William Herbert New (born March 28, 1938) is a Canadian poet and literary critic.
Early life and education New was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was educated at John Oliver Secondary School, where he received one of the top matriculation exam scores in British Columbia in 1956. He also attended the University of British Columbia and the University of Leeds.
Career He taught English literature at the University of British Columbia from 1965 to 2003, where he was also the assistant dean of graduate studies from 1975 to 1977, and an acting head of the English department. He also was an associate in 1971 at the University of Cambridge's Clare Hall.
On October 5, 2006, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada and was invested October 26, 2007.
For 29 years, he held editorial positions at Canadian Literature and, in 2004, was made editor emeritus.
Personal life He is the son of John New and Edith New (nee Littlejohn).
On July 6, 1967, New married Margaret Elizabeth Frances Ebbs-Canavan.
He is the father of actor Peter New.
Selected works Criticism Malcolm Lowry — 1971 Articulating West — 1972 Among Worlds: An Introduction to Modern Commonwealth and South African Fiction — 1975 Malcolm Lowry: A Reference Guide — 1978 Dreams of Speech and Violence: The Art of the Short Story in Canada and New Zealand — 1987 A History of Canadian Literature — 1989 Land Sliding: Imagining Space, Presence & Power in Canadian Writing — 1997 Reading Mansfield and Metaphors of Form — 1999 The Encyclopedia of Canadian Literature — 2002 Grandchild of Empire: About Irony, Mainly in the Commonwealth — 2003
Poetry Science Lessons — 1996 Raucous — 1999 Stone | Rain — 2001 Riverbook and Ocean — 2002 Night Room — 2003 Underwood Log — 2004 Touching Ecuador — 2006 Along a Snake Fence Riding — 2007 The Rope-maker's Tale — 2009 YVR — 2011 New & Selected Poems — 2015 Neighbors — 2017 In the Plague Year — 2021 Inventing What We Need to Know — 2025
Children's books Vanilla Gorilla — 1998 Llamas in the Laundry — 2002 Dream Helmet — 2005 The Year I Was Grounded — 2008 Sam Swallow and the Riddleworld League — 2013
Anthologies edited Four Hemispheres — 1971 Voice and Vision — 1972 (with Jack Hodgins) Dramatists in Canada — 1972 Critical Writings on Commonwealth Literatures: A Bibliography — 1975 Modern Stories in English — 1975 (with H.J. Rosengarten) Modern Canadian Essays — 1976 Margaret Laurence: The Writer and Her Critics — 1977 A Political Art: Essays and Images in Honour of George Woodcock — 1978 Active Voice — 1980 (with W.E. Messenger) The Active Stylist — 1981 (with W.E. Messenger) A 20th Century Anthology — 1984 Canadian Short Fiction — 1986 Canadian Writers Since 1960 — 1986 Canadian Writers Since 1960, 2nd series — 1987 Canadian Writers 1920-1959 — 1988 Canadian Writers 1920-1959, 2nd series — 1989 Native Writers and Canadian Writing — 1990 Canadian Writers Before 1890 — 1990 Canadian Writers 1890-1920 — 1990 Inside the Poem — 1992 Literature in English — 1993 (with W.E. Messenger) Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada — 2002 Tropes and Territories: Short Fiction, Postcolonial Readings, Canadian Writings in Context — 2007 (with Marta Dvorak) From a Speaking Place: Writings from the First Fifty Years of Canadian Literature — 2009 (with Réjean Beaudoin, Susan Fisher, Iain Higgins, Eva-Marie Kröller and Laurie Ricou)
Honours and awards Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada — 1986 Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award — 2001 Lorne Pierce Medal — 2004 Officer of the Order of Canada — 2006 Mayor's Award for Literary Arts in Vancouver — 2012 City of Vancouver Book Award — 2012 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award — 2013
References
External links W. H. New, author at The Canadian Encyclopedia