Helen Tenenbaum Weinzweig was UNB’s seventh writer-in-residence for the 1988-1989 academic year. Born in Poland on May 21st in 1915, she moved to Canada with her family when she was just 10 years old. She left shcool to work at the age of 16, but she never stopped reading or educating herself. By the time she was 45 years old she had just begun to write due to the advice of her psychotherapist, and in 1973 she published her first novel Passing Ceremony at age 58. Achieving her literary success late in life, she still managed to dedicate nearly 40 years of her life to writing before she passed away on February 11th, 2010.
Her appointment was funded by the university, the Canada Council, and the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Heritage. Weinzweig was previously the playwright in residence at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto during 1984. During her year at UNB, Weinzweig lived in McLeod House “to resolve an unfulfilled ambition to go to college.” She was the first and only UNB writer-in-residence to stay in residence on campus.
Helen Weinzweig was proceeded by Douglas Glover, and succeeded by Nancy Bauer.
Notes:
Source(s):
UA Case 191; Section 2; Helen Weinzweig
Panofsky, Ruth. "A 'Sense of Loss': A Profile of Helen Weinzweig." Atlantis Vol. 22.1, Fall/Winter 1997. Web.