Winner! 2004 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
P. K. (Patricia Kathleen) Page
Inaugural recipient of The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence:
P.K. (Patricia Kathleen) Page
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence was established in 2003 by the Honourable Iona Campagnolo to recognize British Columbia writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence in the Province.
P. K. Page was selected by an independent jury consisting of three prominent figures from the British Columbia literary community.
P. K. Page is one of this country’s outstanding writers and poets. She has published over twenty books and long been recognized internationally. In 2001, her poem “Planet Earth” was selected by the United Nations as a centrepiece of a year-long Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry for international broadcast by satellite. Her paintings are less well known, signed with her married name of Irwin. Her art hangs in permanent collections at the National Gallery and in the art galleries of Ontario, Vancouver, Victoria, and Windsor. Among her awards are: six honorary doctorates; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1977; Companion of the Order of Canada, 1999; and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002. In the Spring of 2004, she was also the recipient of the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award for an Outstanding Literary Career in British Columbia.
“Balance is inner, centred in the keep,” writes P. K. Page in her poem, “The Castle.” Her own keep is prodigious and ever growing. She shapes the balances within this keep, its secluded corners, its darkness and radiance, the might of a tree, children playing. In her keep the ethereal meets the raw, friendship confronts memory, the sources of creativity engage the natural world, responsibility encounters play and each brings the other into balance. For forty years in British Columbia she has generously shared her experiences and experiments in that keep with her fellow writers, especially oncoming generations of new writers, and with her readers. Her prose, by turns serious, sensual and funny, always thoughtful, bringing us insight into the human mind and into the life of nations, together with her tough, witty, and passionate poetry, make her the natural recipient of this inaugural Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. — Jury member George Szanto
Her Honour The Honourable Iona Campagnolo presented the inaugural award to P.nK. Page at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prize Gala, held at Government House in Victoria on Saturday, May 1st, 2004.