John V. Hicks, honourary Doctor of Literature degree recipient, giving a poetry reading from podium during Convocation held in Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: John Victor Hicks was born in 1907 in London, England. His family emigrated to Canada and after brief stops in McAdam Junction, New Brunswick, and Montreal, lived in Wainwright, Alberta and Edmonton before settling in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1918. Hicks was educated at Prince Albert Collegiate Institute, where he lived and worked as a civil servant prior to retirement in 1972. In addition to serving as organist and choirmaster at St. Alban's Cathedral for a number of years, Hicks published more than a dozen books as well as prose and poetry in the best literary publications throughout North America. During his career Hicks published nine books of poetry, including Rootless Tree (Thistledown, 1985), and Sticks and Strings: Selected and New Poems (Thistledown, 1988), and a non-fiction book, Side Glances: Notes on the Writers Craft (Thistledown, 1988). His first book of poetry, Now Is a Far Country, was published by Thistledown Press in 1978. Hicks was awarded an honourary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 and a Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts by the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1990. In 1992 he received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit for his longtime contribution to the arts and his community. Hicks died on 16 June 1999 in Prince Albert.