Patrick Frank Friesen (born 5 July 1946) is a Canadian author born in Steinbach, Manitoba,[1] primarily known for his poetry and stage plays beginning in the 1970s.
Friesen was born into a Mennonite family in Steinbach, Manitoba in 1946. As a child growing up in Steinbach, he was friends with Shingoose, who later became a well-known musician, and Wayne Tefs, future author and co-founder of Turnstone Press.[2][3] After graduating high school at the Steinbach Collegiate Institute, he studied at the University of Manitoba and lived in Winnipeg for thirty years.[4]
In addition to poetry, Friesen has also written songs and collaborated with dancers, choreographers, composers and musicians. His Mennonite upbringing still influences his writing in work such as "The Shunning", which is about the persecution of a Mennonite farmer questioning his religion.
Friesen collaborated with Per Brask on the translation from Danish of Ulrikka S. Gernes' Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize.[6]
Outlasting the Weather: Selected and New Poems – 2020
Audio
Blue Door – 1997 (with Marilyn Lerner)
Small Rooms – 2003 (with Marilyn Lerner)
Calling the Dog Home – 2005 (with Marilyn Lerner)
Anthologies
An Anthology of Prairie Poetry – 1981 (Draft)
Ride Off Any Horizon – 1983
Visions and Reality – 1985
Pieces of the Jigsaw: A Multicultural Anthology for Young Readers – 1986
Why I am a Mennonite – 1988
Section Lines: A Manitoba Anthology – 1986
A Labour of Love – 1989
A/long Prairie Lines: An Anthology of Long Prairie Poems – 1989
Liars and Rascals, anthology of Mennonite short stories – 1989
Prairie Fire: New Mennonite Writing – 1989
Mennonite/s Writing in Canada – 1990
The Perfect Piece, Monologues from Canadian Plays – 1990
Inscriptions, A Prairie Poetry Anthology – 1992
Let the Earth Take Note, First Anthology of the National Milton Acorn Festival from 1987 to 1991 – 1994
Poetry and Knowing, essays – 1995
Our Fathers, Poetry and Prose, by daughters and sons from the prairies – 1995
Instant Applause, Volume II, Thirty Very Short Complete Plays – 1996
Passeport: La Poésie Moderne de Langue Anglaise au Canada – 1998
Following the Plough: Recovering the Rural – 2000
New Life in Dark Seas: Brick Books 25 – 2000
Mocambo Nights: Poetry From the Mocambo Reading Series – 2001
The New Long Line Anthology, 2nd Edition – 2001
15 Canadian Poets x 3 – 2001
Why I Sing the Blues – 2001
Instant Applause: Twenty-nine Very Short Complete Plays – 2004
Other works and collaborations
The Shunning, the Play, staged in 1985 by Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in 1992 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener, in 1992 by Trinity Theatre in Livonia, Michigan, in 1993 by MAUS Theatre in B.C., and in 1995 by Two Planks and a Passion in Nova Scotia.
Amanda, a short drama on CBC Radio Manitoba, 1986.
Anna, a dance/words collaboration with choreographer Stephanie Ballard, with guest artist Margie Gillis, performed in 1987 at the Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg.
Noah, a multi-disciplinary collaboration, presented as a working piece in 1987 at Main Access Gallery, Winnipeg.
The Shunning, a one-hour radio adaptation for CBC Radio Canada, 1990 (producer: John Juliani).
Second Birth, a short drama for CBC Radio Canada, 1991.
Handful of Rain, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with Dance Collective, and various artists, performed at Gas Station Theatre, Winnipeg, April 1991.
The Raft, an original play, performed January 1992 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in February 1995 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener.
The Raft, adapted for CBC Radio Canada, by Nancy Trites Botkin (producer: Kathleen Flaherty), 1997.
Friday, 6:32p.m., an original short play written for the Short Shots series, staged by the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, 1993.
Old Woman and the Bones, collaboration with composer Michael Matthews, the musical group Thira, and Primus Theatre, staged at the New Music Festival in Winnipeg in February 1993.
Madrugada (a longer version of Old Woman and the Bones), performed by Groundswell and Primus Theatre at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, April 1995.
Broken Bowl (a segment from A Broken Bowl), created, performed with jazz pianist Marilyn Lerner, Sunstone Coffee, Winnipeg, 17 July 1996, at The Glass Slipper, Vancouver, 3 Oct 1996, four performances at the Atlantic Jazz Festival, Halifax, July 1997, and recorded by CBC Radio Manitoba, and called Blue Door (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.
Voice, a radio documentary (featuring Big Dave McLean and Tracey Dahl), by CBC Radio Manitoba (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.
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