Aritha van Herk

Christl Verduyn (Mount Allison University)
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Aritha van Herk swept to international literary acclaim at an early age, winning the first ever Seal Books (Canada) $50,000 First Novel Award in 1978 for

Judith

, the story of a young woman who leaves her secretarial job to take up pig farming. She has continued to capture readers’ attention ever since, with five novels, two collections of (ficto)-criticism, five edited anthologies, numerous short stories, essays, and reviews, and, most recently, a “maverick” history of Alberta, the province in Canada where she lives.

Aritha van Herk was born on 26 May 1954 in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, to Dutch immigrants, Meretje (van Dam) and William Herk. She grew up with her four siblings on the family farm near Edberg, Alberta, where she attended primary and secondary school. At the University of

698 words

Citation: Verduyn, Christl. "Aritha van Herk". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4521, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4521 Aritha van Herk 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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