{{Short description|Canadian writer (born 1950)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=October 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry Thurston | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1950}} | birth_place = Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|journalist}} | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}

'''Harry Thurston''' (born 1950) is a Canadian writer, poet, and journalist. He has written a variety of nonfiction books, for which he won the Evelyn Richardson Award four times, and is also an accomplished poet. He teaches at the University of King's College in Halifax.

==Biography== Harry Thurston was born in 1950 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.{{Sfnmp|Acadia|2023|TWUC|2020|Milner|1979}} He attended Acadia University, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.{{Sfnmp|Acadia|2023|TWUC|2020}} As a journalist, Thurston has written for over 30 publications, including ''National Geographic'', ''Audubon'', and ''Harrowsmith''.{{Sfnp|Acadia|2023}} He has written a variety of nonfiction books, for which he won the Evelyn Richardson Award four times: in 1991, 1997, 2004, and 2012. His book ''Tidal Life'' also earned a Dartmouth Book Award and an Atlantic Booksellers' Choice Award. He won the first Lane Anderson Award in 2012 for his book ''The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History''.{{Sfnp|Acadia|2023}} Thurston is also an accomplished poet, with his first collection, ''Barefaced Stone'', published in 1980 by Fiddlehead Poetry Books.{{Sfnp|Acadia|2023}}

Thurston was the publisher and editor of ''Germination'', a literary journal. He was a contributing editor for the magazine ''Equinox'' since it was established in 1981.{{Sfnp|Acadia|2023}}

Thurston lives in Tidnish Bridge, Nova Scotia.{{Sfnmp|Cole|2021|Simmins|2026}} He works as an instructor at the University of King's College in Halifax, and previously taught poetry at Saint Mary's University.{{Sfnp|TWUC|2020}} Thurston has served as writer-in-residence for Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, and Acadia University.{{Sfnp|TWUC|2020}}

==Publications== ===Nonfiction=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1989 |title=Exploring Change: People and Places |type=Textbook |url= |location=Vancouver |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |isbn=978-0-9208-4194-5}}{{Sfnp|Gale|}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1990 |title=Atlantic Outposts |url= |location=Lawrencetown Beach, N.S. |publisher=Pottersfield Press |isbn=978-0-9190-0163-3}}{{Sfnp|Buhasz|1990}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1990 |title=Tidal Life: A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy |url= |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |isbn=1-5510-9272-7}}{{Sfnp|Cayo|1991}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1993 |title=Against Darkness and Storm: Lighthouses of Atlantic Canada |url= |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |isbn=978-1-5510-9039-9}}{{Sfnp|Canadian Press|1993}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1994 |title=Dawning of the Dinosaurs: The Story of Canada's Oldest Dinosaurs |url= |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |isbn=978-1-5510-9100-6}}{{Sfnp|Cran|1994}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1996 |title=World of the Shorebirds |url= |location=San Francisco |publisher=Sierra Club Books |isbn=978-0-8715-6901-1}}{{Sfnp|Gale|}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1996 |title=The Nature of Shorebirds: Nomads of the Wetlands |url= |location=Vancouver |publisher=Greystone Books |isbn=978-1-5505-4502-9}}{{Sfnp|Whelan|1996}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1998 |title=Building the Bridge to P.E.I. |url= |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |isbn=978-1-5510-9260-7}}{{Sfnp|Edmonds|1998}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1998 |title=The Atlantic Canada Nature Guide |url= |location=Toronto |publisher=Key Porter Books |isbn=978-1-5501-3952-5}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1999 |title=World of the Hummingbird |url= |location=San Francisco |publisher=Sierra Club Books |isbn=978-1-5780-5043-7}}{{Sfnp|Gale|}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2002 |title=The Sea Among the Rocks: Travels in Atlantic Canada |url= |location=Lawrencetown Beach, N.S. |publisher=Pottersfield Press |isbn=978-1-8959-0054-5}}{{Sfnp|Cox|2003}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2003 |title=Island of the Blessed: the Secrets of Egypt's Everlasting Oasis |url= |location=Toronto |publisher=Anchor Canada |isbn=978-0-3852-5970-5}}{{Sfnmp|Colterjohn|2003|Shaw|2003|Wilson|2003}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2004 |title=A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh |url= |location=Vancouver |publisher=Greystone Books |isbn=978-1-5536-5035-5}}{{Sfnp|Soucoup|2004}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2011 |title=The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History |url= |location=Vancouver |publisher=Greystone Books |isbn=978-1-5536-5446-9}}{{Sfnp|Dean|2012}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2020 |title=Lost River: The Waters of Remembrance |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7216-1}}{{Sfnp|Cole|2021}} {{Refend}}

===Poetry=== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1980 |title=Barefaced Stone |url= |location=Fredericton, N.B. |publisher=Fiddlehead Poetry Books |isbn=978-0-9201-1085-0}}{{Sfnp|Pulver|1981}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=1985 |title=Clouds Flying Before the Eye |url= |location=Fredericton, N.B. |publisher=Fiddlehead Poetry Books |isbn=978-0-8649-2062-1}}{{Sfnp|Sutherland|1986}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2000 |title=If Men Lived on Earth |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-8940-3122-6}}{{Sfnmp|Compton|2000|Starnino|2000}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2005 |title=A Ship Portrait: A Novella in Verse |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7006-8}}{{Sfnp|Balzer|2006}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2005 |title=The Sea's Voice |url= |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |isbn=978-1-5510-9547-9}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2007 |title=Broken Vessel: Thirty-five Days in the Desert |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7034-1}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2010 |title=Animals of My Own Kind: New and Selected Poems |url= |location=Montreal |publisher=Signal Editions |isbn=978-1-5506-5258-1}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |others=Photography by Thaddeus Holownia |date=2011 |title=Ova Aves |url= |location=Jolicure, N.B. |publisher=Anchorage Press |isbn=978-1-8954-8845-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Thurston |first1=Harry |last2=Cooper |first2=Allan |author-mask1=1 |date=2013 |title=The Deer Yard |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7120-1}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2015 |title=Keeping Watch at the End of the World |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7144-7}}{{Sfnp|Cole|2015}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |others=Photography by Thaddeus Holownia |date=2022 |title=Icarus, Falling of Birds |url= |location=Jolicure, N.B. |publisher=Anchorage Press |isbn=978-1-8954-8854-8}}{{Sfnmp|Cave|2019|CBC Books|2022|Walker|2022}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |date=2023 |title=Ultramarine |url= |location=Kentville, N.S. |publisher=Gaspereau Press |isbn=978-1-5544-7253-6}}{{Sfnp|Manley|2023}} * {{cite book |last=Thurston |first=Harry |author-mask=1 |others=Photography by Thaddeus Holownia |date=2024 |title=of a feather |url= |location=Jolicure, N.B. |publisher=Anchorage Press |isbn=978-1-8954-8862-3}} {{Refend}}

==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist|20em}}

===Sources=== {{Refbegin|30em}} * {{cite web |author=((Acadia)) |author-mask=[Acadia] |date=2023 |title=Harry Thurston |url=https://waterfrontviews.acadiau.ca/thurston.html |website=Waterfront Views: Contemporary Writing of Atlantic Canada |location=Wolfville, N.S. |publisher=Acadia University |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite journal |last=Balzer |first=David |date=2006 |title=Capsizing Vessels |url= |journal=Books in Canada |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=31–32 |access-date=}} * {{cite news |last=Buhasz |first=Laszlo |date=5 December 1990 |page=56 |title=Sensitive tribute to a hardy breed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-sensitive-tribute-to/182489758/ |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |author=((Canadian Press)) |author-mask=[Canadian Press] |date=10 July 1993 |page=54 |title=Book sheds 'light' on heritage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-transcript-book-sheds-light/182481783/ |work=Times-Transcript |agency=The Canadian Press |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Cave |first=Rachel |date=13 November 2019 |title='It symbolizes man's hubris': Canaport bird kill inspires 2 artists |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/thaddeus-holownia-harry-thurston-canaport-bird-deaths-book-1.5356896 |work=CBC News |location=New Brunswick |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Cayo |first=Don |date=27 April 1991 |page=40 |title=Tidal beauty: Bay book looks at history, people, threats, future and bounty of Fundy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/telegraph-journal-tidal-beauty-bay-book/182482167/ |work=Telegraph-Journal |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |author=((CBC Books)) |author-mask=[CBC Books] |date=30 August 2022 |title=Icarus, Falling of Birds |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/icarus-falling-of-birds-1.6566316 |work=CBC Books |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Cole |first=Darrell |date=30 July 2015 |title=Thurston looks inward with latest book of poetry |url=https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/thurston-looks-inward-with-latest-book-of-poetry-31444 |work=PNI Atlantic News |location=Amherst, N.S. |publisher=Postmedia Network |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Cole |first=Darrell |date=27 January 2021 |title=Meet your neighbour: Tidnish Bridge author's 27th book, Lost River, is an 'elegiac meditation' |url=https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/meet-your-neighbour-tidnish-bridge-authors-27th-book-lost-river-is-an-elegiac-meditation-545648 |work=The Chronicle Herald |location=Halifax, N.S. |publisher=SaltWire Network |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Colterjohn |first=David |date=5 April 2003 |page=129 |title=Midnight at the oasis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vancouver-sun-midnight-at-the-oasis/182481291/ |work=The Vancouver Sun |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Compton |first=Anne |date=17 June 2000 |page=77 |title='Men die from the top down': Poet Harry Thurston provides field notes to recovery |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/telegraph-journal-men-die-from-the-top/182481054/ |work=Telegraph-Journal |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Cox |first=Kevin |date=1 February 2003 |page=144 |title=The Sea Among the Rocks — Travels in Atlantic Canada |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-the-sea-among-the-roc/182482021/ |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Cran |first=E. E. |date=29 October 1994 |page=28 |title=Of times before ours |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/telegraph-journal-of-times-before-ours/182484956/ |work=Telegraph-Journal |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Dean |first=Cornelia |date=9 July 2012 |title=From Newfoundland to the Gulf Stream Waters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/science/the-atlantic-coast-from-newfoundland-to-the-gulf-stream-waters.html |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Edmonds |first=Edward L. |date=1998 |title=Building the Bridge to PEI |url=https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/3304 |work=Canadian Book Review Annual Online |publisher=University of Toronto Libraries |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite web |author=((Gale)) |author-mask=[Gale] |title=Thurston, Harry |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/thurston-harry-1950 |website=Encyclopedia.com |department=Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series |publisher=Gale |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Manley |first=Alison |date=17 December 2023 |title=Ultramarine by Harry Thurston |url=https://miramichireader.ca/2023/12/ultramarine-by-harry-thurston/ |work=Miramichi Reader |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite book |editor-last=Milner |editor-first=Philip |date=1979 |title=Nova Scotia Writes: A Descriptive Listing of Contemporary Nova Scotia Writers |url=https://archive.org/details/novascotiawrites0000unse/ |url-access=registration |location=Antigonish, N.S. |publisher=Formac Publishing Company |page=96 |isbn=0-8878-0036-X}} * {{cite news |last=Pulver |first=Peggy |date=28 February 1981 |page=54 |title=Barefaced Stone by Harry Thurston |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-barefaced-sto/182489995/ |work=The Kingston Whig-Standard |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Shaw |first=Roberta |date=29 March 2003 |page=86 |title=When the desert bloomed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-when-the-desert-bloom/182481886/ |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite magazine |last=Simmins |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Simmins |date=March 2026 |title='A proliferation of life': The miracle of the Bay of Fundy and how it inspires art |magazine=Saltscapes |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=24–27 |issn=1492-3351}} * {{cite news |last=Soucoup |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Soucoup |date=18 May 2004 |page=19 |title=A Place Between the Tides |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-transcript-a-place-between-the/182481182/ |work=Times-Transcript |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Starnino |first=Carmine |date=7 October 2000 |page=115 |title=Poet is at top of his form |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette-poet-is-at-top-of-his-form/182489537/ |work=The Gazette |location=Montreal |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite news |last=Sutherland |first=Fraser |date=1 March 1986 |page=66 |title=Poets to watch, if they watch themselves |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-poets-to-watch-if-th/182490156/ |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite web |author=((TWUC)) |author-mask=[TWUC] |date=2020 |title=Harry Thurston |url=https://writersunion.ca/member/harry-thurston |location=Toronto |publisher=Writers' Union of Canada |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Walker |first=Catherine |date=21 October 2022 |title=Icarus, Falling of Birds A Poem by Harry Thurston, Photography by Thaddeus Holownia |url=https://miramichireader.ca/2022/10/icarus-falling-of-birds-a-poem-by-harry-thurston-2/ |work=Miramichi Reader |access-date=6 October 2025}} * {{cite news |last=Whelan |first=Peter |date=14 December 1996 |page=77 |title=Birding goes under the covers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-birding-goes-under-th/182484843/ |work=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 October 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} * {{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=John |date=March 2003 |title=Island of the Blessed: The Secrets of Egypt's Everlasting Oasis |type=Review |url=https://quillandquire.com/review/island-of-the-blessed-the-secrets-of-egypt-s-everlasting-oasis/ |magazine=Quill & Quire |location=Toronto |publisher=St. Joseph Media |access-date=6 October 2025}} {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Wanda |date=2008 |title=Every Sea-Surrounded Hour': The Margin in Maritime Poetry |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/scl/2008-v33-n2-scl_33_2/scl33_2art09/ |journal=Studies in Canadian Literature |volume=33 |issue=2 |publisher=University of New Brunswick |pages=151–170 |access-date=6 September 2025 |via=Érudit}} * {{cite journal |last=LaRocque |first=Lance |date=2003 |title=Breathing Books, Deranged Bodies: Reading and Writing Landscapes in the Poetry of Harry Thurston |journal=Isle: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment |volume=10 |issue=1 |publisher=Association for the Study of Literature and Environment |pages=115–135 |jstor=44086089}} * {{cite journal |last=Thorpe |first=Michael |date=2000 |title=Nature vs. Nurture: Two Atlantic Poets Memorialize Lost Relations |journal=Atlantic Books Today |volume=28 |page=16}} * {{cite book |last=Wyile |first=Herb |date=2011 |title=Anne of Tim Hortons: Globalization and the Reshaping of Atlantic-Canadian Literature |url= |location=Waterloo, ON |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |pages=221–224 |isbn=978-1-5545-8326-3}}

==External links== * [https://49thshelf.com/Contributors/T/Thurston-Harry Harry Thurston] at ''49th Shelf'', Association of Canadian Publishers * [https://memoryns.ca/harry-thurston-fonds Harry Thurston fonds] at the Dalhousie University Archives. {{endash}} via MemoryNS * {{OL author}}

{{Canadian literature}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Literature|Canada|Nova Scotia}} {{Authority control|qid=Q112495764}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Harry}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Acadia University alumni Category:Academic staff of University of King's College Category:Journalists from Nova Scotia Category:Poets from Nova Scotia Category:Writers from Nova Scotia Category:People from Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Category:People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Category:20th-century Canadian journalists Category:20th-century Canadian male journalists Category:21st-century Canadian journalists Category:21st-century Canadian male journalists Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:21st-century Canadian poets