Eric McCormack (1938-2023) was a Canadian author, reviewer, and academic. He grew up in the small industrial community of Bellshill in Scotland where his his father worked in the steel mill. Eric McCormack obtained a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. In 1966 he left Scotland for doctoral studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1970 he accepted a teaching post in the English Department of St. Jerome's College (Now St. Jerome's University) at the University of Waterloo, where he specialized in seventeenth-century and contemporary literature.
As an author Eric McCormack began his career writing short stories which appeared in small literary journals including _Prism International_, _West Coast Review_, _Malahat Review_, and _The New Quarterly_. In 1987 his first book _Inspecting the Vaults_ was released. This is a collection of nineteen short stories, thirteen of which had been previously published in literary magazines. His first novel, _The Paradise Motel_, was published in February 1989. Eric McCormack became the focus of considerable media interest and his books were translated into many foreign languages. His next novel _The Mysterium_ was released in 1989, and _First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women_, was published in 1997. _The Dutch Wife_ was published in 2002 and his final work, _Cloud_ was published in 2014. Eric McCormack also frequently reviewed for _The Globe and Mail_. His works to date have received much critical acclaim.
Eric McCormack had won and/or been nominated for many prestigious literary awards. In 1988 Eric McCormack was one of two recipients of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the Canada Caribbean Region for his work _Inspecting the Vaults_. He was awarded the Spring Book Award by the Scottish Arts Council for his novel _The Paradise Motel_ in 1990, and in the same year he was one of the nominees for the People's Prize for Fiction. In 1997 the author was short-listed for the Governor-General Award for his work of fiction _First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women_. In 1999 Eric McCormack was awarded the Literacy Award at the Eleventh K-W Arts Awards Ceremony.
Eric McCormack also read at many international and national literary festivals including Harbourfront, Vancouver, Ottawa, The Eden Mills Writers' Festival and the Elora Writers Festival. He also gave readings at the University of Waterloo, at other universities, in local public libraries, in bookstores, and at other venues.
(Source : GA 117, Series 1, Files 1-1, 1-3 to 1-5, and 1-7 to 1-8 )
Published
Includes correspondence with Ensley Eikenburg of St. Martin's Press re reviews of _The Mysterium_ and fan mail which Mr. Eikenburg has forwarded on to Eric McCormack. Also relates to the progress which Eric McCormack is making on _First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women_ . Eric McCormack requests that Mr. Eikenburg contact Cynthia Good at Penguin Books Canada in connection with what appears to be St. Martin's Press' interest in obtaining the publishing rights to this novel in the U.S.A.