Patrick Toner

Patrick Toner received his BA in English from St Thomas University in 1991 and his MA in English from Carleton University in 1993. He is currently a teacher and administrator in the ESL program at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John. Toner’s interest in Alden Nowlan began in high school. For his MA thesis he chose to write on the religious and supernatural beliefs in Nowlan’s poetry. While working on what he thought would be simple thematic criticism, he discovered the true complexity of Nowlan’s life and works. His research and interviews became the inspiration for If I Could Turn and Meet Myself: The Life of Alden Nowlan. Through published materials, the Nowlan letters and papers at the University of Calgary, interviews with Nowlan’s family (some of whom have never before been approachable), and conversations with a legion of Nowlan’s friends and acquaintances, he has probed the life of this unusual man with understanding, insight, and Nowlan’s own love of a good story.