Donald Carroll (12 December 1940 – 30 December 2010) was an American author, editor, poet,

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and

humourist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society. ...

Early life

Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1940, he was educated at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, where he founded the poetry quarterly ''Quagga'' – which published the work of

Richard Wilbur Richard Purdy Wilbur (March 1, 1921 – October 14, 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets, along with his friend Anthony Hecht, of the World War II generation, Wilbur's work, often employing rhyme, and c ...

e.e. cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was ...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...

and

Robert Creeley Robert White Creeley (May 21, 1926 – March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than 60 books. He is associated with the Black Mountain poets, although his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. Creeley was close with Charle ...

, among others – and at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he founded ''The Dubliner'', a literary magazine, and edited the anthology, ''New Poets of Ireland''. While at Trinity his own poems were widely published and earned an invitation from

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

to visit him in London.

Editor and publisher

Carroll moved to London in 1964 and after a brief spell as a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...

, during which he met

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of h ...

and worked closely with him in producing '' The Naked Civil Servant'', he set up his own publishing house in 1966. The firm's first two books, '' The Liverpool Scene'', which introduced the " Liverpool poets", and ''

The Wife of Martin Guerre ''The Wife of Martin Guerre'' (first published 1941) is a short novel by United States, American writer Janet Lewis based on the story of Martin Guerre, the 16th-century French peasant who apparently returned home to his wife after a long absen ...

'', made an immediate impact. By the end of the company's first year, its list of authors included

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

Brigid Brophy Brigid Antonia Brophy (married name Brigid Levey, later Lady Levey; 12 June 19297 August 1995), was an English author, literary critic and polemicist. She was an influential campaigner who agitated for many types of social reform, including ...

Dick Clement Dick Clement (born 5 September 1937) is a retired English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely La ...

and

Ian La Frenais Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is a retired English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including '' The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ' ...

James Dickey James Lafayette Dickey (February 2, 1923 January 19, 1997) was an American poet, novelist, critic, and lecturer. He was appointed the 18th United States Poet Laureate in 1966. His other accolades included the National Book Award for Poetry a ...

Adrian Henri Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 20 December 2000) was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology '' The Mersey Sound'', along with ...

Michael Levey Sir Michael Vincent Levey, LVO, FBA, FRSL (8 June 1927 – 28 December 2008) was a British art historian and was the director of the National Gallery from 1973 to 1986. Biography Levey was born in Wimbledon, London, and grew up in Leigh-on-S ...

Edward Lucie-Smith John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith (born 27 February 1933), known as Edward Lucie-Smith, is a Jamaican-born English writer, poet, art critic, curator and broadcaster. He has been highly prolific in these fields, writing or editing over a hundred ...

Roger McGough Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme '' Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one ...

, Charles Osborne,

Brian Patten Brian Patten (born 7 February 1946) is an English poet and author. He came to prominence in the 1960s as one of the Liverpool poets, and writes primarily lyrical poetry about human relationships. His famous works include "Little Johnny's Confessi ...

and

Ralph Steadman Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator and collaborator with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman draws satirical political cartoons, social caricatures, and picture books. Early life Steadman was born in ...

. The London ''Evening Standard'' declared Carroll to be, at 26, "one of the British publishing world's most important and successful figures".

Columnist and humourist

After a disagreement over editorial policy with his firm's German backer, he left publishing in 1968 to become a columnist, producing four national newspaper and magazine columns in addition to his own newsletter, ''The Fifth Column''. In 1972 he returned to the US, living first in Los Angeles and then in New York, where he continued his columns for the London ''Evening News'' and ''Books and Bookmen''. Over the next few years he also conducted a series of highly acclaimed interviews (with Prime Minister

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Initially making his mark as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised John Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) and encouraged the emerging wave ...

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was a conservative British journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, i ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

among others) for the Xerox Education Group, which were collected in a book, ''The Donald Carroll Interviews''. In addition he wrote several humorous books, including '' Doing It with Style'', in which he revived his collaboration with Quentin Crisp.

Recent years

In 1984 he returned briefly to England, before moving to Greece and then settling in Turkey, where he built a house at the tip of the Bodrum peninsula.See "Writers Wining and Dining at Arsipel", ''Bodrum Observer'', 23 June 2006. Here he wrote the first of his travel books, the award-winning '' Insider's Guide to Turkey'', as well as numerous articles for publications in England and America. It was also here that he became fascinated with the excavations at

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

, an interest that led eventually to his book ''Mary’s House'', which established his reputation as the world's leading expert on the history and discovery of the

House of the Virgin Mary The House of the Virgin Mary ( Turkish: ''Meryemana Evi'' or ''Meryem Ana Evi'', "Mother Mary's House") is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos (Turkish: ''Bülbüldağı'', "Mount Nightingale") in the vicinity of Ephesus, from Selçuk in ...

Death

From 1997 he lived in Southwest France, where he died on 30 December 2010.

Selected bibliography

*''New Poets of Ireland'' (1963), editor *''Art of the Romantic Era'' by

Marcel Brion Marcel Brion (; 21 November 1895 – 23 October 1984) was a French essayist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. Early life The son of a lawyer, Brion was classmates in Thiers with Marcel Pagnol and Albert Cohen. After completing his ...

(1966), translator *''The Donald Carroll Interviews'' (1973), *''Four's Company'' (1973) interviews; *''Movements in Modern Art'' (1973), with Edward Lucie-Smith *''Dear Sir, Drop Dead!: Hate Mail Through the Ages'' (1979), editor, *''Why Didn't I Say That?: The Art of Verbal Self-Defence'' (1980), *''Doing It with Style'' (1981), with Quentin Crisp *''The Best Excuse'' (1983), *''The Insider's Guide to Turkey'' (1990), *''The Insider's Guide to Florida'' (1991), *''The Insider's Guide to Eastern Canada'' (1993), *''The Insider's Guide to Western Canada'' (1994), *''Resident Alien: The New York Diaries'' by Quentin Crisp (1996), editor, *''Mary's House: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Discovery of the House Where the Virgin Mary Lived and Died'' (2000), *''Surprised by France'' (2005),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Donald American expatriates in France British publishers (people) American male poets 1940 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 20th-century British businesspeople