Robert Bruce Richards

1929-

Robert Bruce “Buck” Richards (poet, radio scriptwriter, and regional librarian) was born 11 September 1929 in Campbellton, New Brunswick. Richards attended the Andrew Street and King Street schools in Campbellton before attending Campbellton High School in 1944. In 1947 Richards graduated from high school and having received a four-year Beaverbrook Scholarship, enrolled at the University of New Brunswick. Richards became an active member in the Bliss Carman Society and then editor of The Fiddlehead. His first published poem, “Poem,” appeared in the tenth issue of The Fiddlehead, to which he frequently contributed poems between 1947 to 1953. He went on to do postgraduate work in English after receiving a BA in English (Hons.) in 1951. In 1954, Richards returned to Campbellton to work as a script writer and announcer for radio station CKNB. In 1965 he attended the University of Toronto where he completed a one-year programme in Library Science before returning to Campbellton to work as the regional librarian. Richards remained in Campbellton until 1987 when he moved to Fredericton to work in Library Services with the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Heritage. Upon moving back to Fredericton, he began dedicating more time to writing poetry, and, in 1990, his first collection of poems, Unfolding Fern, was published by Wild East Publishing Co-operative.  Richards’ second collection of poems was titled Dividing the Fire (1999). In 1949 Richards was awarded the Bliss Carman prize for poetry. In 1988, a group of his poems published in the summer issue of The Fiddlehead won the award for the best poetry published in the magazine that year. The same year Richards was awarded the Alfred G. Bailey Prize for poetry by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick. In 1991 Richards was the feature poet at UNB’s annual literary forum Conversazione. In addition to his two collections of poems, Richards has published his work in The Cormorant and Wild East magazines, the centennial publication Arts in New Brunswick (1967), Fiddlehead Gold: 50 Years of The Fiddlehead Magazine (1995), and the Goose Lane Anthology Home for Christmas: Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland (1999).

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Campbellton, Fredericton