William (W.O.) Mitchell
W.O. Mitchell, 1943 BA, 1975 LLD (Honorary),received his BA and teaching certificate from the University of Alberta in 1943. He proceeded to teach in high schools in towns across Southern Alberta until 1947 when he published his first, and best-known, novel, Who Has Seen the Wind. The immediate success of the novel, which was soon considered a Canadian literary classic, selling more than 500,000 copies since its publication, allowed Mitchell to quit teaching and focus on writing full-time. In 1948, Mitchell moved to Toronto to take a position as fiction editor with Maclean's magazine, a position he held until 1951. In 1951, Mitchell moved back to Alberta, where he completed several new novels and plays. He is the author of the homespun Jake and the Kid short stories which became the basis for the popular CBC radio series from 1949-57. In his distinguished career, Mitchell has written numerous novels, plays, and scripts. In addition to writing, Mitchell has taught creative writing at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Windsor. He has also served as the director of the Banff Centre's writing division.
Mitchell served as writer-in-residence at he was writer-in-residence at the Banff Centre, the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta, and Massey College, Toronto.
Mitchell has received numerous awards and honours for his work. In 1994, the Writers Guild of Alberta presented him with its first Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Member of the Privy Council, and a 1996 recipient of the University of Alberta Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award.
W.O. Mitchell passed away in Calgary February 25, 1998.