Alan Small

Reporter

Alan Small has been a journalist at the Free Press for more than 22 years in a variety of roles, the latest being a reporter in the Arts and Life section.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had been an editor, starting out on the night copy desk, then to assistant city editor, and starting in 2013, as editor of the Arts and Life section.

Alan grew up on a farm near Radway, Alta., population 200, and left the farm life and agriculture studies behind in 1988 to work in newspapers in the Alberta communities of Morinville, St. Albert and Medicine Hat until 1997, when he moved to Winnipeg.

While working nights at the Free Press, he took classes at the University of Manitoba during the day and he earned an arts degree in 2006. He found out there are many ways a major in German and a minor in film studies can come in handy.

He also has learned about kidney disease over the years, coping with its symptoms since 2006. He began dialysis treatments in 2017 and about two years later was one of the fortunate people to receive a kidney transplant.