Harold Andrew Horwood, CM (November 2, 1923 – April 16, 2006) was a

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

writer and politician. He was a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

Early life

The son of Andrew Horwood and Vina Maidment, Horwood was born in St. John's,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. He experienced a love of literature from a young age and while still an adolescent had already decided on a literary career. He pursued this goal despite the objections of his parents, with whom he did not get along, drawing more inspiration from the life of his paternal grandfather, John Horwood, a sea captain. He was educated at

Prince of Wales Collegiate Prince of Wales Collegiate is a public high school located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It served part of St. John's as well as the rural community of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. The school was erected in 1959. At that time ...

and worked at various labouring jobs for a number of years, which eventually led him to become a labour organizer. Around the same time, he and his brother Charlie founded a literary magazine called ''Protocol''. Beginning in 1948 he worked closely with Joey Smallwood in the campaign to bring Newfoundland into

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. From 1949 to 1951, he was a member of the

Newfoundland House of Assembly The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is the unicameral deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It meets in the Confederation Building in St. Jo ...

, sitting as the member for Labrador for Smallwood's Liberals. After leaving politics he started writing a political column for the ''Evening Telegram'' newspaper. Though he supported Smallwood at first, by the mid-1950s he had become one of the premier's harshest critics.

Writing career

His first book, ''Tomorrow Will be Sunday'', was published in 1966. Though it was a novel, Horwood acknowledged its autobiographical elements. The novel ''White Eskimo'' (1972), arguably his best-known work, was inspired in part by Esau Gillingham. All told, he wrote more than 20 books, including novels, history, natural history, biography, and autobiography. His contribution to Newfoundland literature does not consist only of the works he produced, but also in the example he provided to young writers at a time when little literature had been produced in the province. However, as his political writing and some of his literature indicates, he did not always hold Newfoundland culture, particularly that of the '

outport An outport is any port considered secondary to a main port (including a provincial one as opposed to a capital one), and often (especially) a small port built to support the commercial operations of a large port. The Port of Tilbury from the Port ...

s' or fishing villages, in high regard.

Other activities

During the 1960s he became an opponent of industrialization and began to interest himself in various 'counter-cultural' concerns. For a year he ran an alternative school in St. John's, known as "Animal Farm". Among Horwood's other accomplishments were being a founding member and head of the

Writers' Union of Canada The Writers' Union of Canada (TWUC), founded in 1973, describes itself as supporting "the country's authors by advocating for their rights, freedoms, and economic well-being." Its members are professional writers who must have published at least o ...

, and holding the position of writer-in-residence at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

and

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

Later life

In 1980, he was made a Member of the

for his "contributions to Canadian literature". He lived his last twenty-five years in

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the n ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He and his wife Cornelia (Corky), whom he married in 1972, had two children, Andrew and Leah. He died of cancer at the age of 82 in Halifax.

Bibliography

*''Tomorrow Will Be Sunday'' - 1966, fiction *''The Foxes of Beachy Cove'' - 1967, named Best Scientific Book of the Year *''Newfoundland'' - 1969 *''Voices Underground'' - 1972 (editor) *''White Eskimo'' - 1972, fiction *''Beyond the Road: Portraits & Visions of Newfoundlanders'' - 1976 (with Stephen Taylor, photographer) *''The Colonial Dream: 1497/1760'' - 1978 *''Bartlett: The Great Canadian Explorer'' - 1979, biography *''Only the Gods Speak'' - 1979 *''Tales of the Labrador Indians'' - 1981 (editor) *''Historic Newfoundland'' - 1986 *''Remembering Summer'' - 1987 *''Dancing on the Shore'' - 1987 *''Bandits and Privateers'' - 1988 *''Joey'' - 1989, biography *''The Magic Ground'' - 1996 *''Evening Light'' - 1997 *''A Walk in Dream Time: Growing Up in Old St. John's'' - 1997, autobiography *''Among the Lions: A Lamb in the Literary Jungle'' - 2000

References

* O'Flaherty, Patrick, ''The Rock Observed'', University of Toronto Press, 1979. *

External links

Harold Horwood
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

Horwoods
Bibliography at the Newfoundland Writers' Guild * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horwood, Harold 1923 births 2006 deaths Canadian male novelists Canadian people of British descent Members of the Order of Canada Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador MHAs People from Annapolis County, Nova Scotia Politicians from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Pre-Confederation Newfoundland and Labrador people Writers from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Deaths from cancer in Nova Scotia 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers