Miriam Waddington (née Dworkin), professor emeritus of English at York University and a life member of the League of Canadian Poets, died on March 3 at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital in Vancouver. She was 86.
Left: Miriam Waddington
A star of the Canadian literary scene, Waddington published 12 books of poetry. In 2004, an excerpt from one of her poems was included on the new Bank of Canada $100 note. Her work has been published in over 200 anthologies and translated into several languages. Two of her books, Driving Home and Collected Poems won the J.I. Segal prize in 1972 and 1986.
Waddington held a BA (University of Toronto), an MSW (Pennsylvania State) and an MA (University of Toronto). She was awarded two honorary degrees, one from Lakehead University and the other from York University.
After an early career as a social worker in hospitals, prisons and children’s agencies, Waddington accepted a faculty position in English literature at York University. She retired from teaching at age 65 and was awarded the title of professor emeritus shortly afterward. She is survived by her sons Marcus and Jonathan Waddington; brother Sol Dworkin; daughter-in-law Paula Grossman; and three grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 5pm on Saturday, March 13, at the University of British Columbia Faculty Club (Sage Bistro). The club is located at 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver.
Awards
Borestone Mountain Awards: best poems of 1963, 1966, 1974
DLitt, Lakehead University, 1975
DLitt, York University, 1985
Selected Publications
Say Yes (Oxford University Press, 1969)
A.M. Klein (criticism) (Copp Clark, 1970)
John Sutherland: Essays, Controversies, Poems (Editor) (McClelland & Stewart, 1972)
The Price of Gold (Oxford University Press, 1976)
Mister Never (Turnstone Press, 1978)
The Visitants (Oxford University Press, 1981)
Summer at Lonely Beach (fiction) (Mosaic Press, 1982)
Collected Poems (Oxford University Press, 1986)
Apartment Seven: Essays Selected and New (Oxford University Press, 1989)
The Last Landscape (Oxford University Press, 1992)