Patrick Friesen

Patrick Frank Friesen (born 5 July 1946) is a Canadian author. He has written many works, from poetry to stage plays. He began his works in 1970, writing books of poetry. This Canadian poet, who was born in Steinbach, Manitoba, studied at the University of Manitoba. While there, he received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree and a teaching certificate. After being a resident of Winnipeg for thirty years, Friesen now lives in Victoria, BC and is a teacher of creative writing at the University of Victoria. Friesen often collaborates with dancers, choreographers, composers and musicians. Along with writing poetry, he also writes songs for musicians and texts to Improv Piano. Friesen grew up in a small religious community, and comes from a Mennonite background, but he broke away from that small community physically and spiritually at a young age. His Mennonite upbringing still influences his work such as, “The Shunning,” which is about the persecution of a Mennonite farmer questioning his religion. The winner of Manitoba Book of the Year for his work on “Blasphemer’s Wheel," Friesen was also the runner up in Milton Acorn’s People’s Poetry Awards. In a 2004 interview Friesen has noted that, “Being Mennonite in background had all kinds of effects on [his] content.” In 1997, his work, “A Broken Bowl,” was short listed for the Governor General’s Award.

Friesen collaborated with Per Brask on the translation from Danish of Ulrikka S. Gernes' Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments, which has been shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize.