Morrissey, Donna, 1956-

Donna Morrissey was born in 1956 and grew up in the small outport community of The Beaches on Newfoundland’s west coast. She was the first of six children born to logger and fisherman Enerchius Osmond and his wife Claudine. After dropping out of high school and working in the local fish plant, she left Newfoundland at age sixteen to travel across Canada. She moved throughout the country, spending time in Toronto and Alberta employed as a cook and bartender, among other things. At age nineteen, she married a fellow Newfoundlander. They were together for fifteen years and had two children. After ten years away, Morrissey returned to Newfoundland in her mid twenties. At age thirty-two, she was admitted to Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) as a mature student where she earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree. After working as a social worker for a year and a half, she returned to school and obtained a Diploma in Adult Education. Donna Morrissey has lived and worked in Halifax since 1993.

Morrissey is a well-known, colourful author of short stories, screen plays, and novels whose works draw heavily on her childhood experiences and Newfoundland background. She began writing in her late thirties and published her first novel, Kit’s Law, in 1999. Morrissey has published two Canadian bestsellers, Kit’s Law, translated into three languages, and Downhill Chance. Her literary accomplishments include winning the Libris First Time Author of the Year Award, the international Winifred Holtby Award for regional fiction, the Alex Award, and the Thomas Raddall Award. Two of her short stories have also been adapted as scripts, each winning the Atlantic Script Writing Competition. Her screenplay The Clothesline Patch aired on CBC and won a Gemini Award for Best Production.