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Rhea Tregebov

Goodreads author profile

born

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

gender

female

website

http://rheatregebov.ca

twitter username

Rhea Tregebov

genre

Poetry, Literature & Fiction, Children's Books

member since

May 2010

About this author

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Rhea Tregebov's seventh collection of poetry, All Souls', will be published in Fall 2012 by Signal Editions/Vehicule Press. Tregebov is also the author of the historical novel The Knife Sharpener’s Bell (Coteau Books, 2009). She has published six critically acclaimed books of poetry, most recently (alive): New and selected poems (Wolsak & Wynn, 2004). In addition, she has published five popular children’s picture books including The Big Storm and What-If Sara, which are set in Winnipeg. She has edited ten anthologies of essays, poetry and fiction, most recently Arguing with the Storm. Her work has received a number of literary prizes, including the Tiny Torgi award (for The Big Storm) as well as the Pat Lowther Award, Prairie Schooner R...more Rhea Tregebov's seventh collection of poetry, All Souls', will be published in Fall 2012 by Signal Editions/Vehicule Press. Tregebov is also the author of the historical novel The Knife Sharpener’s Bell (Coteau Books, 2009). She has published six critically acclaimed books of poetry, most recently (alive): New and selected poems (Wolsak & Wynn, 2004). In addition, she has published five popular children’s picture books including The Big Storm and What-If Sara, which are set in Winnipeg. She has edited ten anthologies of essays, poetry and fiction, most recently Arguing with the Storm. Her work has received a number of literary prizes, including the Tiny Torgi award (for The Big Storm) as well as the Pat Lowther Award, Prairie Schooner Readers’ Choice Award, and the Malahat Review Long Poem Award for her poetry.

Born in Saskatoon and raised in Winnipeg, Rhea Tregebov received her undergraduate education in Winnipeg. She did postgraduate studies at Cornell and Boston Universities.

For many years she worked as a freelance writer and editor in Toronto, where she also taught creative writing for Ryerson Continuing Education. She is now Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, where she teaches poetry and translation.

From the Author:

I made the transition from poet to novelist because a plot seized me by the throat. The Knife Sharpener's Bell originated in two pieces of family history. One is the story of my maternal grandfather's plans, in 1935, to take his family back to Mother Russia. He had left Tzarist Russia before the First World War and met my grandmother in Canada. Both shared strong left-wing beliefs. And when the economy came crashing down (then as now) in the Western World, my grandparents decided the best thing to do for their family would be to take them to the Workers' Paradise, the Soviet Union. As fate would have it, my grandfather's trip back in 1935 to the Soviet Union did not result in permission to immigrate. But that alternate history and its consequences has haunted me all my life. As has my mother's story of hiding on the train that was to take her father to Halifax for the trip to Europe. This scene is the prologue to the novel.

The second bit of history has to do with Vladlen Furman, to whom (with my mother) the book is dedicated. This distant cousin, who was living at the time in Moscow, became active in one of the early dissident movements in the Soviet Union. In the anti-Semitic hysteria of those post-war years, he was arrested, along with a number of other young people. Stalin arranged for a show trial in 1950. These young people, whose ages ranged from 17 to 21, were prosecuted for treason and terrorism and found guilty. Their crime had been to think that perhaps socialism had not reached perfection within the Soviet state.

Our family in Canada did not discover the truth of Vladlen's story until 1975, when my Canadian-born mother first travelled to the Soviet Union and met the surviving family. Writing this novel covered the span of a decade as I tried to uncover the meaning of this personal history and the reflections that it casts on our tempestuous present. I was writing during what seemed like the zenith of the capitalist system. This story of the Depression and its effects now carries further resonance(less)

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Rhea Tregebov's Blog

Gearing Up

My new book of poetry will be published in Fall 2012. All Souls' is coming out with Signal Editions/Vehicule Press and I had the great privilege of being edited by Carmine Starnino, an extraordinary experience. Hope readers get a chance to peek at it once it's on bookshelves. RT read more »

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Books by Rhea Tregebov

Average rating: 3.88 · 49 ratings · 10 reviews · 23 distinct works

	The Knife Sharpener's Bell 4.00 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2009	My rating:
	Arguing with the Storm: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Sasha and the Wiggly Tooth by Rhea Tregebov (Goodreads Author), Hélène Desputeaux (Illustrator) 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Strength of Materials: Poems 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2001	My rating:
	(Alive): Poems New and Selected 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2004	My rating:
	What If Sara 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Proving Grounds 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1991	My rating:
	No One We Know 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	My rating:
	Gifts: Poems for Parents 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2002	My rating:
	Remembering History 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:

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Rhea's Writing

The Knife Sharpener's Bell (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated May 31, 2010 02:04pm

Description: Excerpt from the novel

Rhea is Currently Reading

Rhea Tregebov is currently reading:

Light Lifting

by Alexander MacLeod

bookshelves: currently-reading

My rating:

May 17, 2012 06:50pm

Rhea Tregebov is currently reading:

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

by Charles C. Mann

bookshelves: currently-reading

My rating:

Dec 26, 2010 06:47pm

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Rhea's Recent Updates

Rhea Tregebov is currently reading: Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:50pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:45pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: Sunset Park by Paul Auster	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:45pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing by Richard Hugo	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:44pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: Joseph Cornell's Theater of the Mind: Selected Diaries, Letters, and Files by Mary Ann Caws	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:43pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:43pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: View With a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:42pm
Rhea Tregebov marked as to-read: The Dream Songs by John Berryman	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:42pm
Rhea Tregebov voted on a poll in the CBC Books group Get your vote in for our June Monthly Group Read. Which book would you like to read? (please cast yo...more she voted for The Big Dream by Rebecca Rosenblum
May 17, 2012 06:38pm · take the poll
Rhea Tregebov added: Web of Angels by Lilian Nattel (Goodreads Author)	My rating:
May 17, 2012 06:30pm