The Ecstasy of Resistance: A Biography of George Ryga

David E. Kemp is a drama professor at Queen’s University, and the
author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Best-known for his first two plays, Indian and The Ecstasy of Rita Joe
(first presented in the mid-1960s), George Ryga also wrote novels, short
stories, poems, essays, and film scripts. One of the best features of
this excellent biography is the attention it focuses on the full range
of Ryga’s work. Also fully explored is Ryga’s Ukrainian background
and the ways in which it served both to inspire and to confound his
writing. Well-researched, sensitive, and eminently readable, this book
deserves a place on the shelves of universities and public libraries
across Canada.