Donna Morrissey (born January 13, 1956, in The Beaches, Newfoundland) is a Canadian author. At age 16, Morrissey left her birthplace of The Beaches, a small outport on the west coast of Newfoundland. She lived in various places in Canada before returning to St. John's, where she studied at Memorial University and obtained a Bachelor of Social Work and a diploma in adult education. Morrissey now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Morrissey has written six national best sellers and prize-winning novels — Kit's Law, Downhill Chance, Sylvanus Now, What They Wanted, The Deception of Livvy Higgs, and The Fortunate Brother — as well as one Gemini-nominated screenplay. In 2021 She published a memoir, Pluck: A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to becoming a Novelist. Morrissey defended Frank Parker Day's novel Rockbound in Canada Reads 2005. Rockbound eventually won the competition. In the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, an "all-star" competition pitting the five winning advocates from previous years against each other, Morrissey returned to champion Anosh Irani's novel The Song of Kahunsha. Morrissey had a double mastectomy due to breast cancer,

Filmography

nominated for Gemini for Best Writing

Awards and recognition

nominated Best Writing For "''The Fortunate Brother": Winner of the Thomas Head Raddall Award Winner of Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Book of 2017