CZ.com | Literary Papers | ||
An Inventory and Description of the Carolyn Zonailo Papers: 1955-2005
*Cover art: Artstamp: "Carolyn Zonailo, Canadian Poet", drawing and artstamp by Ed Varney, 1996 1. DESCRIPTION OF CAROLYN ZONAILO PAPERS Introduction: The Carolyn Zonailo Papers holds, as nearly as possible, a currently complete collection of Zonailo's extant literary papers. Spanning the years 1955 to 2005, the papers presently include Zonailo's extensive literary correspondence; her personal and family correspondence; her manuscripts to date; journals containing handwritten first drafts, writing notebooks and diaries; literary periodicals and anthologies where Carolyn Zonailo's poetry is published; the archives for Caitlin Press and The Poem Factory press; papers from when CZ served on the executive of The Writers? Union of Canada (TWUC), The League of Canadian Poets, The Federation of B.C. Writers, The B.C. Book prizes, and The Quebec Society for the Promotion of English Language Literature (QSPELL). The Carolyn Zonailo Papers also include Zonailo's academic work at the University of Rochester, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University; some photographs of the poet; a collection of juvenilia, memorabilia, and ephemera; miscellaneous files. A second accrual of papers will include manuscripts currently in progress; further literary correspondence; archival photographs; as well as material relating to her Doukhobor heritage. From her earliest years, the direction of Carolyn Zonailo's life was towards a literary career. She began writing a diary at age eleven. She published her first poems in high school in Vancouver, where she was born. She studied literature, mythology, archetypal and Jungian psychology with eminent scholars, among them Norman O. Brown and Ralph Maud, with whom she formed a long-term personal friendship and who introduced her to James Hillman over several of his visits to Vancouver. She published poems while at university and she attended writing workshops. She founded a literary small press in British Columbia, Caitlin Press, and worked diligently as an editor and publisher. Later, she and Ed Varney founded The Poem Factory/ Usine de Poeme. She communicated with and knew many of the most important Canadian poets of the second half of the twentieth century. She also served, over a twenty-year period, on the executives of provincial and national writers? organizations, helping to found the Federation of B.C. Writers and the B.C. Book Prizes. During all of these years she continued to write her own work, which she has published so far in eleven collections of poetry, including The Taste of Giving: New & Selected Poems (1990) and The Goddess in the Garden (2002); plus several poetry chapbooks and two prose books. Carolyn Zonailo, like many of her literary predecessors, has lived in different parts of Canada. The main body of the current CZ Papers are from Carolyn Zonailo's birthplace in Vancouver, British Columbia. However, during the early 1980s she lived briefly in Toronto, and she has lived in Quebec from 1992 to 2008. She now divides her time between Vancouver, Montreal, and New York City. It is in Montreal that Zonailo's aesthetic sensibility has moved from a west coast to a national perspective. The Montreal years are well represented in the CZ Papers; she has published six collections of poetry while living in Quebec, and written her childhood memoir, The Land of Motionless Childhood, in which she explores her Doukhobor heritage and growing up in Vancouver. The Carolyn Zonailo Papers is an important and comprehensive documentary for any student of Canadian literature; British Columbia literature and history, including that of the Doukhobors; small press publishing in British Columbia and Canada; as well as woman?s poetry and feminist writing. The papers are also important in their breadth and completeness. It is the record of a significant Canadian poet, and also the voice of a woman poet at a time of great change for women in Canadian society. In addition to Carolyn Zonailo's literary work, she has carried the full responsibility of domestic life, raising her two children and participating in extended family relationships. Organization of the Papers: On a global level, the CZ Papers are arranged chronologically from 1955 to 2005. The first of several boxes of papers follow Zonailo's life in a linear order. These boxes include her earliest writings and some personal memorabilia and ephemera. Academic work at various universities is included. Manuscripts are also presented chronologically. As well, significant contributions outside of her own creative writing, but still central to her career, are found. This includes, notably, her contribution to provincial and national writers? organizations and her work founding and running Caitlin Press; and co-founding and managing The Poem Factory/ Usine de Poeme. The Carolyn Zonailo Papers will be added to at a later date, when her current manuscripts, her archival photographs, and Doukhobor material will be edited and compiled. 7. TABLE OF CONTENTS OF CAROLYN ZONAILO PAPERS EARLIEST PAPERS, 1955 - 1975: CAROLYN ZONAILO MANUSCRIPTS: CAROLYN ZONAILO LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE: CAROLYN ZONAILO JOURNALS: OTHER LITERARY PAPERS: CAITLIN PRESS ARCHIVES: THE POEM FACTORY ARCHIVES: OTHER RELATED FILES: CAROLYN ZONAILO FAMILY FILES: The above are selected from the Carolyn Zonailo Papers: An Inventory and Description of the Carolyn Zonailo Papers 1955-2005, prepared by Stephen Morrissey. These papers are archived in Special Collections and Rare Books at the W.A.C. Bennett Library at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The full contents of Carolyn Zonailo fonds can be viewed at Simon Fraser University. Included with the Carolyn Zonailo Papers is an 83-page description of the full contents of the fonds to date. (PDF) |
||
CZ.com | Literary Papers | ||