Fonds 2000.6 - Barry McKinnon fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Barry McKinnon fonds

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  • Textual record
  • Graphic material
  • Sound recording

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on fonds creator.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

2000.6

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1958-2003 (Creation)
    Creator
    McKinnon, Barry

Physical description area

Physical description

11 m of textual records and other material
198 audio recordings
227 photographs

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1944-2023)

Biographical history

Barry McKinnon was born in 1944 in Calgary, Alberta. He studied at Mount Royal College for two years and in 1965 he attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal. He studied poetry with Irving Layton and received a BA in English and Psychology in 1967. He graduated with an MA degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 1969, and in the same year became an English instructor at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, BC until his retirement in 2005. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2006 from the University of Northern British Columbia, the highest award presented by the university in recognition of outstanding public service of national significance. Barry has been widely published and extensively involved in the Prince George and British Columbia literary community, both as a writer and as a publisher, editor, and designer, and has achieved national recognition. The Caledonia Writing Series and Gorse Press contain 125 titles. These include Victoria Walker’s Suitcase, winner of the BC Book Award, and George Bowering’s Quarters, winner of the bp Nichol Award. In 1981 Gorse Press won the Malahat Review Award for excellence in letterpress and broadside design. He has authored 15 books of poetry and numerous journal and anthology publications. In 1981, his work "The The" was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry and "Pulplog" won the Dorothy Livesay Prize (BC Book Awards) for 1991. He won the bp Nichol Chapbook Award for "Arrythmia" in 1994, and for "Bolivia/Peru" in 2004. He has also organized more than 100 readings in Prince George, attracting the likes of Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and former Prince George writer Brian Fawcett. Over the course of nearly four decades, Barry has inspired generations of northern writers and added his own poetic voice to the nation’s literary culture.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of a large and extended correspondence, manuscript materials (both his own and others), publications, proofs, financial records, transcriptions, audio tapes, lectures and preparation work for teaching. A large quantity of influential (and obscure) periodicals published in the west is also included. Includes material related to Barry McKinnon and The Caledonia Writing Series and Gorse Press. The audio collection consists of cassette and reel to reel tapes of poetry readings and interviews in Prince George and other locations within Canada, including Edmonton, Montreal, and Vancouver. Readings from the 1980 Writing Conference Words/Loves at the College of New Caledonia (CNC) are also included along with many Poetry Readings at CNC during the 1970s to the 1990s. Poets and writers in the audio collection include Barry McKinnon, Ken Belford, Earle Birney, Bill Bissett, George Bowering, Robert Creeley, Brian Fawcett, Gerry Gilbert, Arti Gold, Elizabeth Hay, Roy Kiyooka, Robert Kroetsch, Evelyn Lau, Irving Layton, Dorothy Livesay, Daphne Marlatt, Susan Musgrave, bp Nichol, Michael Ondaatje, Stan Persky, David Phillips, Al Purdy, George Stanley, Sharon Thesen, Fred Wah, and Tom Wayman.

Notes area

Arrangement

Partial arrangement undertaken.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Some files may be restricted--contact archivist.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Personal or academic use of materials is welcomed under the standard fair dealing and educational use clauses of Canadian Copyright Law. Commercial use is, however, forbidden without the express permission of the copyright holder. For information on obtaining written permission from the copyright holder, please contact the Northern B.C. Archives and Special Collections.

    Finding aids

    A complete listing of authors in the audio collection and summaries of cassette tapes are available in a partial finding aid. A file list of the correspondence is also available.

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