John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian author, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works.

Early life

Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended the

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

, where he began to organize literary events in the late 1950s. He began writing and publishing poetry in the early 1960s; his first book of poetry ''Lines for the Last Days'' was illustrated by

William Kurelek William Kurelek, (March 3, 1927 – November 3, 1977) was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, his struggles with mental illness, and his conversion to Roman Catho ...

.Morley, Patricia. Kurelek, A Biography, Macmillan of Canada, 1986, page 151. His imprint Hawkshead Press published Margaret Atwood's first collection of poetry in 1963. He also facilitated the appearance of first books of fiction written by

Hugh Hood Hugh John Blagdon Hood, OC (b in Toronto, Ontario 30 Apr 1928 – d in Montreal, Quebec 1 Aug 2000) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist and university professor. Hood wrote 32 books: 17 novels including the 12-volume New Ag ...

and

Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro (; ; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move f ...

and the first mass-market publication of a science-fiction story by

Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...

. He served as literary manager of the old Bohemian Embassy in Toronto and wrote poetry and also pioneered "found poetry" in the country. He then moved into editorial positions with some of Toronto's large publishing houses, including

McClelland and Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was found ...

and Hurtig. During that period, he edited George Grant's '' Lament for a Nation'', and served as managing editor of the Tamarack Review, at the time the leading literary quarterly.

Writing career

In the early 1970s, Colombo began working on the first of many anthologies, a collection of quotations from prominent Canadians titled ''Colombo's Canadian Quotations''. Following the success of the quotations collection, Colombo went on to publish dozens of collections, ranging from bibliographies of Canadian reference works to collections of folk tales, stories of the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

, and UFO sightings. As of 2014, Colombo has published over 200 titles, making him the second-most prolific author in Canadian literary history. His anthology writing earned him the nickname "the Master Gatherer" amongst Canadian writers and literary critics. He has also been dubbed "Canada's Mr. Mystery" for his compilations of the paranormal. In the 1990s, Colombo began publishing his writing through his own imprint, Colombo and Company.

Works

Recognition

*Harbourfront International Literary Award *Honorary doctorate in literature by

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

*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 cen ...

*The Centennial Medal *The Order of Cyril and Methodius (first class) *Esteemed Knight of Mark Twain *A Fellow, Northrop Frye Centre, Victoria College, University of Toronto.

References

External links