Born in London, England, of Cornish stock, David Watmough arrived on Canada’s West Coast in 1961 and quickly became a fixture on the Canadian cultural scene. Now in his eighth decade, Watmough, often spoken of as this country’s senior gay male fiction writer, has decided to commit his memories to paper.

Given the autobiographical nature of his fiction, the prolific raconteur has opted for a novel approach to his own life by telling his story through his encounters with the numerous people he has met, befriended, loved, and jousted with over the years. And what a parade of personalities it is! Watmough serves up incisive, trenchant, often witty profiles of writers W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Stephen Spender, Raymond Chandler, Tennessee Williams, Carol Shields, Margaret Laurence, Jane Rule, and Wallace Stegner; artists Bill Reid and Jack Shadbolt; politicians and celebrities Pierre Trudeau, Clement Atlee, and Eleanor Roosevelt; Hollywood actress Jean Arthur; and a host of others.

David Watmough is the author of a cycle of fictions that features gay "everyman" Davey Bryant, who has appeared in twelve volumes, including No More into the Garden (1978), Unruly Skeletons (1982), The Year of Fears (1987), The Time of Kingfishers (1994), and Hunting With Diana (1996). Watmough is also a playwright, short-story writer, critic, broadcaster, and the author of nine other books. His novel Thy Mother's Glass (1992) was nominated in 2002 for CBC's Canada Reads. He lives in Vancouver.

David Watmough's profile page

"David Watmough must be one of Canadas most underappreciated writers. Now in his ninth decade, Watmoughs gifts have not lessened, and this sterling, smart memoir is clear proof"

Canadian Literature

"Interesting and intimate, Myself Through Others traverses an unusual and impressive life with humour and grace."

Monday Magazine

Fans of Hemingway's A Moveable Feast might also enjoy Myself Through Others because of the storytelling similarity.

Xtra West

His (Watmough's) most engaging chapters-like those dedicated to Carol Shields, Margaret Laurence and Jane Rule-are affectionate and vivid portraits

Vancouver Sun