Patrick Lane
Encyclopedia
Patrick Lane is an award-winning Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

. He has written in several other genres, including essays, short stories, and is the author of the novel Red Dog, Red Dog.

Biography

Born in Nelson
Nelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, he attended high school in Vernon
Vernon, British Columbia
Vernon is a city in the south-central region of British Columbia, Canada. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former MLA of British Columbia who helped found the famed Coldstream Ranch, the City of Vernon was incorporated on December 30, 1892. The City of Vernon has a population of 35,944 , while...

 and has had no formal education since. He first began writing poetry seriously in 1960. During his twenties, he held a series of difficult jobs in the logging industry in the northern part of the province—as a choker, truck driver, Industrial First Aid man, sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 worker, salesman and so on. In 1965, he moved to Vancouver and began to connect with other poets of his generation.

Lane, bill bissett
Bill Bissett
bill bissett is a Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style. He often does not capitalise his name or use capital letters.-Life:...

 and Seymour Mayne
Seymour Mayne
Seymour Mayne is a Canadian poet and literary translator. He has published over 50 works of poetry and literary criticism, and has edited several anthologies of Canadian and Jewish literature....

 founded the small-press publisher Very Stone House in 1966.

In 1968, Lane's first marriage ended and he moved to South America to dedicate himself completely to writing. When he returned, he remarried and established a home in the Okanagan Valley in 1972. In 1974 he and his wife moved to the Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast, British Columbia
The Sunshine Coast is a region of the southern mainland coast of British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, and just northwest of Greater Vancouver...

.

After a second divorce in 1978, he became Writer-in-Residence at University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

, where he met fellow poet Lorna Crozier
Lorna Crozier
Lorna Crozier is a Canadian poet and holds the Head Chair in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria....

, who has been his partner since then. Also in 1978, Lane won the Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...

 for his collection Poems, New and Selected.

Lane has lived for many years with Crozier in Saanichton
Central Saanich, British Columbia
Central Saanich is a district municipality in Greater Victoria and a member municipality of the Capital Regional District. It is located on the Saanich Peninsula. The district began as a farming community, and many hobby farms, along with a handful of small working farms and vineyards, still exist...

, British Columbia, where he tends a garden of 0.5 acres (2,023.4 m²) that has been featured on the television program Recreating Eden
Vision TV
VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic....

, and which he wrote about in the memoir There is a Season.

From 1986 to 1990, Lane taught creative writing and Canadian literature courses at the University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...

 in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....

, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, and later taught at the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

 in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, British Columbia from 1991 to 2004. Although retired from formal teaching, he remains an adjunct professor at UVic and frequently leads retreats and workshops for writers. Lane's commentaries can often be heard on CBC Radio. In 2007, he was awarded the fourth annual Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
The Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence is administered by the BC Book Prizes and recognizes a writer who has contributed significantly to the development of literary excellence in British Columbia, as well as having written a substantial body of literary work throughout his or her...

 for his lifetime contribution to literature in British Columbia. His novel Red Dog, Red Dog appeared in 2008.

A recovering alcoholic and cocaine user, Lane has written about his struggles with dependency in Addicted: Notes From the Belly of the Beast, which he co-edited with Crozier, and in There is a Season.

He has five children, three from his first marriage and two from his second. He is the brother of poet Red Lane.

Edited with Lorna Crozier

  • Breathing Fire - 1995
  • Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast - 2001
  • Breathing Fire 2 - 2004

External links

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