SINNETT, Mark C. 1963-

PERSONAL:

Born August 16, 1963, in Oxford, England; immigrated to Canada, 1980; son of Clive (a tool and die maker and scheduling analyst) and Jennifer (a cashier; maiden name, Boulter) Sinnett. Education: Queen's University, B.A., 1985.

ADDRESSES:

Home—30 Euclid Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6J 2J6 Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins Canada, 1995 Markham Rd., Scarborough, Ontario M1B 5M8 Canada. E-mail—marksinnett@yahoo.com.

CAREER:

Poet and writer. Worked as a bartender, a legal editor, and a tree runner for a reforestation crew in northern Ontario.

MEMBER:

League of Canadian Poets.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Canada Council grant, 1994; Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, League of Canadian Poets, 1998, for The Landing.

WRITINGS:

The Landing (poems), Carleton University Press (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Bull (short stories), Insomniac Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1998.

Some Late Adventure of the Feelings (poems), ECW Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2000.

The Border Guards (novel), HarperCollins Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A screenplay.

SIDELIGHTS:

Poet, short story writer, and novelist Mark C. Sinnett was born in Oxford, England, in 1963. Seventeen years later, he and his family immigrated to Canada, where his father thought the economic outlook was brighter. The family settled in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto.

Sinnett's first book of poetry, The Landing, was the winner of 1998's Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. The poems center on Sinnett's attitudes and impressions of love and the feelings associated with being in love. "Again and again, these poems 'attempt the precision tooling of poetry' and again and again they succeed" in invoking the sought-after images and emotions, remarked Julia Reibetanz in University of Toronto Quarterly.

Some Late Adventure of the Feelings, Sinnett's second poetry collection, explores in verse the complex emotions, actions, and interactions of romance, infatuation, and love. Sinnett "is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with on the Canadian literary scene," commented Michael Teal on the Danforth Review online. Some Late Adventure of the Feelings "is a manifesto of his love which is unique in both its format and quality," Teal stated. "His candor and courage makes [the book] an important contribution to Canadian poetry." Teal called the volume "bold and brilliant," and remarked that "this is a piece of literature that becomes part of your psyche."

The men in Bull, Sinnett's collection of short stories, channel their anger into a world filled with drugs, alcohol, illness, violence, and relationships that have fallen apart, observed Susan Patrick in the Canadian Book Review Annual. Seemingly manipulated by forces that they cannot control, Sinnett's characters speed forward on courses designed for self-destruction that end in regret and remorse. Sinnett's efforts produce "vivid, though not particularly sympathetic characters, intriguing situations, and stories that are quite engrossing," noted Patrick.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Book Review Annual, 1998, Thomas M. F. Gerry, review of The Landing, p. 240; 1999, Susan Patrick, review of Bull, p. 200.

University of Toronto Quarterly, winter, 2001, Julia Reibetanz, review of The Landing, p. 68.

Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario, Canada), June 11, 1998, Don Fraser, "Kingston Poet Wins Prestigious Award," p. 38.

ONLINE

Danforth Review Online,http://www.danforthreview.com/ (October 3, 2004), Michael Teal, review of Some Late Adventure of the Feelings.*