Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, three credits shy of completing a BA. After publishing a poetry chapbook in 1972 he won the Norma Bailey Award, a literary prize for unpublished writing by Canadian university students, in 1974 for an excerpt from his novel manuscript The Coming of Winter, and the novel was published later that year as his fiction debut.
Career
Over his career as a writer, Richards has published novels, stage plays, short stories and non-fiction work. His fiction typically addresses the lives and experiences of poor and working class residents of the Miramichi region of New Brunswick, exploring spiritual and philosophical themes influenced by Richards' Roman Catholic faith. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick. On 30 August 2017, the appointment of Richards to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was announced. On 25 April 2018, Richards resigned from the Independent Senators Group to sit as a non-caucusing independent senator. Richards stressed that he had not felt pressured by the ISG, saying that he left because he wants a high degree of personal autonomy, citing how he never joined the Writers' Union of Canada or PEN Canada as an author. Richards also said that since Trudeau had appointed him as an independent, he felt it was his duty to be as independent as possible. On November 4, 2019, he joined the Canadian Senators Group.
Awards
Richards has received numerous awards including two Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down, the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children. The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Prize for Fiction. In 2009, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to the Canadian literary scene as an essayist, screenwriter and writer of fiction and non-fiction". In 2011, Richards received the Matt Cohen Prize.
