Source: National Archives & Historic Records of Canada
Literature & Poetry • Historical Archive • 🇨🇦 Canada • 0 views

Al Purdy 🇨🇦

Alfred Wellington Purdy (Known as "The Voice of the Land")
Poet, Author of The Cariboo Horses, A-Frame Builder
Born Dec 30, 1918 🇨🇦 Wooler (Ontario), Canada
Passed Away Apr 21, 2000 North Saanich (British Columbia), Canada
Lifespan 81 years old
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Notice / Correction
"Say that the land is old, say that the heart is wild, say that we have lived and loved under these northern stars."

Archival Overview

One of Canada's greatest working-class poets, whose 1965 collection The Cariboo Horses won the Governor General's Award and whose iconic A-frame cabin in Ameliasburgh became a national literary sanctuary.

Biographical Record

Purdy rode the rails during the Great Depression and served in the RCAF during World War II before building an A-frame cabin with his wife Eurithe in Ameliasburgh, Prince Edward County. There, using second-rate lumber and scavenged materials, he established his literary workshop.

Purdy wrote in a distinctive, conversational Canadian idiom, blending rugged frontier humor with profound historical and geological depth in works like The Cariboo Horses and Being Alive. Awarded the Order of Canada, his A-frame cabin is preserved today as a permanent writers' retreat.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Grove Cemetery
Ameliasburgh (Prince Edward County, Ontario), Canada
GPS: 44.0500, -77.4167
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