Michael Pacey

1952-

John David Michael Pacey (poet, children’s writer, and high school educator) was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick on 20 December 1952. In grade eleven, at Fredericton High School (Pacey graduated 1971), Pacey formed a creative writing club with his friend, Brian Bartlett. The two schoolmates would continue to collaborate over the years, most notably by publishing Urchin. During freshman year at UNB (Pacey received his BA in 1975) the two joined a group of writers known as the “Ice House Gang”. Bartlett and Pacey would go on to tour New Brunswick with Alden Nowlan, reading their work publicly. Pacey also earned a Bachelor of Education degree at UNB in 1976 before moving to Vancouver for graduate studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC). There, Pacey went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (1985), a Master of Arts in English Literature (1989), and a PhD in English (1994). While completing his PhD at UBC, Pacey published The Birds of Christmas (1988) and wrote a play that earned him the first prize in drama from the New Brunswick Writers’ Federation. Pacey’s doctoral thesis was completed in 1994. It is a collection, in three volumes of his father Desmond Pacey’s correspondence with Canadian poet Irving Layton. In 1972, at the age of twenty, he published a collection of poetry entitled Anonymous Mesdemoiselles.  Other works include Our Literary Heritage (1981) a high-school core textbook; The First Step (2011) and Electric Affinities (2015). 

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton