Ricou, Laurence R., 1944-

Laurence "Laurie" R. Ricou was born in Brandon Manitoba on October 17, 1944 and earned his B.A. at the University of Manitoba in 1965. He moved to the University of Toronto where he earned his MA in 1957 and Ph.D. in 1971. Ricou then went to the University of Lethbridge where he taught English for eight years beginning in 1970. While at Lethbridge he became a specialist on Canadian Prairie regionalism and prairie writing. In 1978 he moved to Vancouver and joined UBC's Department of English. Ricou has written or co-authored a number of books including The Arbutus/Madrone Files: Reading the Pacific Northwest (2002), A Field Guide to Dungeness Spit (1997), Everyday Magic: Child Languages in Canadian Literature (1991), and Vertical Man/Horizontal World: Man and Landscape in Canadian Prairie Fiction (1973). He has also contributed numerous journal articles, conference papers and chapters for books.