Alden Nowlan left school before graduating and during his adolescent years worked at a variety of jobs, all of them menial, manual, or both. He was a pulp cutter, a farmhand, a sawmill worker, a night watchman, a ditch digger and a logger. Primarily self-educated, he later went on to work as a newspaperman, and published poetry, plays, short stories, and novels.   Born on January 25, 1933 at Windsor, Novia Scotia, he is widely recognized as one of the most important poets to appear in Canada in the last thirty years. His poetry collection Bread, Wine and Salt won the Governor’s General award in 1967. Much of his work reflects his regional roots and an affection for the