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George Ryga Resources
George Ryga (July 27 1932-November 18 1987) was a Canadian playwright and novelist.
He was born in Deep Creek, Alberta in 1932. His parents were poor immigrants from the Ukraine. Unable to continue his schooling past Grade 6, he worked at a variety of jobs, including radio copywriter. He continued to study, taking correspondence courses, and winning a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts. In 1955, he travelled to Europe, where he attended the World Assembly for Peace in Helsinki and worked for the BBC. After he returned to Edmonton in 1956, he published his first book,
Song of my hands, a collection of poems.
His first play,
Indian, was performed on television in 1962. He achieved national exposure with The Ecstasy of Rita Joe in 1967. The play is the story of a young native woman who finds that she has no place with either her own people or the white man. It was performed in Vancouver, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and in Washington. This work was performed as a ballet by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1971.
Other plays by Ryga include:*
Captives of the Faceless Drummer (1971)*
Ploughmen of the Glacier (1977)*
In the Shadow of the Vulture (1985)*
Summerland (1992)
His books include:*
Hungry Hills (1963)*
Ballad of a stonepicker (1966)*
Night Desk (1976)
He died in Summerland, British Columbia in 1987.
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