David Adams Richards CM ONB (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian writer[2] and member of the Canadian Senate.[3]
Background
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, three credits shy of completing a BA.[4] After publishing a poetry chapbook in 1972, he won the Norma Epstein Award, a literary prize for unpublished writing by Canadian university students, in 1974 for an excerpt from his novel manuscript The Coming of Winter, and the novel was published later that year as his fiction debut.
Career
Over his career as a writer, Richards has published novels, stage plays, short stories and non-fiction work. His fiction typically addresses the lives and experiences of poor and working class residents of the Miramichi region of New Brunswick, exploring spiritual and philosophical themes influenced by Richards' Roman Catholic faith.[5]
Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
On 30 August 2017, the appointment of Richards to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was announced.[3]
On 24 April 2018, Richards resigned from the Independent Senators Group to sit as an unaffiliated senator.[1] Richards stressed that he had not felt pressured by the ISG, saying that he left because he wants a high degree of personal autonomy, citing how he never joined the Writers' Union of Canada or PEN Canada as an author. Richards also said that since Trudeau had appointed him as an independent, he felt it was his duty to be as independent as possible.[6]
On 4 November 2019, he joined the Canadian Senators Group.[7]
On 21 May 2025, he left the Canadian Senators Group to again sit as a Non-affiliated Senator.[8]
On 3 June 2025, he joined the Conservative Party of Canada caucus in the Senate, making him the only Senator appointed by a Liberal Prime Minister to sit as a Conservative in the Senate.[9]
Awards
Richards has received numerous awards including two Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down, the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children. The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Prize for Fiction.[10]
In 2009, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to the Canadian literary scene as an essayist, screenwriter and writer of fiction and non-fiction".[11]
In 2011, Richards received the Matt Cohen Prize.[12]
In May 2025, he was the recipient of an Honorary Degree from McGill University for his prolific contributions to Canadian literature[13]
Publications
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.[14]
In 2014, Halifax singer-songwriter Dan MacCormack released an album of songs inspired by Richards' novels, called Symphony of Ghosts. The title was taken from a line in Mercy Among the Children.[15]
Novels
- The Coming of Winter (1974)
- Blood Ties (1976)
- Lives of Short Duration (1981)
- Road to the Stilt House (1985)
- Nights Below Station Street (1988, winner of the 1988 Governor General's Award for fiction)
- Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace (1990)
- For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down (1993, nominated for a Governor General's Award, winner of the 1994 Thomas Head Raddall Award)
- Hope in the Desperate Hour (1996)
- The Bay of Love and Sorrows (1998)
- Mercy Among the Children (2000) (co-winner of the Giller Prize)
- River of the Broken-Hearted (2004)
- The Friends of Meager Fortune (2006) (longlisted for the Giller Prize)
- The Lost Highway (2007) (longlisted for the Giller Prize, Nominated Governor General's Awards 2008 Governor General's Award)
- Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul (2011)
- Crimes Against My Brother (2014)
- Principles to Live By (2016)
- Mary Cyr (2018)
Poetry
- Small Heroics (1972) (chapbook)
Plays
- The Dungarvon Whooper (1975)
- Water Carrier, Bones and Earth (1983)
- Hockey Dreams (2009)
Short stories
- Dancers at Night (1978)
- Dane (1978)
The Christmas Tree (2008)
Non-fiction
- A Lad From Brantford and Other Essays (1994)
- Hockey Dreams: Memories of a Man Who Couldn't Play (1996)
- Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi (1998, winner of the 1998 Governor General's Award)
- Extraordinary Canadians: Lord Beaverbrook (2008)
- God is. (2009)
- Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Way of Life (2011)
- Murder and Other Essays (2019)
General
- "Non-Judgmental Truth: An Interview with David Adams Richards" by Craig Proctor, Blood & Aphorisms (Winter 1998)
Personal life
In 1971, Richards married Peggy McIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas Richards and Anton Richards, and reside in Fredericton as of December 2012.[16][17]
References
- ^ a b "Trudeau-appointed senator quits group of Independents" CTV News, 25 April 2018.
- ^ "David Adams Richards". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 10 April 2008.
- ^ a b "Trudeau appoints acclaimed writer David Adams Richards to Senate". Toronto Star, 30 August 2017.
- ^ Zenari, Vivian. "David Adams Richards". Athabasca University – Centre for Language and Literature. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ^ "Canadian author hides message of hope in bleak landscape". The Catholic Register, 4 December 2016.
- ^ Chase, Steve; Fife, Robert (25 April 2018). "Senator quits Independent Senators Group to be 'totally independent'". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
- ^ "Senators List". Senate of Canada. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "The Hon. David Adams Richards, Senator". Parliament of Canada, Parlinfo. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ Zimonjic, Peter. "Giller Prize-winning author and senator David Richards joins Conservative caucus". CBC News. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ^ "24 Years of WFNB Literary Competition Winners!". Writers' Federation of New Brunswick. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ^ "Governor General Announces 57 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. 30 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ^ "New Brunswick author wins big prize". Times & Transcript, 3 November 2011.
- ^ "McGill announces its Spring 2025 Honorary Degree recipients". Retrieved 10 June 2025.
- ^ "David Adams Richards fonds". University of New Brunswick. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ^ Johns, Stephanie, "Dan MacCormack is book smart", The Coast, 13 November 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ "Books: The Friends of Meager Fortune". Random House. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ^ "Adams Richards named to Order of Canada". The Daily Gleaner. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Richards' item at English-Canadian writers, Aathabasca University, by Vivian Zenari; incl. several hyperlinks
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Presiding officers:
- Speaker: Raymonde Gagné
- Speaker pro tempore: René Cormier
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■ Fridhandler
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| MB |
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- 1 vacancy
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| NB |
- ■ Arnold
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- ■
- ■ Ringuette
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| NS |
- ■ Aucoin
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| 1930s |
- Bertram Brooker, Think of the Earth (1936)
- Laura Salverson, The Dark Weaver (1937)
- Gwethalyn Graham, Swiss Sonata (1938)
- Franklin D. McDowell, The Champlain Road (1939)
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| 1940s |
- Ringuet, Thirty Acres (1940)
- Alan Sullivan, Three Came to Ville Marie (1941)
- G. Herbert Sallans, Little Man (1942)
- Thomas Head Raddall, The Pied Piper of Dipper Creek (1943)
- Gwethalyn Graham, Earth and High Heaven (1944)
- Hugh MacLennan, Two Solitudes (1945)
- Winifred Bambrick, Continental Revue (1946)
- Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute (1947)
- Hugh MacLennan, The Precipice (1948)
- Philip Child, Mr. Ames Against Time (1949)
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| 1950s |
- Germaine Guèvremont, The Outlander (1950)
- Morley Callaghan, The Loved and the Lost (1951)
- David Walker, The Pillar (1952)
- David Walker, Digby (1953)
- Igor Gouzenko, The Fall of a Titan (1954)
- Lionel Shapiro, The Sixth of June (1955)
- Adele Wiseman, The Sacrifice (1956)
- Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches (1957)
- Colin McDougall, Execution (1958)
- Hugh MacLennan, The Watch That Ends the Night (1959)
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| 1960s |
- Brian Moore, The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1960)
- Malcolm Lowry, Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place (1961)
- Kildare Dobbs, Running to Paradise (1962)
- Hugh Garner, Hugh Garner's Best Stories (1963)
- Douglas LePan, The Deserter (1964)
- [no award] (1965)
- Margaret Laurence, A Jest of God (1966)
- [no award] (1967)
- Alice Munro, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968)
- Robert Kroetsch, The Studhorse Man (1969)
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| 1970s |
- Dave Godfrey, The New Ancestors (1970)
- Mordecai Richler, St. Urbain's Horseman (1971)
- Robertson Davies, The Manticore (1972)
- Rudy Wiebe, The Temptations of Big Bear (1973)
- Margaret Laurence, The Diviners (1974)
- Brian Moore, The Great Victorian Collection (1975)
- Marian Engel, Bear (1976)
- Timothy Findley, The Wars (1977)
- Alice Munro, Who Do You Think You Are? (1978)
- Jack Hodgins, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979)
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| 1980s |
- George Bowering, Burning Water (1980)
- Mavis Gallant, Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, Man Descending (1982)
- Leon Rooke, Shakespeare's Dog (1983)
- Josef Škvorecký, The Engineer of Human Souls (1984)
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
- Alice Munro, The Progress of Love (1986)
- M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine (1987)
- , Nights Below Station Street (1988)
- Paul Quarrington, Whale Music (1989)
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| 1990s |
- Nino Ricci, Lives of the Saints (1990)
- Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey (1991)
- Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992)
- Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries (1993)
- Rudy Wiebe, A Discovery of Strangers (1994)
- Greg Hollingshead, The Roaring Girl (1995)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Englishman's Boy (1996)
- Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter (1997)
- Diane Schoemperlen, Forms of Devotion (1998)
- Matt Cohen, Elizabeth and After (1999)
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| 2000s |
- Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost (2000)
- Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan (2001)
- Gloria Sawai, A Song for Nettie Johnson (2002)
- Douglas Glover, Elle (2003)
- Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness (2004)
- David Gilmour, A Perfect Night to Go to China (2005)
- Peter Behrens, The Law of Dreams (2006)
- Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero (2007)
- Nino Ricci, The Origin of Species (2008)
- Kate Pullinger, The Mistress of Nothing (2009)
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| 2010s |
- Dianne Warren, Cool Water (2010)
- Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (2011)
- Linda Spalding, The Purchase (2012)
- Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries (2013)
- Thomas King, The Back of the Turtle (2014)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, Daddy Lenin and Other Stories (2015)
- Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
- Joel Thomas Hynes, We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (2017)
- Sarah Henstra, The Red Word (2018)
- Joan Thomas, Five Wives (2019)
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| 2020s |
- Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (2020)
- Norma Dunning, Tainna (2021)
- Sheila Heti, Pure Colour (2022)
- Anuja Varghese, Chrysalis (2023)
- Jordan Abel, Empty Spaces (2024)
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| 1930s |
- Thomas Beattie Roberton, TBR: Newspaper Pieces (1936)
- Stephen Leacock, My Discovery of the West (1937)
- John Murray Gibbon, Canadian Mosaic (1938)
- Laura Salverson, Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter (1939)
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| 1940s |
- J. F. C. Wright, Slava Bohu (1940)
- Emily Carr, Klee Wyck (1941)
- Bruce Hutchison, The Unknown Country (1942)
- Edgar McInnis, The Unguarded Frontier (1942)
- E. K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry (1943)
- John Robins, The Incomplete Anglers (1943)
- Dorothy Duncan, Partner in Three Worlds (1944)
- Edgar McInnis, The War: Fourth Year (1944)
- Ross Munro, Gauntlet to Overlord (1945)
- Evelyn M. Richardson, We Keep a Light (1945)
- Frederick Phillip Grove, In Search of Myself (1946)
- Arthur R. M. Lower, Colony to Nation (1946)
- William Sclater, Haida (1947)
- Robert MacGregor Dawson, The Government of Canada (1947)
- Thomas Head Raddall, Halifax, Warden of the North (1948)
- C. P. Stacey, The Canadian Army, 1939-1945 (1948)
- Hugh MacLennan, Cross-country (1949)
- Robert MacGregor Dawson, Democratic Government in Canada (1949)
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| 1950s |
- Marjorie Wilkins Campbell, The Saskatchewan (1950)
- W. L. Morton, The Progressive Party in Canada (1950)
- Frank MacKinnon, The Progressive Party in Canada (1951)
- Josephine Phelan, The Ardent Exile (1951)
- Donald G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald, The Young Politician (1952)
- Bruce Hutchison, The Incredible Canadian (1952)
- J. M. S. Careless, Canada, A Story of Challenge (1953)
- N. J. Berrill, Sex and the Nature of Things (1953)
- Hugh MacLennan, Thirty and Three (1954)
- Arthur R. M. Lower, This Most Famous Stream (1954)
- N. J. Berrill, Man's Emerging Mind (1955)
- Donald G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald, The Old Chieftain (1955)
- Pierre Berton, The Mysterious North (1956)
- Joseph Lister Rutledge, Century of Conflict (1956)
- Thomas H. Raddall, The Path of Destiny (1957)
- Bruce Hutchison, Canada: Tomorrow's Giant (1957)
- Pierre Berton, Klondike (1958)
- Joyce Hemlow, The History of Fanny Burney (1958)
- [No award] (1959)
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| 1960s |
- Frank Underhill, In Search of Canadian Liberalism (1960)
- T. A. Goudge, The Ascent of Life (1961)
- Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
- J.M.S. Careless, Brown of the Globe (1963)
- Phyllis Grosskurth, John Addington Symonds (1964)
- James Eayrs, In Defence of Canada (1965)
- George Woodcock, The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell (1966)
- Norah Story, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature (1967)
- Mordecai Richler, Hunting Tigers Under Glass (1968)
- [No award] (1969)
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| 1970s |
- [No award] (1970)
- Pierre Berton, The Last Spike (1971)
- [No award] (1972)
- Michael Bell, Painters in a New Land (1973)
- Charles Ritchie, The Siren Years (1974)
- Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson, Hallowed Walls (1975)
- Carl Berger, The Writing of Canadian History (1976)
- F. R. Scott, Essays on the Constitution (1977)
- Roger Caron, Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars (1978)
- Maria Tippett, Emily Carr (1979)
- Robert Bothwell and William Kilbourn, C.D. Howe (1979)
- Larry Pratt and John Richards, Prairie Capitalism (1979)
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| 1980s |
- Jeffrey Simpson, Discipline of Power: The Conservative Interlude and the Liberal Restoration (1980)
- George Calef, Caribou and the Barren-Land (1981)
- Christopher Moore, Louisbourg Portraits: Life in an Eighteenth- Century Garrison Town (1982)
- Jeffery Williams, Byng of Vimy: General and Governor General (1983)
- Sandra Gwyn, The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier (1984)
- Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada (1985)
- Northrop Frye, Northrop Frye on Shakespeare (1986)
- Michael Ignatieff, The Russian Album (1987)
- Anne Collins, In the Sleep Room (1988)
- Robert Calder, Willie: The Life of W. Somerset Maugham (1989)
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| 1990s |
- Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall, Trudeau and Our Times (1990)
- Robert Hunter and Robert Calihoo, Occupied Canada: A Young White Man Discovers His Unsuspected Past (1991)
- Maggie Siggins, Revenge of the Land: A Century of Greed, Tragedy and Murder on a Saskatchewan Farm (1992)
- Karen Connelly, Touch the Dragon (1993)
- John Livingston, Rogue Primate: An Exploration of Human Domestication (1994)
- Rosemary Sullivan, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen (1995)
- John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization (1996)
- Rachel Manley, Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood (1997)
- , Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi (1998)
- Marq de Villiers, Water (1999)
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| 2000s |
- Nega Mezlekia, Notes from the Hyena's Belly (2000)
- Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Ingenuity Gap (2001)
- Andrew Nikiforuk, Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig's War Against Big Oil (2002)
- Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (2003)
- Roméo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2004)
- John Vaillant, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed (2005)
- Ross King, The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism (2006)
- Karolyn Smardz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (2007)
- Christie Blatchford, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army (2008)
- M. G. Vassanji, A Place Within: Rediscovering India (2009)
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| 2010s |
- Allan Casey, Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada (2010)
- Charles Foran, Mordecai: The Life and Times (2011)
- Ross King, Leonardo and the Last Supper (2012)
- Sandra Djwa, Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (2013)
- Michael John Harris, The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection (2014)
- Mark L. Winston, Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive (2015)
- Bill Waiser, A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 (2016)
- Graeme Wood, The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State (2017)
- Darrel J. McLeod, Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age' (2018)
- Don Gillmor, To the River: Losing My Brother (2019)
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| 2020s |
- Madhur Anand, This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020)
- Sadiqa de Meijer, alfabet/alphabet: a memoir of a first language (2021)
- Eli Baxter, Aki-wayn-zih: A Person as Worthy as the Earth (2022)
- Kyo Maclear, Unearthing (2023)
- Niigaan Sinclair, Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre (2024)
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| 1990s | |
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| 2000s |
- Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost / , Mercy among the Children (2000)
- Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan (2001)
- Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe (2002)
- M. G. Vassanji, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (2003)
- Alice Munro, Runaway (2004)
- David Bergen, The Time in Between (2005)
- Vincent Lam, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures (2006)
- Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air (2007)
- Joseph Boyden, Through Black Spruce (2008)
- Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man (2009)
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| 2010s |
- Johanna Skibsrud, The Sentimentalists (2010)
- Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues (2011)
- Will Ferguson, 419 (2012)
- Lynn Coady, Hellgoing (2013)
- Sean Michaels, Us Conductors (2014)
- André Alexis, Fifteen Dogs (2015)
- Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
- Michael Redhill, Bellevue Square (2017)
- Esi Edugyan, Washington Black (2018)
- Ian Williams, Reproduction (2019)
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| 2020s |
- Souvankham Thammavongsa, How to Pronounce Knife (2020)
- Omar El Akkad, What Strange Paradise (2021)
- Suzette Mayr, The Sleeping Car Porter (2022)
- Sarah Bernstein, Study for Obedience (2023)
- Anne Michaels, Held (2024)
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Recipients of the Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award |
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| Marian Engel Award (1986-2007) | |
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| Timothy Findley Award (2002-2007) | |
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| Engel/Findley Award (2008-present) | |
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Authority control databases |
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