Sharon Butala may live in Calgary now, but her heart continues to belong to the rolling grasslands of southwestern Saskatchewan and the lifetime of relationships she forged in the province.
“When you start to get old you want to go back to your roots,” the writer said Sept. 18 after receiving the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence in Saskatoon.
“Plus, this is where I had my career and my life and my marriages. Calgary has the most wonderful arts and cultural community, but it’s hard to live in. Have you tried to drive in Calgary lately? It’s pretty tough on a little old lady.”
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Butala’s writing, which is largely about life in southwestern Saskatchewan, has earned the novelist and short story author numerous awards, including two nominations for the Governor General Award, a nomination for the Commonwealth Prize for fiction, the Marian Engel Prize in 1998, a Saskatchewan Book award for nonfiction, as well as numerous other awards.
“I don’t see this as just another award, believe me,” Butala said. “First of all, it’s been a long time since my husband died. It was a major break in my life, period, but also in my life as a writer. For me, this is an affirmation that I’m still part of the literary world, the arts world. So I’m completely thrilled — I really am.”
Butala, 72, began writing in 1978, published her first novel in 1984, and continues to work as a professional writer. She is working on her seventh novel, has done three writing projects for CBC radio in the past few months and wrote a piece for the Toronto Star on the Canada Day long weekend.
This most recent award included $10 000 and a limited edition print of painting by Saskatchewan artist Dorothy Knowles.
