Donna Morrissey (born in

The Beaches The Beaches (also known as "The Beach") is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is so named because of its four beaches situated on Lake Ontario. It is located east of downtown within the "Old" City of Toronto. The approximate boundar ...

, Newfoundland) is a Canadian author. At age 16, Morrissey left her birthplace of The Beaches, a small outport on the west coast of Newfoundland. She lived in various places in Canada before returning to St. John's, where she studied at

Memorial University Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and i ...

and obtained a Bachelor of Social Work and a diploma in adult education. Morrissey now lives in Halifax,

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 ...

. Morrissey has written six national best sellers and prize-winning novels — ''Kit's Law'', ''Downhill Chance'', ''Sylvanus Now'', ''What They Wanted'', ''The Deception of Livvy Higgs'', and ''The Fortunate Brother'' — as well as one Gemini-nominated screenplay. In 2021 She published a memoir, ''Pluck: A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to becoming a Novelist''. Morrissey defended

Frank Parker Day Frank Parker Day (9 May 1881 – 30 July 1950) was a Canadian athlete, academic and author. Since Day's father was a Methodist minister who moved to a new congregation every three years, Day spent his youth living throughout Nova Scotia, living ...

's novel ''

Rockbound ''Rockbound'' is a novel published in 1928 by Canadian writer Frank Parker Day. Overview The "Rockbound" mentioned in the title is name of small fictitious island inspired by East Ironbound, a remote island near Big Tancook Island off the coast ...

'' in '' Canada Reads 2005''. ''Rockbound'' eventually won the competition. In the 2007 edition of ''Canada Reads'', an "all-star" competition pitting the five winning advocates from previous years against each other, Morrissey returned to champion

Anosh Irani Anosh Irani (born 1974) is an Indo-Canadian novelist and playwright, born and raised in Mumbai. Education From 1998, Irani attended the University of British Columbia and received his bachelor's degree in creative writing in 2002. He has ...

's novel '' The Song of Kahunsha''.

Bibliography

*''Kit's Law'' *''Downhill Chance'' *''Sylvanus Now'' *''What They Wanted'' *''The Deception of Livvy Higgs'' *''The Fortunate Brother'' *''Pluck: A memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to Becoming a Novelist''

Filmography

*''Clothesline Patch'' (screenplay) nominated for Gemini for Best Writing

Awards and recognition

*For ''Sylvanus Now'': **Winner of the Thomas Head Raddall Award **Atlantic Booksellers Choice Award ** Short-listed for the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

*For ''Downhill Chance'': **Winner of the Thomas Head Raddall Award *For ''Kit's Law'': **Winner of the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award **Winner of the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize **Winner of the American Library Association Alex Award **Shortlisted for the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident o ...

**Shortlisted for the Atlantic Provinces Booksellers' Choice Award **Shortlisted for the Thomas Head Raddall Award *For ''Clothesline Patch'': **Winner, Best Production,

2002 Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 17th Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2002, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre an ...

nominated Best Writing *For ''The Deception of Livvy Higgs'': **One Book Nova Scotia selection, 2016 For "''The Fortunate Brother": Winner of the Thomas Head Raddall Award Winner of Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Book of 2017

External links

Author page at Penguin CanadaDonna Morrissey's web pageDonna Morrissey's
entry in

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 f ...

*
Online interview from CBC Words at Large
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Donna 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian women novelists Living people People from Newfoundland (island) Writers from Newfoundland and Labrador 21st-century Canadian women writers Year of birth missing (living people)