Goh was regarded as a pioneer of Singapore literature in English. He was born in Malaya and graduated in medicine from University College, Dublin, and practised medicine in Singapore for 25 years. During this time he wrote poetry, novels and plays (all published in Singapore and Hong Kong). Among his many other accomplishments, he also founded a literary magazine, a literary publishing company, and was vice-chairman of the Singapore Arts Council from 1967 to 1973. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion for Literature in 1982.
Goh emigrated to Canada in 1986, spending time on both the east and west of Canada in Newfoundland and Vancouver. He practiced medicine until 1995, when Parkinson’s disease forced him to retire. He passed away in Vancouver on January 10, 2010. For more information about this remarkable writer, please visit www.gohpohseng.com.
The Sunday Edition Visits The Al Purdy A-Frame Anthology - January 4, 2010
This December 20th discussion on The Sunday Edition opens with Dennis Lee—who wrote the introduction to The Al Purdy A-Frame Anthology—reminiscing about his past visits to the A-frame and his encounters with Al Purdy. The A-frame is an unassuming house in Ameliasburgh, Ontario built by Al and his wife Eurithe; a place which nourished Al’s poetry and the writing of countless other Canadian authors including George Bowering, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje. This place transformed Al’s writing from arguably terrible to undeniably great. It was at the A-frame that Purdy became what Lee calls the Walt Whitman of Canada. That is, the first to give Canada its own voice. Lee explains the importance of preserving the Purdy A-frame as a retreat for future generations of Canadian writers who might add more unique voice to our country’s growing library. For more information about preserving the A-frame, please visit the Al Purdy A-frame Trust.
Tragedy at Second Narrows Revisited in Author Lecture - December 23, 2009
The Fraser Valley Regional Library is pleased to present two events with author Eric Jamieson, who revisits one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of British Columbia in an illustrated lecture based on his award-winning book, Tragedy at Second Narrows: The Story of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Jamieson will be speaking about the tragedy at the Murrayville Library, 22071 48th Avenue in Langley, on Thursday, January 14 at 7pm and at the White Rock Library, 15342 Buena Vista, on Monday, January 18 at 7pm.
Jamieson won first prize in BC Historical Federation’s annual writing competition in 2009, winning the coveted Lieutenant-Governor Medal for Historical Writing. ... click to see news item
David Zieroth Wins the Governor General's Award for Poetry - DEcember 24, 2009
Harbour author David Zieroth has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry for his eighth collection, The Fly in Autumn.
The winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards were announced in Montreal on November 17. “I am honoured the jury selected The Fly in Autumn for this award,” Zieroth remarked in his acceptance speech, “and I am deeply grateful to live in a country that supports its poets. I am grateful my grandparents came to Canada from Germany, grateful my parents encouraged my reading though at times were bewildered by my writing.... I’m thankful for the community of poets and poetry lovers in North Vancouver, and for the kinship among poets across Canada.”
The jury--composed of Janice Kulyk Keefer, George Murray and John Pass--notes that “The Fly in Autumn is a note-perfect rendering of the poet’s greatest challenge--to risk oneself in the name of knowing and feeling. It reveals that quietness need not mean silence, that modesty need not mean invisibility, and that comfort is not always found in ease.”
The Fly in Autumn is a nuanced work with an absurdist twist in which recognizable landscapes--of North Vancouver quays and piers and harbour fog--are sometimes irrevocably altered by "water-light" into places of the mind alive with "the hundred thousand thoughts everyone collects in a day." ... click to see news item
New Encyclopedia on the BC Coast garners praise from the Victoria Times Colonist - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The review, written by Dave Obee, goes on to say, “This encyclopedia is not a boring recitation of place names and their origins. Scott goes much deeper than that, spinning stories about the places, the people whose names are on our maps, and the times. It makes for fascinating reading, and it will be used as a key reference for years to come—if not decades.” ... click to see news item
Harbour Author Named Finalist for Prestigious Literary Award - November 2, 2009
The $10,000 award, administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, encourages and recognizes Canadian writers for a first or second work of creative non-fiction that includes a Canadian locale and/or significance. ... click to see news item
Nightwood Editions Author Shortlisted for Kobzar Literary Award - October 8, 2009
Nightwood Editions author Elizabeth Bachinsky has just been named a finalist for the prestigious Kobzar Literary Award for her poetry collection God of Missed Connections. Presented biennially, the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award recognizes a Canadian writer who best presents a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit through poetry, play, screenplay, musical, fiction, non-fiction or young people's literature.
Written in the near absence of creative works by Ukrainian-Canadians of her generation, God of Missed Connections is a breakthrough collection by one of Canada's leading young poets. This book is profound, devastating, and draws on Ukraine's brave and bloody history as a means to explore the author's place in the contemporary world. ... click to see news item
It is with regret that we announce the passing of 
If Christmas shopping and holiday planning got in the way of you hearing Michael Enright of CBC Radio’s 
Harbour author
Author 
Powell River author 