Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1970-2008 (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
55 boxes (10.5 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
David Donnell is a Canadian poet and writer. He was born in 1939 in St. Mary’s, Ontario. He moved to Toronto in 1958 and became acquainted with other Toronto poets through the Bohemian Embassy. In 1961, he published his first book, Poems, and assisted John Robert Colombo in printing Margaret Atwood’s first book, Double Persephone. Other published works of Donnell include: The Blue Sky (1977), Dangerous Crossings (1980), Hemingway in Toronto (1982), Settlements (1983), which was the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, The Blue Ontario Hemingway Boat Race (1985), Water Street Days (1989), China Blues (1992), which won the City of Toronto Book Award, Dancing in the Dark (1996) and Sometimes a Great Notion (2004).
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of Donnell's drafts, proofs andgalleys of his published books, including Water Street Days (1989), China Blues 1992) and The Blue Ontario Hemingway Boat Race (1985). It also includes drafts and fragments of his unpublished poetry, as well as correspondence. Correspondence includes business and personal communications with publishers, other writers and friends, as well as teaching and grant applications. These papers also include printed appearances by Donnell and works by other writers, printed notices and ephemera, poems by students in Donnell's Master classes in poetry and short fiction at Ryerson and the University of Toronto, and some financial records.