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Henry Kreisel was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1922 to a Polish mother and Romanian father. The family left Austria in 1938, settling in England, where he was taken into custody as an 'enemy alien' and sent to Canada. He was interned in New Brunswick, Canada, for eighteen months with other Austrian and Germans, many of them Jewish, who had fled Nazi Germany. He remained in custody until 1941. Upon his release he studied English literature at the University of Toronto, eventually earning an MA and PhD in English Literature. He taught at the University of Alberta and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1988. His two novels deal with the immigrant experience, contrasting European upheaval with Canadian safety. He published his internment diary and several short stories, as well as novels and essays.