John Newlove fonds: MSS 70, EL 49 (A.06-52, A.06-96)

Inventory prepared by Richie Allen
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(August 31, 2006)

Finding aid encoded by Vladimira Zvonik (2007)
Finding aid written in English.

Collection Summary

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Biography of Biography of John Newlove

John Newlove was born in Regina on June 13, 1938. His father, Thomas Harold Newlove, was a lawyer and his mother, Mary Constant (Monteith) Newlove, was a teacher. John Newlove grew up in a number of small towns in Saskatchewan, including Ituna, Yellowgrass, Lloydminster, Grenfell, Veregin, and from 1949 to 1956, in Kamsack. He graduated from the Kamsack Collegiate Institute in 1956 and spent the following year at the University of Saskatchewan.

While enrolled at university John Newlove began writing poetry and he continued his writing while employed at a variety of jobs. He worked as a high school teacher in Birtle, Manitoba, a social worker in Yorkton and in radio in Weyburn, Regina, and Swift Current. He also held numerous jobs in British Columbia and on the Prairies.

From 1960 to 1967 he lived in Vancouver from which he made many hitch-hiking trips to the prairies, Toronto, Montreal, and Chicago. He was married in 1966 to Susan Mary Phillips and had two step-children, Jeremy and Tamsin. He spent most of 1967 in eastern California and Portugese Cove, Halifax, and Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He lived in Prince George and Terrace, British Columbia, until 1970, when he moved to Toronto. The following years were spent in Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan in writer-in-residence appointments. In 1982 he moved to Nelson, British Columbia, and taught at the David Thompson University Centre. He lived in Ottawa in his later years.

John Newlove was the senior trade editor for McClelland and Stewart from 1970 to 1974, where he was involved in editing, budget, design and production control. He edited a variety of books, including verse, fiction, non-fiction, picture books and calendars. Books of verse by Ralph Gustafson and F.R. Scott and a novel by Rudy Weibe edited by John Newlove received Governor General Awards.

He has also consulted and/or edited on a freelance basis for McClelland and Stewart, Jonathon Jones Books, Hurtig Publishers, Thistledown Press, the Governor General's Awards Committee, the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

He was the writer-in-residence at Loyola College, Montreal (1974-1975), where he consulted with students and taught two credit classes in Creative Writing. In the summer of 1975 he worked as a writer in the Communications Branch of the Office of the Prime Minister. He was the writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario (1975-1976), Massey College, University of Toronto, (1976-1977) and the Regina Public Library (1979-1980). All of these residencies included personal consultations, seminars, workshops, public and private readings and lectures.

From 1982-1983 he was an instructor at the David Thompson University Centre giving creative writing workshops for first, second and third year students. John Newlove also read and lectured at many universities, and literary societies throughout North America. As a freelance editor, writer, researcher in Ottawa, he did extensive work for the Office of the Commissioners of Official Languages and contracted with the Complaints Commission of the RCMP, the National Library and the Debates Branch of the Senate.

John Newlove received a Koerner Foundation Grant (1964), several Canada Council grants, the Governor General's Award (1972), The Founder's Award of the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild in 1984, the Literary Press Group Award (1988) and the Archibald Lampman Award (1993).

His poems have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Romania, India, Australia, Italy, the former Yugoslavia and Hungary.

John Newlove had thirteen chapbooks and published books: Grave Sirs (Vancouver: Robert Reid and Takao Tanabe, 1962); Elephants, Mothers & Others (Vancouver: Periwinkle Press, 1963. 31 pp.); Moving in Alone (Toronto: Contact, 1965. 83 pp.) 2nd edition (Lantzvelle, British Columbia: Oolichan Books, 1977. 88 pp.); Notebook Pages (Portfolio, Toronto: Charles Pachter, 1966); What They Say (Kitchener: Weed/Flower, 1967. 23 pp.) 2nd printing, 1968; Black Night Window (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1968. 112 pp.); The Cave (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1970. 85 pp.); 7 Disaster, 3 Theses, and Welcome Home, Click . (Vancouver: Very Stone House, 1971); Lies (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973. 96 pp.); The Fat Man: Selected Poems, 1962-1972 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1971. 127 pp.); Canadian Poetry: The Modern Era (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977). editor & contributor; The Green Plain (Lantzville, British Columbia: Oolichan Books, 1981); and The Night the Dog Smiled (Toronto: ECW Press, 1986. 78 pp.)

Newlove's poetry was most popular in the 1960s and 1970s when he and Eli Mandel were considered to be among the dominant voices of Canadian prairie poetry. John Newlove died suddenly in Ottawa on December 23, 2003. He was 65.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The fonds consists of his correspondence, poetry, notebooks, daily books, publications, and photographs.

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Restrictions on Access

The fonds is open to all users. Copyright must be respected and permission to publish any findings must be granted by the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

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Custodial History

The fonds was donated to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections Susan Newlove in 2006.

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Other Finding Aids

MSS 70, PC 81, TC 51 (A.86-24, A.86-25, A.86-27, A.86-29, A.86-32, A.86-37, A.86-40, A.86-43, A.88-12, A.98-68)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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