Meeka Walsh

C.M., BA

Throughout her illustrious career as a writer, editor, art critic, and curator, Meeka Walsh has been a champion of Winnipeg’s local art scene.

In her nearly three decades as editor of the quarterly cultural magazine Border Crossings, Walsh has put Winnipeg art on the map in a way that no other individual has in the city’s rich, cultural history.

A graduate of The University of Winnipeg in 1984, Walsh’s involvement with Border Crossings, then known as ArtsManitoba, began in 1982 amid a period of uncertainty for the publication. A little more than a decade later, Walsh rose to the position of editor and has been the catalyst for the magazine's recognition in the local, national, and international arts communities.

Her regular essays on language, art, ideas, books, places, and much more have long been a fixture of the magazine, as have in-depth interviews with national and international artists such as Yoko Ono, Michael Snow, and fellow UWinnipeg alum Guy Maddin.

In 2003, the Western Magazine Awards honoured Walsh with a Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Canadian Academy in 2007 for her contribution to the arts in Canada.

In addition to Walsh’s guidance of Border Crossings, she is a celebrated author whose short fiction has been published in anthologies such as Oxford Book of Stories by Canadian Women in English. Among her works are the short story collection The Garden of Earthly Intimacies, published in 1996, and the essay collection Malleable Forms, released in 2022.

In 2017, Walsh was named a Member of the Order of Canada for her “enhancement of Canada’s cultural community as a supporter of emerging artists and as a generous donor.”

The University of Winnipeg Alumni Association is proud to recognize Meeka Walsh as the recipient of its highest honour, the Distinguished Alumni Award.