W. O. Mitchell
W. O. Mitchell (William Ormond Mitchell) (1914–1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster best known for capturing life on the Canadian Prairies.
Early life
- Born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
- Studied psychology and philosophy at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.
- Earned a BA and teaching certificate at the University of Alberta in 1943.
- Was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
Most famous works and career
- Who Has Seen the Wind (1947): his best-known novel about prairie life seen through the eyes of a boy; it sold close to a million copies.
- Jake and the Kid (1950–1956): a popular CBC Radio series about life on the Prairies, with 320 episodes.
- Mitchell moved to Toronto in 1948 to become fiction editor for Maclean’s magazine and later taught creative writing at several Canadian institutions.
- He directed the Banff Centre’s writing division and served as Writer in Residence in Winnipeg in 1974. He received an honorary doctorate from Brandon University.
Later life and legacy
- Spent his final years in Calgary, Alberta, where he died in 1998.
- Awards and honors include:
- Officer of the Order of Canada (1973).
- Honorary doctorates from five Canadian universities.
- Sworn into the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in 1992.
- His image appeared on a Canadian postage stamp in 2000.
- Schools named after him: W.O. Mitchell School in Calgary and W. O. Mitchell Elementary School in Kanata, Ontario.
Quotations and other works
- A passage from Who Has Seen the Wind was read by Donald Sutherland at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
- Other works include:
- Novels: The Kite (1962); The Vanishing Point (1973); How I Spent My Summer Holidays (1981); Since Daisy Creek (1984); Ladybug, Ladybug (1988); According to Jake and the Kid (1990); Roses are Difficult Here (1990); For Art’s Sake (1992).
- Radio: The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon (1951; later published as a book in 1993).
- Stage: Back to Beulah (1978); For Those in Peril on the Sea (1982).
- Audio: An Evening with W.O. Mitchell (1997).
- Television: The Magic Lie (1977); Canada Vignettes: Melvin Arbuckle, Famous Canadian (1980); Titans (1981); Road to Avonlea (1990).
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 20:03 (CET).