Earle Birney

Alfred Earle Birney was a major Canadian literary figure and academic pioneer who founded the first creative writing department in Canada at the University of British Columbia in 1965. Raised in Alberta and British Columbia, Birney possessed an energetic passion for the rugged Canadian landscape and everyday speech.

His 1942 debut collection, featuring the tragic mountaineering narrative poem "David," won the Governor General's Award and became one of Canada's most famous poems. Birney won a second Governor General's Award for his wartime satire Turvey (1949) and continually pushed literary boundaries through sound poetry and visual verse.