Kenneth J. Harvey was the University of New Brunswick's fourteenth writer-in-residence for the 1996-1997 school year. A native of Newfoundland, Harvey is well known for his practical experience in business side of writing. He has asserted his commitment to self-promotion, and claiming that publishers don't promote authors very well unless they are 'big-name', Harvey dubs himself "a businessman who writes." In 2000, Harvey set up the ReLit Awards (short for Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, Relighting Literature) which is given to emerging authors from small publishers, in order to combat Harvey's perception that the big awards favour big publishers.
Kenneth J. Harvey's first appearance as the writer-in-residence for the University of New Brunswick was with a public reading at Memorial Hall, on September 24th.
Harvey was preceded by Anne Michaels, and was succeeded by Carol Malyon.
"I equate writing to building something. You put up the frame, you fill it all in, then you get down to the fine woodworking and sanding, going through different grades of sandpaper. That's what you end up doing with sentences."
Notes:
Source(s):
UA Case 191; Section 2; Kenneth J. Harvey