The Michael Cook Papers, First Accession and Second Accession

Book excerpt: Michael Cook rapidly built a reputation in the 1970s as a playwright of Newfoundland life. Although not born on the island, he soon became better known than such writers as Al Pittman and Ted Russell. Four full-length plays (Colour the Flesh the Colour of Dust; The Head, Guts and Sound Bone Dance; Jacob's Wake; and The Gayden Chronicles) and six one-act plays (Tiln; Quiller; On the Rim of the Curve; Therese's Creed; The Fisherman's Revenge; and the unpublished Not as a Dream) were staged between 1971 and 1978. He is also the outstanding Canadian radio dramatist of his generation, with over fifty plays. As an essayist, his columns for the St. John's Evening Telegram enhance his interpretation of what defines Newfoundland and examine the big issues of Canadian culture.