J. F. C. Wright Explained

J. F. C. Wright
Birth Date:1904
Birth Place:Wiltshire, England
Death Date:1970
Occupation:journalist, historian
Period:1940s-1960s
Nationality:Canadian
Notableworks:Slava Bohu, Saskatchewan: The History of a Province
Spouse:Diana Kingsmill Wright

James Frederick Church Wright (1904–1970) was a Canadian journalist and historian, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 1940 Governor General's Awards for Slava Bohu, a historical account of Canada's Doukhobor community.[1]

Born in Wiltshire, England in 1904 to Canadian parents who were travelling there,[2] he was raised in Minnedosa, Manitoba. He held a variety of jobs before joining the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix as a journalist, remaining there for seven years. At the time of his Governor General's Award win, he was working in Ottawa, Ontario as a fireman, but later took a scriptwriting job with the National Film Board.[3] He married Diana Kingsmill in 1944 while living in Ottawa, and the couple later moved back to Saskatoon.

Active in the Saskatchewan chapter of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, the Wrights became co-editors of Union Farmer, the newspaper of the Saskatchewan Farmers' Union, in 1950.[4]

Wright's later books included All Clear, Canada! (1944), Co-operative Farming in Saskatchewan (1949), Saskatchewan's North (1953), Saskatchewan: The History of a Province (1955), Prairie Progress: Consumer Co-operation in Saskatchewan (1956) and The Louise Lucas Story: This Time Tomorrow (1965).

He committed suicide in 1970.

Notes and References

  1. News: Authors to Hold Coast Convention . Lethbridge Herald. August 9, 1941. 1. Newspapers.com. November 24, 2014 .
  2. News: Ottawa Writer Wins Prize on Doukhobors. Ottawa Journal. April 5, 1941. 21. Newspapers.com. November 24, 2014 .
  3. http://spldatabase.saskatoonlibrary.ca/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=SEE_ALSO&QF0=CLASSIFICATION&QI0==%22BIOGRAPHY%20-%20WRIGHT%2C%20JAMES%20FREDERICK%20CHURCH%22&XC=/ics-wpd/exec/IcsWPPro.dll&BU=&TN=LHR_RAD&SN=AUTO4011&SE=532&RN=0&MR=20&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=2&XP=&RF=www_Default+Canned&EF=&DF=&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=4&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=0&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1 "Biography - Wright, James Frederick Church"
  4. http://econet.ca/sk_enviro_champions/wright.html Diana Kingsmill Wright (1908-1982)