Timothy Findley Essay, Research Paper

Biography of Author

Timothy Findley

Timothy Findley is a native of Toronto, Ontario. He was born in 1930 and grew up in the Rosedale district of Toronto. Growing up, Timothy Findley knew that he wanted to be an artist of some form. He studied dance and later acting, which had more success. While acting, he met one of his current life long friends; actress Ruth Gordon. Gordon convinced Findley that writing was his real talent and that he should pursue it further with more concentration. So findley gave up acting after his first short story was published in The Tamarack Review to concentrate on his writings. Findley had problems receiving recognition from his first two books, The Last of the Crazy People (1967) and The Butterfly Plague (1969). It was The Wars that gave Findley the recognition that he deserved; he received the Governor General s Literary Award for this novel. In his early years of his writing career, Findley also wrote scripts for television, radio, and film. The most success of his film career came from the television series The Whiteoaks of Jalna, and The National Dream; for which he received an ACTRA award for co-writing with his partner, William Whitehead. After The Wars, Findley came out with six other popular novels, two collections of short stories and Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer s Workbook (1990), a collection of articles, journal entries, and reminiscences. Findley has been very active in the writing community; he has helped to found the Writer s Union of Canada and has served as its chairperson. He has also been President of the Canadian chapter of P.E.N. International, and is also active in Artists Against racism. In addition to this Findley has won many awards including the Canadian Authors Association Award, The Order of Ontario, The Ontario Trillium Award, and he has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. On the international scene, he has received France s highest distinction for achievement in the arts; Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. Findley has lived most of his life with his partner William Whitehead on a farm in Cannington, Ontario. They recently put their home up for sale and plan on travelling between the south of France and Stratford, Ontario.