Terrence Frederick "Terry" (T. F.) Rigelhof (born April 24, 1944) is a Canadian writer and academic. He is best known for A Blue Boy in a Black Dress, his memoir of his time studying at a Roman Catholic seminary school prior to abandoning the priesthood; the book was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 1996 Governor General's Awards, and won the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction at the Quebec Writers' Federation Awards.
Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Rigelhof joined the seminary in the 1960s. He left those studies after a crisis of faith which left him suicidal, but retained an academic interest in the history and sociology of religion, becoming a longtime instructor at Montreal's Dawson College. He published the novel The Education of J.J. Pass (1983) and the short story collection Je t'aime, Cowboy (1993) prior to writing A Blue Boy in a Black Dress; he published one further novel, Badass on a Softail, in 1997 before concentrating on non-fiction writing thereafter. In addition to his books, he was a regular literary critic for The Globe and Mail and other publications.
His later non-fiction works included the Canadian literature studies This Is Our Writing (2000) and Hooked on Canadian Books: The Good, the Better, and the Best Canadian Novels Since 1984 (2010); the George Grant biography George Grant: Redefining Canada (2001); and a second memoir, Nothing Sacred: A Journey Beyond Belief (2004).
References
- "Rigelhof, Terrence Frederick (1944-)". The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina.
- ^ "Terry Rigelhof changes outlook on life". Guelph Mercury, June 12, 2004.
- ^ "Memoir takes provocative look at religion". Montreal Gazette, January 6, 1996.
- "Local authors top list: Governor-General's Literary Awards nominees announced". Montreal Gazette, October 18, 1996.
- "QSPELL honours anglophone writers: Literary award adopts new voting system where judges make choices independently". The Globe and Mail, November 23, 1996.
- "A Blue Boy in a Black Dress: A Memoir". The Globe and Mail, December 30, 1995.
- ^ "A home for Canlit". Montreal Gazette, April 3, 2010.
- "Lives of the intellectual saints". The Globe and Mail, January 12, 2002.
External links
Categories:- 1944 births
- 20th-century Canadian novelists
- 20th-century Canadian short story writers
- 20th-century Canadian memoirists
- Canadian male novelists
- Canadian male short story writers
- Canadian male biographers
- Canadian literary critics
- 21st-century Canadian memoirists
- Writers from Regina, Saskatchewan
- Writers from Montreal
- Academic staff of Dawson College
- Living people
- Canadian historians of religion
- 20th-century Canadian male writers
- 21st-century Canadian male writers
- 21st-century Canadian biographers