Fonds consists of textual records, a few inter-filed photographs, and audio-visual records documenting the life and career of Howard Engel.
The textual records, 1956-1990, consist of personal papers, literary manuscripts and CBC records arranged in the following series: Personal material; Correspondence; Manuscripts, CBC Radio Files.
The audio-visual records, 1950-1985, consist of recordings of a variety of programs broadcast by CBC Radio, including complete shows, unedited interviews and master tapes, on the subject of literature and the arts, history, oral history, school broadcasts, broadcasting history, interviews with various Canadians and international personalities.
Engel, Howard, 1931-2019 : Howard Engel was born in Toronto in 1931 and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. After graduating from McMaster University, he taught high school briefly and then worked as a freelancer for the CBC, researching and writing a number of documentaries for the network and travelling in Europe. He joined the CBC in 1967, becoming executive producer of Sunday Supplement in 1968 and eventually taking over the literary programme Anthology from its founder, Robert Weaver. From 1980 until he left the CBC in 1985, Engel produced and edited drama programmes. He is the author of A Child's Christmas in Scarborough, first written for radio and subsequently published as a children's book, as well as many other radio scripts.
In 1980, Engel published his first mystery novel, The Suicide Murders, which introduced his popular detective hero, Benny Cooperman, and was followed by eight more Benny Cooperman mysteries. The Suicide Murders and Murder Sees the Light were filmed for television and Murder on Location was serialized on radio. The Benny Cooperman novels won an international readership and were translated into half a dozen languages. Engel is also the author of other mysteries, including Murder in Montparnasse (1992).
Howard Engel was a founding member of the Crime Writers of Canada, an association established to promote Canadian crime writing. Engel received the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in 1984 and Derrick Murdoch Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998. He received the Harbourfront Festival Prize for his contributions to Canadian letters and the Canadian literary community in 1990, and an honorary degree from Brock University in 1994.
Howard Engel married Canadian author and fellow McMaster student Marian Engel (1933-1985) in 1962 and they had twin children, Charlotte and William. They were divorced in 1977. In 1978, Engel married the writer Janet Hamilton (d. 1998), with whom he had a son, Jacob Harry. Howard Engel passed away on July 16, 2019.
