It is with great sadness that we share with you the passing of Roy Miki, poet, scholar, activist, teacher and children’s book author.
Born in Winnipeg to second-generation Japanese-Canadian parents, Roy received his PhD from UBC in 1981, and later joined the English Department at Simon Fraser University in the '70s, where he taught until his retirement in 2007. There, he played a pivotal role in establishing Asian-Canadian literature courses as a field.
Roy received the Order of Canada in 2006, the Order of British Columbia in 2009, the 20th Annual Gandhi Peace Award, an honorary Doctor of Divinity, the Thakore Visiting Scholar Award, and the Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy. In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
In addition to writing and editing many critical studies, literary essays, and books of poetry, he also co-authored two children’s books with this wife, Slavia. Dolphin SOS, illustrated by Julie Flett (Tradewind Books), won the 2015 Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize, and Peggy's Impossible Tale, illustrated by Mariko Ando (Tradewind Books), won the Chocolate Lily Award in 2023.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Roy’s family and friends.
Posted: 10/15/2024