Okanagan Author Honoured With New Social Justice Award

He picked apples all day and wrote at night, and now his legacy is being honoured with a new award.

The award has been created in memory of George Ryga, an Okanagan playwright and novelist renowned across the country for his work exploring issues of race, class, wealth, opportunity, privilege, and social structures in Canada. The fund for the award has been established by Ryga’s sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Ted Chudyk, and involves two annual awards valued at $1000 each.

Ted and Anne Chudyk. (Photo Credit: Contributed)

The awards are open to Okanagan College students who are interested in creating awareness around social issues. “This award is meant to inspire students to follow in George’s footsteps, but they need not be writers,” says Anne Chudyk. “It is more important that they demonstrate a strong interest in promoting social justice in some way that will benefit the community.”

“George had a passion for writing but an even greater passion for people,” says Ted Chudyk. “He was fascinated by people—especially the struggles and injustices they faced—and that fascination came out in his work. There were no bad people in George’s mind. He saw the value in everyone and he fought for them through his writing.”

The fund will also support Ryga Journal, an initiative of Okanagan College’s English Department of the Faculty of Arts.

Ryga was born in 1932 in Alberta to poor Ukrainian immigrant parents. He finished grade school in only six years and did high school by correspondence while supporting himself and his family. Later, he studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts.

In 1962, Ryga moved to Summerland, where he lived until his death in 1987 at age 55. His play The Ecstasy of Rita Joe earned Ryga national acclaim in 1967 and is considered an important landmark in modern Canadian theatre. The play has been studied in postsecondary institutions across Canada, performed across the country, and adapted into a ballet by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Summerland, a collection of previously unpublished work, was printed in 1992 after Ryga’s death.

“He’d be picking apples by day and writing by night,” says Anne Chudyk. “It was a struggle and a labour of love. We hope George’s struggle and the struggles he explored in his work will inspire students to try to make a difference.”

Full-time students enrolled in any program at Okanagan College can apply for the Anne and Ted Chudyk Memorial Awards in Memory of George Ryga. For more information about the award and applications, contact Okanagan College’s Financial Aid and Awards Department at financialaid@okanagan.bc.ca or (250) 862-5419.

George Ryga. (Photo Credit: Contributed)