Welcome to
The Ryga Center

In February 1996, The George Ryga Centre Society, a non-profit / charitable organization independent of government funding, fundraised the down-payment on Ryga’s former home in Summerland, B.C., where The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, along with the majority of Ryga’s vast body of work, was created. Since that time, The George Ryga Centre has functioned as a cultural centre / retreat in memory of Ryga’s enormous contribution to Canadian culture.

The George Ryga Centre, under the direction of Ken Smedley has produced a national authors’ series, hosting such writers as Sandra Birdsell, Mark Leiren-Young, Cynthia Flood and Sean Virgo. It also offers an artist-in-residence program, which provides a creative environment for writers and artists who wish to work independently and free from distractions in a unique heritage home. The Centre also supports the annual George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature, which is granted to a B.C. writer who has achieved an outstanding degree of social awareness in a new book publication.

-Text adapted from Ken Smedley's 'In the Face of Status Quo'