Coteau Books, 1995 , (a play about the Holocaust).

Poetry A Peeled Wand: Selected Poems of Anne Szumigalski Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2011. (posthumous poems) When Earth Leaps Up. London: Brick Books, 2006. (posthumous poems) Sermons on stones: words and images. Saskatoon: Hagios Press, 1997. On glassy wings: poems new & selected. Regina: Coteau Books, 1997. Voice. with Marie Elyse St. George. Regina: Coteau Books, 1995. Why couldn't you see blue? Caroline Heath. edited by Anne Szumigalski. Regina: Coteau Books, 1994. Rapture of the deep. paintings by G.N. Louise Jonasson. Regina: Coteau Books, 1991. Journey/journée. with Terrence Heath and drawings and wood engravings by Jim Westergard. Red Deer, Alta.: Red Deer College Press, 1988. Dogstones: selected and new poems. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1986. Heading out: the new Saskatchewan poets. edited by Don Kerr and Anne Szumigalski. Coteau Books, Jaw, Sask.: Coteau Books, 1986. Instar: poems and stories. Red Deer, Alta.: RDC Press, 1985. Risks: a poem. illustrations by Jim Westergard. Red Deer, Alta.: RDC Press, 1983. Doctrine of signatures. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1983. A game of angels. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1980. Wild man's butte: a stereophonic poem. with Terrence Heath. Moose Jaw, Sask.: Coteau Books, 1979. Thunder Creek Pub. Co-operative, 1979. Woman reading in bath: poems. Toronto: Doubleday Canada; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.