George Ryga

George Ryga first found national fame

When CBC Television produced his play Indian, two of his novels were soon published in England. Most of Ryga’s creative output originated from his home in Summerland, including The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, which premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse in 1967 and later opened the newly built National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 1968. The play was published by Talon in 1970 and remains the best-selling Canadian play of all time.

George Ryga, born in 1932, grew up in poverty in a Ukrainian farming community near Athabasca. Despite leaving school at 13, he won a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts with one of his early stories. In 1963, he moved to Summerland with his family, where he wrote his most famous work, "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe," which shed light on Indigenous issues. The play gained national attention and was performed at the opening of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Ryga is remembered for modernizing Canadian theater

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