Rudy Wiebe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rudy Wiebe
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| Born | 4 October 1934 Fairholme, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Occupation | Author, professor |
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| Genre | fiction, non-fiction |
| Spouse |
Tena Isaak
(m. 1958) |
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Rudy Henry Wiebe is a well-known Canadian author and a former professor of English at the University of Alberta. He was born on October 4, 1934. In the year 2000, he was honored as an Officer of the Order of Canada, which is a very important award in Canada.
Growing Up
Rudy Wiebe was born in a small community called Speedwell, near Fairholme, Saskatchewan. His family was part of the last group of settlers to make their homes in the Canadian west. For 13 years, he lived in this quiet place with about 250 people.
When he was young, Rudy did not speak English. His family were Mennonites, and they spoke Low German at home. In church, they spoke standard German. He started learning English when he was six years old. He went to a small school about three miles from his farm.
In 1947, when Rudy was 13, his family moved to Coaldale, Alberta. He later went to the University of Alberta, where he earned his first degree in 1956. After that, he studied in West Germany, learning about literature and theology. He also traveled to several countries in Europe. In 1962, he earned another degree from a college in Winnipeg, which is now called Canadian Mennonite University.
His Writing Career
While living in Winnipeg, Rudy Wiebe worked as an editor for a newspaper called the Mennonite Brethren Herald. He left this job after his first novel, Peace Shall Destroy Many, was published in 1962. This book was important because it helped start a new wave of Mennonite literature in the years that followed.
Rudy Wiebe taught at Goshen College in Indiana for a few years. Then, he became a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he taught for many decades.
He has written many novels, including The Blue Mountains of China (1970), The Temptations of Big Bear (1973), and A Discovery of Strangers (1994). He has also written short stories, essays, and books for children. In 2006, he published a book about his own childhood called Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest.
Rudy Wiebe's books often explore the lives and challenges of people living in the Canadian Prairies. He writes about both settlers, who were often Mennonite, and Indigenous peoples.
Awards and Recognition
Rudy Wiebe has won many awards for his writing. He won the Governor General's Award for Fiction twice:
- In 1973, for his novel The Temptations of Big Bear.
- In 1994, for his novel A Discovery of Strangers.
The author Thomas King said that Wiebe's book The Temptations of Big Bear truly shows the feelings and struggles of Indigenous people at a certain time in history. He also mentioned that Wiebe helps us see that Canada still has important work to do regarding its relationship with Indigenous peoples.
In 1986, Rudy Wiebe received the Lorne Pierce Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. As mentioned earlier, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. In 2003, he was even a judge for the Giller Prize, another major literary award.
Personal Life
Rudy Wiebe married Tena Isaak in 1958. They have three children together.
Main Awards
- 1973 Governor General's Award for Fiction for The Temptations of Big Bear
- 1994 Governor General's Award for Fiction for A Discovery of Strangers
- 2007 Charles Taylor Prize for Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest
- 2009 Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Alberta
