MFA in Writing Student Amanda Dawson Covers the 2019 Kloppenburg Award Ceremony

The 2019 Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence took place this year on September 10^th at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon. I arrived, damp from the rain and a bit out of sorts, having initially gone in through the wrong door and feeling keenly aware that I did not know a single soul in the room beyond. Once inside, Yolanda Hansen of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild invited me to sit at a table near the stage, where I was received by other members of the SWG. I was struck by how friendly and welcoming everyone was, and soon found that my apprehension had given way to a tangible excitement.

The atmosphere in the building was friendly and comfortable, shot through with tendrils of anticipation. Candles glittered on every table, illuminating the faces of guests as they gathered around the tables. The air was thick with laughter and conversation as people greeted old friends and new acquaintances. Jillian Bell, president of the SWG, approached the podium and introduced patrons of the award, Henry and Cheryl Kloppenburg, as well as renowned Saskatchewan artist Dorothy Knowles, a print of whose work is included as part of the award.

After a break for lunch, Bell again took the stage to begin the event, introducing the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, His Honor the Honorable Russ Mirasty. Mirasty thanked the SWG for its support of Saskatchewan writers and Henry and Cheryl Kloppenburg for their generous donation in the form of the award. He then extended congratulations to the recipient of the award, and passed the stage to City Councillor Cynthia Block. Block spoke of Saskatchewan’s vibrant writing community and thanked the Kloppenburgs for supporting local writers.

Following this, Bell invited the Kloppenburgs to the stage. Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg, lawyers by profession, but philanthropists at heart, established their award for literary excellence in 2010. The Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence recognizes a Saskatchewan writer who has written a substantial body of literary work. The prize consists of an award of $10,000 donated by Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg and a framed print of a work of art by Saskatchewan artist Dorothy Knowles.

This year’s award was the tenth of its kind. Speaking to the gathered crowd, the Kloppenburgs described the lack of recognition Saskatchewan writers get as being the main motive for their creation of the award. Henry Kloppenburg also mentioned that this year, they had run out of prints of Knowles’ painting, and had decided to purchase twenty more.

A hush descended upon the tables as the much-anticipated moment came, and Cheryl Kloppenburg announced the tenth recipient of the Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence: Arthur Slade. The Kloppenburgs acknowledged the popularity and talent of Mr. Slade, who has written twenty-five novels for young readers including The Hunchback Assignments, which won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and Dust, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature.

Author Arthur Slade mounted the stage amidst a deluge of enthusiastic applause, coming to stand beside the Kloppenburgs next to the podium. Slade was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, and now resides in Saskatoon. He began writing while in high school and had his first short story published in 1989. Slade thanked the Kloppenburgs for their generosity, and also thanked the SWG for their role in helping Saskatchewan writers, noting that he himself has been a member since he was fifteen years old. Slade went on to acknowledge the support of family members before reading a passage from his young adult novel, Meggido’s Shadow.

On being a writer in Saskatchewan, Slade had this to say:

“Writers in Saskatchewan have a wonderful set of advantages: we have a strong guild, The Saskatchewan Writers Guild, that has been in our corner for fifty years now. On top of that, Saskatchewan is home to the first arts board in North America and it has been financially supporting writers for many decades. And finally we have so many fine writers like Guy Vanderhaeghe, Yann Martel and Sharon Butala who have shown the rest of us what is possible. So it doesn’t seem crazy to choose this as a career.”

Watching Arthur Slade receive the 2019 Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence was especially encouraging for me. Like Slade, my writing interests lie in genre fiction. Seeing such a significant award being given to someone who writes in a field that is so often overlooked and undervalued suggests to me that the writing community of Saskatchewan is a diverse group, and more significantly, it supports writers of varied backgrounds and genres. Slade is certainly correct in noting that to see other successful writers that come from the same place you do—and maybe even write the kinds of things you do— is inspiring.

Following Slade’s reading, Jillian Bell returned to the podium to close the ceremony, giving thanks and congratulations, and bidding everyone farewell. As I made my way out amongst the low murmur of laughter, the handshakes and the goodbye waves, I couldn’t help but feel that as a fledgling writer in this province, I was in good company.

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