Wiseman, Adele, 1928-1992

Adele Wiseman (1928-1992), author, teacher and social worker, was born on 21 May 1928 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She received her B.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1949 where she studied with Malcolm Ross and where she began her life long friendship with Margaret Laurence. Following her graduation, she moved to London, England where she was employed as a social worker (1950), and subsequently taught at the Overseas School of Rome (1951). She returned to Winnipeg the following year and served as executive secretary of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Her first novel, "The Sacrifice," was published in 1956 and was awarded with the Governor-General's Award for fiction. She spent the years 1957 and 1960 in New York City on a Guggenheim Fellowship and, after a brief return to London, she settled in Montreal, where she taught at Sir George Williams University and at McDonald College, McGill (1964-1969). She finally settled in Toronto where she died on 1 June 1992. In addition to "The Sacrifice," Wiseman is also the author of the novel "Crackpot" as well as several plays and the autobiographical "Confessions of a Book Molesting Childhood and Other Essays." She was well respected as an editor and was writer-in-residence at several universities Canada including Concordia, Trent, Toronto and Western Ontario. She was also the head of the writing workshop at the Banff School of Fine Arts.