Raymond Fraser first met Alden Nowlan in 1961.
Fraser, a writer like Nowlan, said the two would often visit and chat.
“He was not only a good friend as a person, but also as a fellow writer. He was very encouraging of my writing,” said Fraser.
On Thursday at 7 p.m, Fraser and friends Jim Stewart, Bob Gibbs, David Adams Richards and Walter Learning will be speaking and sharing Alden Nowlan’s work in the Ted Daigle Auditorium at Edmund Casey Hall.
Fraser had a similar get-together with a bunch of people in memory of Nowlan about 10 years ago.
“We wanted to keep people reminded of him and keep them entertained with his work.”
Fraser said this night is not about Nowlan’s success.
“Yes, he was a great writer, essayist and poet,” he said. “But when a writer like that dies his work should be kept alive. It can provide some good reading for people who never knew him. You never want good writers to fade away. And it could introduce him to new people, possibly.”
Learning’s appearance at Thursday’s appreciation night comes only days before Theatre New Brunswick’s The Dollar Woman opens on Feb. 29.
It’s the 35th anniversary production of the play, the first New Brunswick show Learning and Nowlan wrote together for TNB. It runs until March 4.
Learning and Nowlan’s relationship was a long one and started out as a “fun relationship,” said Learning.
“A lot of people thought we didn’t get along because Alden wrote a series of columns when he was writing for the Telegraph-Journal in which he derided me for a number of things, including my choice of plays at The Playhouse.
“In fact, some of the columns were so rough that a prominent lady in Fredericton at one point offered me the services of her solicitor to sue this Mr. Nowlan who was being so nasty to me.”
The “fake feud” went on for quite a while, but ended when the two began collaborating around 1973.
“We had 10 wonderful years. In the 10 years, we wrote five plays and three television scripts and all five of our plays were adapted for radio. Not a bad output in 10 years,” said Learning.
One of Learning’s favourite memories is when Nowlan got his first royalty cheque for Frankenstein and was flabbergasted, because he had never received so much money for his writing before.
“He went out and he bought a car that he called ‘The Bride of Frankenstein.’”
When Nowlan was living at the Grad House at the University of New Brunswick, Learning would often receive 2 a.m. phone calls from him.
“Alden would call and say, ‘Walter, Walter, Walter, I just finished that scene we were working on and you’ve got to see it. You’ve got to see it, come on down!’ And I’d get up in the middle of the winter and get in the car and drive down.”
On Thursday, Learning will talk about how, with no internet, they did everything in person. And even when Learning moved to Ottawa, they did everything through telephone or mail.
“What was wonderful about the process then was that the process took time. But now with having to respond immediately to emails, it’s a different tempo,” said Learning.
Like Fraser, Learning agreed the night isn’t just about Nowlan’s success. It’s to remember him.
“It’s important that we take the time to remember somebody like Alden who has touched so many people in his poetry.”
