Dave Carley is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

who has written for stage, radio and television. His plays have had over 450 productions across Canada and the United States, and in other countries. They have won, or been nominated for, a number of awards, including the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

(''Writing with our Feet'', finalist), The Chalmers Award, The Dora Award, The Arthur Miller Award (

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

) and the New York International Radio Festival Award. He was a founder of Friends of Freddy, an association for the appreciation of the

Freddy the Pig Freddy the Pig is the central figure in a series of 26 children's books written between 1927 and 1958 by American author Walter R. Brooks and illustrated by Kurt Wiese, consisting of 25 novels and one poetry collection. The books focus on the adven ...

series of books of Walter Brooks. He was an editor of ''The Kawartha Sun'', the founding editor of the

Playwrights Guild of Canada Playwrights Guild of Canada (PGC) is a Canadian charity that works to advance the creative rights and interests of professional Canadian playwrights; promote Canadian plays, and foster community of writers. It was founded in 1972. History PGC has ...

magazine, ''CanPlay'', and also editor of ''Scirocco Drama'' in the late 1990s. Before that, beginning in 1990, Carley was the radio drama script editor at the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and he continues to write for the CBC. He was script editor for the

Wendy Lill Wendy Lill (born November 2, 1950) is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and radio dramatist who served as an NDP Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2004. Her stage plays have been performed extensively in theatres across Canada as well as inter ...

drama series ''

Backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

'', and wrote three episodes for the second season, which began broadcast in January 2011. Carley was born in

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, where he attended Queen Alexandra Public School and Adam Scott Collegiate and Vocational Institute. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

The University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

) and an LL.B. from Queen's University in Kingston. He is an active member in a number of organizations, including

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

as well as being the chair of the Dance and Opera Divisions for the Toronto's Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Carley was the winner of the 2012 Maggie Bassett Award, which is given for significant and sustained contribution to theatre in Ontario. Carley continues to write for the stage and a work about the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, ''Twelve Hours'', was premiered in March 2014 at the Garden Theatre in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. ''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...

'' called it "90 minutes of gripping theatre". ''Twelve Hours'' was published by Scirocco Press in spring 2015. His stage adaptation of ''A Splinter of the Heart'', the novel by

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...

, was premiered by the Festival Players of Prince Edward County in August 2016. Carley's latest play, ''Canadian Rajah'', is based on the life of Esca Brooke Daykin, eldest son of Charles Brooke, the second "White Rajah of Sarawak". It was premiered in January 2019 at Campbell House, Toronto. He is the brother of Gord Carley, author of ''Surviving Adversity'', and lives in Toronto.

Selected plays

* ''Hedges'' (1985) * ''Midnight Madness'' (1988) * ''Writing With Our Feet'' (1990) (finalist, Governor General's Award for Drama) * ''Taking Liberties'' (1991) (finalist, Dora Mavor Moore Award, Best New Play); (Finalist; Chalmers Award) * ''Into'' (1993 and 2006) (finalist, Dora Mavor Moore Award, Best New Play) * ''After You'' (1995) (premiered as ''Kawartha'' at Alberta Theatre Projects) * ''A View From The Roof'' (1996) (based on stories by Helen Weinzweig; finalist, Dora Mavor Moore Award, Best New Play; finalist, Chalmers Award) * ''Two Ships Passing'' (1998) * ''Walking on Water'' (1999) * ''The Edible Woman'' (2000) (based on the novel, ''

The Edible Woman ''The Edible Woman'' is the first novel by Margaret Atwood, published in 1969, which helped to establish Atwood as a prose writer of major significance. It is the story of a young woman, Marian, whose sane, structured, consumer-oriented world st ...

'', by

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

) * ''Orchidelirium'' (2001) (finalist, Dora Mavor Moore Award, Best New Play) * ''Test Drive'' (2002) * ''The Last Liberal'' (2004) * ''The Final Hour'' (2005) (written with Glenda MacFarlane) * ''Conservatives in Love'' (2006) * ''Lucky'' (2006) * ''

Niels Ebbesen Niels Ebbesen (1308 – 21 November 1340) was a Danish squire and national hero, known for his killing of Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg in 1340. From 1332 to 1340, Count Gerhard was the lord of both Jutland and Funen. His death meant ...

'' (2007) (by

Kaj Munk Kaj Harald Leininger Munk (commonly called Kaj Munk) (13 January 1898 – 4 January 1944) was a Danish playwright and Lutheranism, Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during the Occupation of Denmark of World ...

; new English translation and adaptation, with Arense Lund) * ''American Detour'' (2011) * ''Twelve Hours'' (2014) * ''A Splinter in the Heart'' (2016); adaptation of Al Purdy novel of the same name * ''Canadian Rajah'' (2019)

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carley, Dave 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian television writers Canadian radio writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male television writers