Brian Fawcett

Brian Fawcett (May 13, 1944 – February 27, 2022) was a Canadian writer<ref name="dooneyscafe">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="49th Shelf">Template:Cite web</ref> and cultural analyst. He was awarded the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize in 2003 for his book Virtual Clearcut, or The Way Things Are in My Hometown. He was also nominated for the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in 2012 for Human Happiness.

Early life

Fawcett was born in Prince George, British Columbia, on May 13, 1944.<ref name=Dalgleish>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Strickland>Template:Cite news</ref> His father, Hartley, was a soft drink salesman in Alberta who moved to Prince George during the late 1930s to establish his own company; his mother was Rita Surry.<ref name=Strickland/> Fawcett initially went to Connaught Junior High School in his hometown, before attending Prince George Senior High School. After working in the forest service for three years, he relocated to Vancouver at the age of 22 to study at the newly-formed Simon Fraser University (SFU).<ref name=Dalgleish/> There, he was taught by R. Murray Schafer and Robin Blaser,<ref name="NSB bio">Template:Cite web</ref> who influenced his writings. Fawcett graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for the 1969–1970 academic year. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as an urban planner and community organizer in Metro Vancouver until 1985.<ref name="Booklook">Template:Cite web</ref> He also taught English to inmates in Matsqui Institution.<ref name=Strickland/>

Career

Fawcett established a small magazine at SFU named NMFG (an acronym for "No Money From Government").<ref name="Booklook"/> He utilized the pen name Gordon Lockhead to edit the periodical, which was issued from February 1976 until September 1978.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He authored seven books of poetry during this time. He later published his first collection of short stories in 1982, titled My Career with the Leafs and Other Stories, in which he recounted childhood memories of growing up in Prince George.<ref name="Booklook"/>

Fawcett ultimately published over 20 books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.<ref name=Dalgleish/> One of these works, Cambodia: A Book for People Who Find Television Too Slow (1986), which gave an account of the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide, received recognition across Canada.<ref name=Strickland/> In another collection of short stories titled Capital Tales (1984), he delved into violence and a variety of storytelling techniques. The Secret Journal of Alexander Mackenzie, released one year later, analyzed the misuse of the remote areas of British Columbia in a fictional setting, as well as recognizing the "global village" invasion from a psychological and economic perspective.<ref name="Booklook"/> Fawcett also authored a column in The Globe and Mail focusing on political and cultural affairs.<ref name=Strickland/><ref name="Booklook"/> After residing in Vancouver for around a quarter of a century,<ref name=Dalgleish/> he relocated to Toronto and co-founded the website www.dooneyscafe.com in 2001, together with Stan Persky.<ref name="dooneyscafe" /><ref name="Booklook"/> Named after a restaurant on Toronto's Bloor Street West, the site is described as "a news service" and to which he was a regular contributor. He also taught cultural literacy in maximum security prisons.<ref name="NSB bio"/><ref name="Booklook"/> His book Virtual Clearcut: Or, the Way Things Are in My Hometown won the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize in 2003,<ref group="upper-alpha">The award was later renamed in 2011, when Hilary Weston began sponsoring the Writers' Trust Prize.<ref name="WT">Template:Cite web</ref></ref> with Fawcett receiving C$15,000 as a result.<ref name="Booklook" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Human Happiness was published in 2012 and was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence. Fawcett released his final major book the following year, titled The Last of the Lumbermen. It detailed a celebrated hockey team in Prince George during the 1950s and 1960s, and became one of his most eminent works. Fawcett was working on two books at the time of his death in 2022, which are scheduled to be published posthumously.<ref name=Dalgleish/>

Personal life

Fawcett married his first wife, Sharon Thesen, in October 1966.<ref name="Essays 1991">Template:Cite book</ref> They were high school sweethearts and later studied at SFU together.<ref name=Strickland/> Together, they had one child, Jesse. They separated in 1972,<ref name="Essays 1991"/> and eventually divorced.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After moving to Toronto, Fawcett married Leanna Crouch, who was a producer of Imprint.<ref name="Booklook"/> Together, they had one daughter, Hartlea.<ref name="NSB bio"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He was later in a domestic partnership with Fran Piccaluga until his death. He had another child, Max.<ref name=Dalgleish/>

Fawcett died on February 27, 2022, in Toronto, at age 77, after suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for four years.<ref name=Dalgleish/><ref name=Strickland/>

Bibliography

Fiction

• The Opening: Prince George, Finally (1974)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• My Career with the Leafs and Other Stories (1982) Template:ISBN
• Capital Tales (1984) Template:ISBN
• The Secret Journal of Alexander Mackenzie (1985) Template:ISBN
• Cambodia: A Book for People Who Find Television Too Slow (1986)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:ISBN
• Public Eye: An Investigation Into the Disappearance of the World (1990) Template:ISBN
• Gender Wars: A Novel and Some Conversation About Sex and Gender (1994) Template:ISBN
• The Last of the Lumbermen (2013)<ref name="Hinzmann" /> Template:ISBN
• A Blue Spruce Christmas (2010) Template:ISBN

Poetry

• Five Books of a Northmanual (1971)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Friends (1971)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Permanent Relationships (1975) Template:ISBN
• The Second Life (1976)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Creatures of State (1977) Template:ISBN
• Tristram's Book (1981)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Aggressive Transport (1982)<ref name="Leonard">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Non-fiction

• Unusual Circumstances, Interesting Times and Other Impolite Interventions (1991) Template:ISBN
• The Compact Garden: Discovering the Pleasures of Planting in a Small Space (1992) Template:ISBN
• The Disbeliever's Dictionary: A Completely Disrespectful Lexicon of Canada Today (1997) Template:ISBN
• Virtual Clearcut, or The Way Things Are in My Hometown (2003)<ref name="Hinzmann">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Kett">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NOW">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Local Matters: A Defence of Dooney's Café and other Non-Globalized Places, People, and Ideas (2003)<ref name="Lynch">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Babstock">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Human Happiness (2011)<ref name="Marchand">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Ruebsaat">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Medley">Template:Cite news</ref>

Further reading

• Doyle, MF. interview Ten Questions, with Brian Fawcett Open Book: Toronto.
• Five Questions with Brian Fawcett (interview). Open Book: Toronto, 2012.
• Wiersema, Robert. British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. Introduction for Brian Fawcett Template:Webarchive. British Columbia Achievement Foundation.

External links

• www.dooneyscafe.com
• Brian Fawcett fonds (1996.2) at Northern BC Archives