Elisabeth Harvor was UNB’s twelfth writer-in-residence for the fall term of 1994. She born in Saint John, New Brunswick on June 26th, 1936 (and is allegedly a distant relative of Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard). Growing up in a family that was not economically endowed with two potters for parents, Harvor was pushed into pursuing a practical profession, and began an education in Nursing in 1954 at the Saint John General Hospital. However, she dropped out 9 months before graduation. In 1970, Harvor published her first work in Canada in The Fiddlehead. She enrolled in Concordia University in Montreal in 1983, and after completing a qualifying years, Harvor obtained an M.A. in creative writing in 1986. She spent 23 years away from New Brunswick living all over Canada before returning to New Brunswick from Toronto, and while in Toronto she worked as a sessional lecturer of creative writing with the humanities department at York University. Harvor worked on a variety of material during her time at UNB, including a children’s book, a novella, and a poetry manuscript. Harvor is one of the few Canadian writers to have published both fiction and poetry in The New Yorker.
She gave a reading at Memorial Hall on September 26th from her then-newest book of poetry and other recent fiction she was working on. She also read on October 15th at St. Andrews Al Saints Anglican Church Hall in Frederixcton for The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick's annual fall fair.
Elisabeth Harvor was preceded by Karen Connelly and succeeded by Anne Michaels.
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Source(s):
UA Case 191; Section 2; Elisabeth Harvor