PERSONAL:

Born February 25, 1934, in Reserve Mines, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Canada; son of Charlie (a coal miner) and Minnie Mary (a homemaker) Currie; married Dawn Wolstenholme (a newspaper editor), June 24, 1959; children: Mark, John, Mairi Currie MacIsaac, Rachel. Ethnicity: "Scottish Canadian." Education: Saint Francis Xavier University, B.A., 1957, B.Ed., 1958; University of New Brunswick, M.A., 1960; University of Alabama, Ph.D., 1967. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Languages, music, handball, running.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, professor of English literature, 1964-99, and past department chair. Member of board of directors, Antigonish, Guysborough Pictou Arts Council, 1999—, and Nova Scotia Talent Trust, 2000—. Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre, secretary, 1999—. Bergengren Credit Union, member of board of directors, 1993-99. Worked as coach of women's fastball teams, 1981-92, and boys' and girls' handball teams, 1981-95. Military service: Canadian Army, 1954-57; became lieutenant.

MEMBER:

Writers' Union of Canada, Nova Scotia Writers' Federation (member of board of directors, 1997-2000), Naomi Society (member of board of directors, 1990-93), Antigonish Early Childhood Intervention association (member of board of directors, 1999-2003).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Honorary doctorate, St. Thomas University, 1999; Merit Award, Nova Scotia Playwriters, 2003, for Lauchie, Liza, and Rory.

WRITINGS:

The Glace Bay Miners' Museum (short stories), Deluge (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1979.

The Company Store (novel), Oberon (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1988.

The Glace Bay Miners' Museum (novel), Breton Books (Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada), 1995.

Down the Coaltown Road (novel), Key Porter Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

Anna (play), produced at Festival Antigonish, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2002.

Lauchie, Liza, and Rory (play; produced, 1997), Scirocco Drama (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 2004.

Other plays include Two More Solitudes, 1997. Contributor to periodicals, including Contemporary Literary Fiction. Fiction editor, Antigonish Review, 1970-99.

ADAPTATIONS:

The short story "The Glace Bay Miners' Museum" was adapted as the film Margaret's Museum, released by Cinepix Film Properties in 1997. The novel The Glace Bay Miners' Museum was adapted as a two-act stage play by Wendy Lill and presented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at Factory Theater, 1999.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sheldon J. Currie told CA: "The brick and mortar miners' museum in Glace Bay prompted me to write the short story and the novel The Glace Bay Miners' Museum. I think of the story as an expansion of the museum to include the moral, psychological, political, economic, and social artifacts that were consequences of coal mining in Cape Breton since it began in the eighteenth century. The internment of Italians during World War II prompted me to write the novel Down the Coaltown Road and the play Anna. The arrest and internment of Italians took place under my nose when I was a kid, without my knowledge. The arrest and internment of innocent people is a recurring event in our society and therefore something we should keep an eye out for and, if possible, prevent.

"Reading comic books and listening to radio soaps and drama with my grandmother, between bouts of hockey, baseball, milk-can cricket, and peggy turned me into a story reader and teller when I was a kid. Then Sister Francis Dolores, Sister of Charity, handed me the Kristen Lavransdotter by Sigrid Undset, and after three volumes of that I was ready for anything."