Media Release
Writer David Bergen to Receive Honorary Degree
Distinguished Manitoba novelist David Bergen to receive an Honorary Doctor of Letters
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JULY 31, 2007
WINNIPEG, MB – Highly acclaimed author David Bergen, renowned at home and abroad for his writing, is being recognized for his contributions to the Canadian literary landscape with an Honorary Doctorate Degree from The University of Winnipeg.
Bergen – a graduate of The University of Winnipeg – is an accomplished award-winning writer. Since his graduation, Bergen has made a literary splash by winning awards from the moment he started publishing. Among his list of awards, Bergen earned one of Canada’s most prestigious honors – The Giller Prize – for The Time in Between in 2005.
“David is a consummate writer,” says Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President of The University of Winnipeg. “His perseverance and dedication to his art form is extraordinary. The impact of his work is worth recognizing and what the future holds for him is as limitless as his creativity.”
Bergen’s first book of short stories – Sitting Opposite My Brother – earned him the coveted Hirsch Award in 1993. Since then, he has written four highly celebrated novels that have earned him numerous awards. His first novel, A Year of Lesser, earned him a New York Times Notable Book honor and was the winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. The Case of Lena S won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award in 2000, and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, The McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Bergen is one of nine people who will receive University of Winnipeg honorary degrees at a special convocation ceremony on Sept. 14, 2007. He is the second individual to be named an honorary doctorate degree recipient. The other is Raymond McFeetors. The university will announce the other recipients in the weeks leading up to its 40th Anniversary Homecoming Event, slated for Sept. 13-16. To register for Homecoming, please visit http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/fortieth-index.
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Located in the heart of downtown, The University of Winnipeg is a compact, diverse, multicultural academic community committed to access and excellence. Home to more than 9,200 full- and part-time students, UWinnipeg has been ranked by our graduates in the Top Ten of all Canadian universities when asked about their “Entire Educational Experience” (Maclean’s Graduate Survey, June 2006). The Globe & Mail 2006 Report Card gives The University of Winnipeg an overall ‘A’ grade in the areas of quality of education, teaching quality, class sizes, facultystudent-interaction, and the availability of faculty outside classroom hours. Find out why. Visit www.uwinnipeg.ca
For more information, please contact:
Naniece Ibrahim, Communications & Marketing Officer
The University of Winnipeg
T: 204.786.9939 E: n.ibrahim@uwinnipeg.ca