David Arnason

David Arnason was born on May 23, 1940, in Gimli, Manitoba, the eldest of seven children of Baldwin and Gudrun Arnason. Of Icelandic descent, he grew up in the Interlake community that later became the setting and subject of much of his writing.

He studied at the University of Manitoba, taking a B.A. in 1961, a Certificate in Education in 1963 and an M.A. in 1969, and completed a Ph.D. at the University of New Brunswick in 1983-1984. That academic path led him into editing, teaching and the network of Canadian little presses.

In 1972 Arnason co-founded the Journal of Canadian Fiction with John Moss at the University of New Brunswick. Back in Winnipeg he helped found Queenston House Press and edited for Turnstone Press from 1975. He chaired the Literary Press Group, sat on the executive of the Association of Canadian Publishers, served on the Manitoba Arts Council from 1985 to 1987, and advised Anansi Press. From the early 1970s he reviewed books and theatre for the CBC and wrote radio adaptations.

He joined the University of Manitoba faculty in 1973, headed the English Department from 1997 to 2006, and was acting head of Icelandic Studies from 1998 to 2006. By 2018 he was a full professor and chair of both departments. The University of Manitoba Archives hold the David Arnason Fonds of manuscripts and correspondence.

His published work includes Marsh Burning (1980), The Icelanders (1981), Fifty Stories and a Piece of Advice (1982), The Circus Performers' Bar (1984), Skrag (1987), The Happiest Man in the World and Other Stories (1989), The Pagan Wall (1992), The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess (1994), The New Icelanders (1994), If Pigs Could Fly (1995), King Jerry (2001), The Demon Lover (2002), The Imagined City (2005, edited with Mhari Mackintosh) and Baldur's Song: A Saga (2010). King Jerry was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. The Imagined City won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Mary Scorer Book Award in 2005. In 2017 he received a Manitoba Book Awards lifetime achievement honour. He also edited Dorothy Livesay's Right Hand, Left Hand.

Arnason remained closely tied to Gimli and the Interlake throughout his life and lived there at the time of his death. He was married for 24 years to Marie Gordon and had a son, Vincent, and a daughter, Gail, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His sister Maureen Arnason spoke publicly after his death about the family's closeness and about his hometown pride.

Friends and colleagues such as poet Dennis Cooley, who met him when both were new at the University of Manitoba in the early 1970s, remembered a creative, inventive companion who loved Icelandic myth and the possibilities of storytelling.

David Arnason died on September 14, 2026, in Gimli, Manitoba, at the age of 86. His sister Maureen said he was surrounded by people who loved him. A cause of death was not detailed in the main public notices; the Winnipeg Free Press reported that he had been in poor health in recent years.

Turnstone Press published a memorial calling him a teacher, colleague, mentor and friend. Prairie Theatre Exchange recalled his formative role in early PTE scripts. Wikipedia and Manitoba arts outlets recorded the date and age.

Arnason's legacy sits at the meeting of Icelandic-Canadian memory and modern prairie literature. As novelist, poet, historian and professor he taught readers the Interlake and trained generations of Manitoba writers. His co-founding of journals and presses, decades at Turnstone, and awards for The Imagined City and for lifetime achievement mark a career that built institutions as well as books.

For People Forever and for Canadian letters, he remains the Gimli-rooted voice who made New Iceland's stories travel, and the editor-teacher whose counsel Turnstone and Prairie Theatre Exchange still cite.