Nationality Canadian Period 1970s-2000s | Name Charles Gordon Role Writer | |
Occupation novelist, humorist, journalist Notable works The Governor General's Bunny Hop, The Canada Trip Books Bringing Solvency to Social Se, The Canada Trip, The Grim Pig, Still at the Cottage: Or the Cabin, How to Be Not Too Bad: A C | ||
Charles Gordon (born 1940) is a Canadian writer and retired journalist, best known as a longtime columnist for the Ottawa Citizen.
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Background
Born in New York City while his father J. King Gordon was working in publishing there, Gordon grew up in several cities around the world during his father's diplomatic career with the United Nations. He is also the brother of writer Alison Gordon and the grandson of novelist Ralph Connor.
He studied political science at Queen's University.
Career
While completing his master's degree in political science, Gordon was hired as an editor with the Brandon Sun in 1964, remaining with the paper until joining the Citizen in 1974. With the Citizen, he held a variety of roles — including writing editorials, editing the local news and books sections, and writing his daily column — until retiring from the paper in 2005. He took a leave of absence from the paper in 2002 to serve for several months as writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa.
Gordon's columns were noted for their wry and sometimes satirical humor.
He published several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His first book, The Governor General's Bunny Hop, was adapted by CBC Television into the short-lived sitcom Not My Department.
He also wrote the afterword for the New Canadian Library edition of Paul Hiebert's influential humor novel Sarah Binks.
Awards and honours
He was a three-time nominee for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, garnering nods in 1986 for The Governor General's Bunny Hop, in 1994 for How Not to Be Too Bad and in 2002 for The Grim Pig.
He was granted an honorary doctorate from the University of Brandon in 1994.