Companion of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: 1982-12-20
Invested on: 1983-04-20
Morley Callaghan, Canada's first modern novelist in English, has been recognized by critics abroad as one of the most significant writers of our time. He began his career as a part-time reporter in his student days. His first short story, and his first novel, both dating from the 1920s, were the forerunners of a long series of writings, in which an understanding of human nature and a feeling for the Toronto scene are combined into a style of great sincerity and truth to nature. The fact that he has this year celebrated his eightieth birthday and published a major novel assures us that he is still at the height of his powers.