David Arnason

David Arnason (born 23 May 1940) is a Canadian author and poet of Icelandic heritage from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has a son, Vincent Arnason.

Life

Born in Gimli, Manitoba, Arnason is of Icelandic descent and often writes about the Icelandic community in Canada. He is the son of Baldwin and Gudrun Arnason^[1] and the eldest of seven children. He attended the University of Manitoba where he received a B.A. (1961), a Certificate in Education (1963) and M.A. (1969), and has a PhD from the University of New Brunswick (1983-1984).^[1]^[2] Arnason co-founded the Journal of Canadian Fiction^[1] with John Moss at the University of New Brunswick in 1972.

He was one of the co-founders of Queenston House Press in Winnipeg and has been an editor of Turnstone Press in Winnipeg since 1975. He was chairman of the Literary Press Group and a member of the executive of the Association of Canadian Publishers. He served on the Manitoba Arts Council 1985–1987. He was a general editor of the Macmillan Themes in Canadian Literature series.^[1] He has been a member of the advisory board of Anansi Press.^[1] He began working for the CBC in the early 1970s; he has reviewed books and theatre, as well as created various radio adaptations.^[1] He has written short stories, poetry, and novels, fiction and non-fiction.^[1] He edited Dorothy Livesay's Right Hand, Left Hand.^[1]

He has taught at the University of Manitoba since 1973^[1] and was the head of the English Department from 1997 to 2006.^[2] He was Acting Head of the Department of Icelandic, at the University of Manitoba from 1998 to 2006. As of 2018 he is a full professor at the University of Manitoba and chair of both the Icelandic and the English departments.^[1] The University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections hold the David Arnason Fonds, which includes manuscripts and correspondence.^[1]^[3]

Works

1980: Marsh Burning
1981: The Icelanders
1982: Fifty Stories and a Piece of Advice
1984: The Circus Performers' Bar
1987: Skrag
1989: The Happiest Man in the World and Other Stories
1992: The Pagan Wall
1994: The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess
1994: The New Icelanders: A North American Community
1995: If Pigs Could Fly
2001: King Jerry
2002: The Demon Lover
2005: The Imagined City: A Literary History of Winnipeg Edited by David Arnason & Mhari Mackintosh, ISBN 978-0-88801-298-2 – The Imagined City won both The Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and The Mary Scorer Book Award for best book by a Manitoba publisher in 2005.
2010: Baldur's Song: A Saga