David Carpenter launches Niceman Cometh

David Carpenter (Professor Emeritus, English) launched his new novel, Niceman Cometh, published by Porcupine's Quill at McNally-Robinson's bookstore in Saskatoon on Nov. 26. Nova Scotia poet and fellow reader Jeanette Lynes introduced Carpenter and praised his generosity and influence as a mentor and editor to the Canadian writing community. “I’m sure he has a stack of manuscripts by his bedside right now."

Niceman Cometh is Carpenter’s third novel. His first, Banjo Lessons (1997) won the City of Edmonton Book Prize. Luck, his second novel, a mystery, was published in 2005. Works of non-fiction include two popular collections of essays, Writing Home, which explores his engagements with such writers as Richard Ford, Mordecai Richler, the French writer/scientist Georges Bugnet, and the late Raymond Carver; Courting Saskatchewan (1996), a month-by-month salute to the seasons; and a how-to book entitled Fishing in Western Canada (2000) that reflects his passion for the outdoors. Courting Saskatchewan received the 1996 Saskatchewan Book Award for nonfiction. Trout Stream Creed, a book of poetry, was published in 2003. Other published works include Jokes for the Apocalypse (1985), Jewels (1986), and God's Bedfellows (1988), as well as many articles. He is currently at work on a nonfiction book about the rise and fall of hunting as a pastime in North America, and a literary history of Saskatchewan.

David Carpenter received his BA and B.Ed from the University of Alberta, Edmonton and went south to do an M.A. in English at the University of Oregon. He returned to the University of Alberta for postgraduate work and after earning a PhD in 1973, he was awarded a two-year post-doctorate at the University of Manitoba. He joined the English Department at the U of S in 1975 and retired to write full-time in 1997.