Henry Kreisel (1922–1991)

Henry Kreisel was born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria. He published his first short story when he was 15, but only a year later he forced to flee to England due to pre-WWII political upheavals. Shortly after the start of WWII, he was arrested by the English as an enemy alien and sent to an internment camp in Canada. He recorded his experiences in his work, "Diary of an Internment Camp".

In spite of the fact that Kreisel had only been speaking English for 2 years, he decided that English was the language he wanted to write in, and as a result of the writings he did while in the internment camp, was sponsored as a student at the University of Toronto. He obtained his Masters in English in 1947 and joined the faculty at the University of Alberta as a lecturer. His first novel "The Rich Man" was published the same year. He earned his PhD from the University of London in 1954 and later held positions of Chair of English, Vice President Academic, and University Professor at the University of Alberta. He taught the Comparative Literature program and was reportedly very popular with his students. He retired in 1987. He passed away in 1991 in Edmonton and was survived by his wife and son.
(Information Source: University Athabasca Website: http://canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/hkreisel/hkreisel.php)