Jake MacDonald

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}

{{Short description|Canadian author (1949–2020)}}

{{More citations needed|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox person

|occupation=Author

|birth_name=John Monahan MacDonald

|birth_place=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

|birth_date={{birth date|1949|04|06}}

|death_date={{death date and age|2020|01|30|1949|04|06}}

|death_place=Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

|alma_mater=University of Manitoba

}}

John Monahan MacDonald{{cite book |last1=Ripley |first1=Gordon |last2=Mercer |first2=Anne |date=1987 |entry=MACDONALD, John Monahan (Jake) |title=Who's Who in Canadian Literature 1987-88 |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoincanadia0000unse_w9u5/page/209/mode/1up |location=Toronto |publisher=Reference Press |page=209 |isbn=0-919981-06-2}}"[https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n86074037.html MacDonald, Jake, 1949-]" at Library of Congress Linked Data Service. (April 6, 1949 – January 30, 2020), writing as Jake MacDonald, was a Canadian author. MacDonald produced eight books and several hundred articles in Canadian magazines.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, MacDonald was an alumnus of St. Paul's High School, Winnipeg, Class of 1967. MacDonald received a BA in English from the University of Manitoba in 1971.{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Jake MacDonald fonds|url=https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/macdonald-jake-1949|archivedate=|accessdate=October 8, 2020|website=University of Manitoba Archives|publisher=University of Manitoba}} After graduation, MacDonald was a carpenter and fishing guide before becoming a full-time writer.

Over twenty-five years he produced ten books of both fiction and non-fiction, numerous short-stories and about two hundred stories for many of Canada's leading publications, including The Globe and Mail, Outdoor Canada, Canadian Geographic, Maclean's, Cottage Life, Canadian Business and The Walrus. His writing netted over twenty-five awards. The memoir Houseboat Chronicles: Notes from a Life in Shield Country won three awards across the country, including the Pearson Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.writerstrust.com/awards/hilary-weston-writers-trust-prize/prize-history.aspx|title=Prize History|publisher=Writers' Trust of Canada|accessdate=February 22, 2014}}

His 1997 young adult novel Juliana and the Medicine Fish was made into a feature film in 2015. In 2019, his first play The Cottage was staged at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's John Hirsch Mainstage. Also in 2019, MacDonald won the Winnipeg Arts Council "Making a Mark Award."{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=WAC ARTS AWARDS WINNERS FOR 2019|url=http://winnipegarts.ca/wac/about-winners|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926212038/http://winnipegarts.ca/wac/about-winners|archive-date=September 26, 2021|access-date=October 8, 2020|website=Winnipeg Arts Council|url-status=dead}}

MacDonald died on January 30, 2020, after a fall in a home that he was building in Puerto Vallarta. He was 70.{{cite web |title=Award-winning Winnipeg writer Jake MacDonald, 70, dead after fall in Mexico |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/award-winning-writer-jake-macdonald-dies-1.5447611 |website=cbc.ca |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}{{Cite web|title=MACDONALD JAKE - Obituaries - Winnipeg Free Press Passages|url=https://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-270549/MACDONALD_%20JAKE|access-date=October 8, 2020|website=passages.winnipegfreepress.com}}