Don Coles

Don Coles
Donald L. Coles (April 12, 1927 – November 29, 2017) was a Canadian poet and novelist. He won the 1993 Governor General's Award for English poetry for his collection Forests of the Medieval World and the Trillium Book Award in 2000 for his collection Kurgan.
He was born on April 12, 1927, in Woodstock, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto and received a B.A in modern History in 1949, and an M.A in English Literature in 1952. He then attended the University of Cambridge, where he eventually earned a second M.A in Canadian Literature. Coles' writing began to take off after he received a British Council grant, which allowed him a year in Italy. Coles spent the following ten to twelve years traveling around Europe and lived in London, Stockholm, Florence, Munich, Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Zurich. Coles had struggled with writing and while in Europe he wrote two unpublished novels. "I was bad at characterization, I was bad at dialogue, I was bad at plot…" he told the National Post.
After he returned home in 1965 he joined the faculty of York University, where he worked for 30 years. He taught humanities, and was the director of the creative writing program. Furthermore, he was the senior editor at the Banff Centre for the Arts from 1984 to 1994. Coles was influenced by many British writers during the time he was living in Europe. These early influences were Thomas Hardy, Philip Larkin, Donald Hall, John Berryman and Margaret Atwood, with whom he worked at York University.
Coles first began writing poetry around 1966, and soon published his first collection, Sometimes All Over, in 1975 with Macmillan. Coles' first novel, Doctor Bloom's Story was not published until 2004. His other poetry collections, seven of which were published in Canada and one published in England, included Anniversaries (1979); The Prinzhorn Collection (1982); Landslides: selected poems, 1975-1985 (1986); K. in Love (1987); Little Bird (1991); Forests of the Medieval World (1993); Someone Has Stayed in Stockholm (1994, published in England); and For the Living and the Dead (1996, a translation from the Swedish). Coles died on November 29, 2017 at the age of ninety.
Works
Publications
Sometimes All Over, Macmillan of Canada, 1975 : Poetry-collection
Anniversaries, Macmillan of Canada, 1979: Poetry-collection
The Prinzhorn Collection, Macmillan of Canada, 1982: Poetry-collection
Landslides, McClelland & Stewart,1986: Poetry-new and selected
K. in Love, Signal Editions, 1987: Poetry-linked
Little Bird, Signal Editions, 1991: Poetry
Forests Of the Medieval World, The Porcupine's Quill, Inc., 1993: Poetry-collection
Someone Has Stayed In Stockholm, Arc Publications, UK, 1994: Poetry- new and selected
For the Living and the Dead, Buschekbooks, Ottawa, 1996
Kurgan, Porcupine's Quill, Erin, Ontario, Canada, 2000
Doctor Bloom's story, Toronto: A.A. Knopf Canada, 2004. 1st ed. : Novel
How We All Swiftly, Signal Editions, 2005 : The first six books
A dropped glove in Regent Street, Signal Editions, 2007
The essential Don Coles, Porcupine's Quill, 2009
Where We Might Have Been, Signal Editions, 2010
"A Serious Call," Porcupine's Quill, 2015
References
External links
Don Coles archives at the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, York University
1927 births
2017 deaths
20th-century Canadian poets
20th-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male poets
Canadian male novelists
Writers from Ontario
Academic staff of York University
University of Toronto alumni
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Governor General's Award-winning poets
People from Woodstock, Ontario
21st-century Canadian poets
21st-century Canadian novelists
20th-century Canadian translators
21st-century Canadian translators
21st-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male non-fiction writers