Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1928-2023 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
138 Boxes (19.7 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Jack Batten is a Toronto-based writer and journalist. Born in Montreal, Batten practiced law from 1959 to 1963, before turning his full attention to writing. He is the author of over thirty books, including non-fiction on biographies, history, sports, law, as well as young adult and crime novels. As a freelance journalist, Batten has written for magazines including Maclean’s, Rolling Stone, Chatelaine, Toronto Life and Reader’s Digest. He reviewed Jazz in the Globe and Mail in the 1970s, reviewed movies on CBC radio for 25 years and since 1998 has contributed a biweekly whodunit column in the Toronto Star.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Collection contains papers and other documents pertaining to the work of Jack Batten. It includes early drafts, edited manuscripts and galley versions of many of his published works. The collection also includes notes, reviews, printed ephemera, publicity tour information, general and financial correspondence, diagrams, photographs, and research and other materials, much of which relates to specific works. Correspondence includes letters to and from personalities, such as journalists Robert Fulford, Peter Gzowski and Michele Landsberg; publisher Jack McClelland, politician John Sewell; hockey pioneer Conn Smythe; and musicians Gary Burton, Blossom Dearie and Phil Nimmons.