J. D. Carpenter

I was born in 1948 and grew up in Toronto. I attended York University (B.A., 1971) and Queen’s University (B.Ed., 1972). I worked as a journalist for the Daily Racing Form and did a lot of freelance work, then taught high school English for 25 years. I have published four books of poetry: Nightfall, Ferryland Head (Missing Link Press, 1976); Swimming at Twelve Mile (Penumbra Press, 1979); Lakeview (Black Moss Press, 1990); andCompassionate Travel (Black Moss Press, 1994). I began writing novels during the 1990’s and have published four: The Devil in Me (McClelland & Stewart, 2001); Bright’s Kill (The Dundurn Group, 2005); 74 Miles Away(The Dundurn Group, 2007); and Twelve Trees (The Dundurn Group, 2008). I am currently working on another novel, Black Tupelo, and have ideas for at least two more. I hope someday to publish a “new and selected” collection of my poems. I have always loved reading (starting with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn when I was twelve) and began to write at age nineteen. Robert Frost said that he made poems for the same reason other people weave baskets: to create order out of chaos. That’s why I write: to understand myself and make sense of the world.


Works by J. D. Carpenter

PoetryBook Reviews of Author

Poetry by J. D. Carpenter

Book Reviews of J. D. Carpenter's Works

Swimming at Twelve Mile
By J. D. Carpenter
Reviewed in Parnassus Clearance by Peter Mitcham