Harry Thurston

Harry Thurston was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1950. He graduated with a BSc. in biology from Acadia University in 1971 and in 2013 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Literature by Acadia.

Since 1977 has been a full-time poet, journalist, and editor. He is currently a mentor in the Masters of Fine Arts program in Creative Non-Fiction at University of King’s College in Halifax, N.S. He has taught poetry at Saint Mary’s University and journalism at University of King’s College in Halifax, and served as writer-in-residence at Mount Allison and Acadia universities. In 2009-10 he served as the Haig-Brown Writer-in-Residence in Campbell River, B.C.  He was the 2014-15 Chair of the Writers Union of Canada.

He has been a contributor to more than 30 North American magazines–specializing in environmental issues and natural history (including National Geographic, Audubon, Equinox, Harrowsmith, Canadian Geographic)–where his articles have garnered several national journalism awards. These have included the National Magazine Award for Science & Technology (1983) and the Canadian Science Writers’ Association Science & Society Awards.  He also received the Visionary Award of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, “for increasing public awareness on environmental issues”.

Likewise, his books of poetry and nonfiction have received numerous honours.  A four-time winner of the Evelyn Richardson Prize for the best non-fiction book by a Nova Scotian, he has also received the Dartmouth Book Award and Atlantic Booksellers' Choice Award for Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy.  His A Place Between The Tides, A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh, was a finalist for the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize and the inaugural British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-fiction and winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award in the U.S.  A Ship Portrait, A Novella-in-Verse, was a finalist for the Atlantic Poetry Prize and was later adapted for the stage. Ova Aves was nominated for the National Magazine Award for Poetry.  The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History received the City of Dartmouth Book Award for Nonfiction as well as the Lane Anderson Award for Best Science Writing in Canada.

He is currently working on a long eco-poem.

PUBLICATIONS:

Keeping Watch at the End of the World. Gaspereau Press, 2015

The Atlantic Coast, A Natural History. Greystone Books/David Suzuki Foundation, 2011

Animals Of My Own Kind, New & Selected Poems. Vehicule Press, 2009

Silver Ghost (with photography by Thaddeus Holownia). Anchorage Press, 2008

Broken Vessel, Thirty Five Days in the Desert. Gaspereau Press, 2007

A Ship Portrait, A Novella-in-Verse. Gaspereau Press, 2005

The Sea’s Voice, An Anthology of Atlantic Canadian Nature Writing (Editor). Nimbus Publishing, 2005

A Place Between The Tides, A Naturalist’s Reflections on the Salt Marsh. Greystone Books, 2004

Island Of The Blessed, The Secrets of Egypt’s Everlasting Oasis. Doubleday Canada, 2003

The Sea Among The Rocks, Travels in Atlantic Canada. Pottersfield Press, 2002

The Nature of Hummingbirds. Greystone Books, 1999

The Atlantic Canada Nature Guide. Key Porter Books, 1998

The Nature of Shorebirds, Nomads of the Wetlands. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1996.

Dawning of the Dinosaurs. Halifax, NS: Nimbus & Nova Scotia Museum, 1994.

Against Darkness and Storm, Lighthouses of the Northeast. Halifax, NS: Nimbus, 1993.

Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy. Camden East, ON: Camden House, 1990.

Clouds Flying Before the Eye. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editons, 1985.

AWARDS:

Honorary Doctorate of Literature, Acadia University, 2013

Lane Anderson Award for Best Science Writing in Canada for The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History, 2012

The Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for A Place Between The Tides, A Naturalist’s Reflections On The Salt Marsh, 2005

Evelyn Richardson Memorial Literary Awards for: The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History, 2012 Island Of The Blessed, The Secrets of Egypt’s Everlasting Oasis, 2004; for The Nature of Shorebirds, 1996; and for Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy, 1991.

City of Dartmouth Book Award for The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History, 2012 and for Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy, 1991

Atlantic Booksellers’ Choice Award for Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy, 1991.

Canadian Science Writers’ Association Science & Society Awards, 1986 & 1987

National Magazine Award (silver), Author’s Award (three), Science Journalism Award (twice), Poetry award nomination.

Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, Visionary Award, “for increasing public awareness on environmental issues”, 1993, 1994.