Editing David Adams Richards

{{Short description|Canadian writer and member of the Canadian Senate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image            = David Adams Richards - DanH-4021 (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Richards in 2014
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|ONB|size=100%}}
| name             = David Adams Richards
| birth_name       = 
| office           = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] from [[New Brunswick]]
| term_start       = 30 August 2017
| term_end         = 
| predecessor      = [[John D. Wallace]]
| successor        = 
| nominator        = [[Justin Trudeau]]
| appointed        = [[David Johnston (governor general)|David Johnston]]
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1950|10|17}}
| birth_place      = [[Newcastle, New Brunswick]], Canada
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| spouse           = Peggy McIntyre
| party            = [[Independent politician|Non-affiliated]] (2018-2019, 2024-present)<ref name="ctvnews.ca">[https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/trudeau-appointed-senator-quits-group-of-independents-1.3901854 "Trudeau-appointed senator quits group of Independents"] ''CTV News'', 25 April 2018.</ref>
| otherparty       = [[Canadian Senators Group]] (2019-2024)<br />[[Independent Senators Group]] (2016-2017)
| profession       = Writer
| awards           = [[Governor General's Award]]<br />[[Gemini Award]]<br />[[Giller Prize]]
}}

'''David Adams Richards''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|ONB}} (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian writer<ref>[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/david-adams-richards/ "David Adams Richards"]. ''[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]'', 10 April 2008.</ref> and member of the [[Senate of Canada|Canadian Senate]].<ref name=senate>[https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/30/trudeau-appoints-acclaimed-writer-david-adams-richards-to-senate.html "Trudeau appoints acclaimed writer David Adams Richards to Senate"]. ''[[Toronto Star]]'', 30 August 2017.</ref>

==Background==
Born in [[Newcastle, New Brunswick|Newcastle]], [[New Brunswick]], Richards left [[St. Thomas University (New Brunswick)|St. Thomas University]] in [[Fredericton]], three credits shy of completing a BA.<ref name=AthabascaCLL>{{cite web | url=http://www.athabascau.ca/writers/darichards.html | title=David Adams Richards | publisher=Athabasca University – Centre for Language and Literature | first=Vivian | last=Zenari | access-date=10 March 2010}}</ref> After publishing a poetry chapbook in 1972, he won the Norma Epstein Award, a literary prize for unpublished writing by Canadian university students, in 1974 for an excerpt from his novel manuscript ''[[The Coming of Winter]]'', and the novel was published later that year as his fiction debut.

==Career==
Over his career as a writer, Richards has published novels, stage plays, short stories and non-fiction work. His fiction typically addresses the lives and experiences of poor and [[working class]] residents of the [[Miramichi, New Brunswick|Miramichi]] region of New Brunswick, exploring spiritual and philosophical themes influenced by Richards' [[Roman Catholic]] faith.<ref>[https://www.catholicregister.org/item/23759-canadian-author-hides-message-of-hope-in-bleak-landscape "Canadian author hides message of hope in bleak landscape"]. ''[[The Catholic Register]]'', 4 December 2016.</ref>

Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the [[University of New Brunswick]].

On 30 August 2017, the appointment of Richards to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]] was announced.<ref name=senate/>

On 25 April 2018, Richards resigned from the [[Independent Senators Group]] to sit as an unaffiliated senator.<ref name="ctvnews.ca">[https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/trudeau-appointed-senator-quits-group-of-independents-1.3901854 "Trudeau-appointed senator quits group of Independents"] ''CTV News'', 25 April 2018.</ref> Richards stressed that he had not felt pressured by the ISG, saying that he left because he wants a high degree of personal autonomy, citing how he never joined the [[Writers' Union of Canada]] or [[PEN Canada]] as an author. Richards also said that since Trudeau had appointed him as an independent, he felt it was his duty to be as independent as possible.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-senator-quits-independent-senators-group-to-be-totally-independent/|title=Senator quits Independent Senators Group to be 'totally independent'|last1=Chase|first1=Steve|date=25 April 2018|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|location=Toronto|access-date=13 October 2018|last2=Fife|first2=Robert|author-link2=Robert Fife}}</ref>

On 4 November 2019, he joined the [[Canadian Senators Group]].<ref name="sen-canada-senators-list">{{cite web |title=Senators List |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators-list/ |website=Senate of Canada |access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref>

==Awards==
Richards has received numerous awards including two [[Gemini Awards]] for scriptwriting for ''Small Gifts'' and ''[[For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down]]'', the [[Alden Nowlan Award]] for Excellence in the Arts, and the [[Canadian Authors Association]] Award for his novel ''Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace''. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the [[Governor General's Award]]. He won the [[1988 Governor General's Awards|1988 fiction award]] for ''Nights Below Station Street'' and the [[1998 Governor General's Awards|1998 non-fiction award]] for ''Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi''. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 [[Giller Prize]] for ''[[Mercy Among the Children]]''. The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Prize for Fiction.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.umce.ca/wfnb/wnners.htm | title=24 Years of WFNB Literary Competition Winners! | publisher=Writers' Federation of New Brunswick | access-date=10 March 2010}}</ref>

In 2009, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Canada]] "for his contributions to the Canadian literary scene as an essayist, screenwriter and writer of fiction and non-fiction".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=13469|title=Governor General Announces 57 New Appointments to the Order of Canada|work=Office of the Secretary to the Governor General|access-date=10 March 2010|date=30 December 2009}}</ref>

In 2011, Richards received the [[Matt Cohen Prize]].<ref>"New Brunswick author wins big prize". ''[[Times & Transcript]]'', 3 November 2011.</ref>

==Bibliography==
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lib.unb.ca/archives/finding/richards/intro.html | title=David Adams Richards fonds | publisher=University of New Brunswick | access-date=10 March 2010}}</ref>

In 2014, [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] singer-songwriter Dan MacCormack released an album of songs inspired by Richards' novels, called ''Symphony of Ghosts''. The title was taken from a line in ''Mercy Among the Children.''<ref>Johns, Stephanie, "[http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/dan-maccormack-is-book-smart/Content?oid=4457132 Dan MacCormack is book smart]", ''The Coast'', 13 November 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2016.</ref>

===Novels===
[[File:Bookbits - 2011-05-16 David Adams Richards-'Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul'.vorb.oga|thumb|right|David Adams Richards talks about Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul on Bookbits radio.]]
* ''[[The Coming of Winter]]'' (1974)
* ''[[Blood Ties (Richards novel)|Blood Ties]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Lives of Short Duration]]'' (1981)
* ''[[Road to the Stilt House]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Nights Below Station Street]]'' (1988, winner of the [[1988 Governor General's Awards|1988 Governor General's Award]] for fiction)
* ''[[Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace]]'' (1990)
* ''[[For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down]]'' (1993, nominated for a [[1993 Governor General's Awards|Governor General's Award]], winner of the 1994 [[Thomas Head Raddall Award]])
* ''[[Hope in the Desperate Hour]]'' (1996)
* ''[[The Bay of Love and Sorrows]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Mercy Among the Children]]'' (2000) (co-winner of the [[Giller Prize]])
* ''[[River of the Broken-Hearted]]'' (2004)
* ''[[The Friends of Meager Fortune]]'' (2006) (longlisted for the [[Giller Prize]])
* ''[[The Lost Highway]]'' (2007) (longlisted for the [[Giller Prize]], Nominated Governor General's Awards 2008 Governor General's Award)
* ''[[Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul]]'' (2011)
* ''[[Crimes Against My Brother]]'' (2014)
* ''[[Principles to Live By]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Mary Cyr]]'' (2018)

===Poetry===
* ''Small Heroics'' (1972) (chapbook)

===Plays===
* ''The Dungarvon Whooper'' (1975)
* ''Water Carrier, Bones and Earth'' (1983)
* ''Hockey Dreams'' (2009)

===Short stories===
* ''Dancers at Night'' (1978)
* ''Dane'' (1978)
The Christmas Tree (2008)

===Non-fiction===
* ''A Lad From Brantford and Other Essays'' (1994)
* ''Hockey Dreams: Memories of a Man Who Couldn't Play'' (1996)
* ''Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi'' (1998, winner of the [[1998 Governor General's Awards|1998 Governor General's Award]])
* ''Extraordinary Canadians: Lord Beaverbrook'' (2008)
* ''God is.'' (2009)
* ''Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Way of Life'' (2011)
* ''Murder and Other Essays'' (2019)

===General===
* "Non-Judgmental Truth: An Interview with David Adams Richards" by Craig Proctor, ''Blood & Aphorisms'' (Winter 1998)

==Personal life==
In 1971, Richards married Peggy McIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas Richards and Anton Richards, and reside in Fredericton {{as of|December 2012|lc=on}}.<ref name=RandomHouse>{{cite web | url=http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385660952 | title=Books: ''The Friends of Meager Fortune'' | publisher=Random House | access-date=10 March 2010 }}</ref><ref name=DG31Dec2009>{{cite news | url=http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/905583 | title=Adams Richards named to Order of Canada | publisher=[[The Daily Gleaner]] | date=31 December 2009 | access-date=10 March 2010 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.davidadamsrichards.com}}
* [http://canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/darichards/darichards.php Richards'] item at English-Canadian writers, Aathabasca University, by Vivian Zenari; incl. several hyperlinks

{{Senate of Canada}}
{{Governor General's English fiction|state=collapsed}}
{{Governor General's English non-fiction|state=collapsed}}
{{Giller Prize}}
{{Engel/Findley Award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, David Adams}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian male novelists]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:People from Miramichi, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:People from Northumberland County, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Independent Canadian senators]]
[[Category:Canadian Senators Group]]
[[Category:Canadian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Canadian Screen Award winning writers]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New Brunswick]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada]]