John Robert Colombo

Whether it’s Canadian jokes, facts or quotes, John Robert Colombo, over the span of his career, has become Canada’s Master Gatherer. He is the author/editor of over 130 books largely devoted to the lore and literature of Canada and is a cultural commentator and communications consultant who has contributed to many of Canada’s major newspapers, magazines and journals. An anthologist who sometimes publishes in the fields of science, fiction, fantasy and horror, from 1990 to1999 Colombo was also the general editor of the Canadian Global Almanac, an 800-page annual of ‘facts about Canada and the world’.

Colombo’s most well known works include: 1000 Questions About Canada and Famous Lasting Words: Great Canadian Quotations (which, as writer Robert Fulford noted, “…became overnight the best friend a Canadian speechwriter ever had”).

In 1994, Colombo set up his own ‘QuasiBook’ publishing house, Colombo & Company, and in June 1998, he was awarded an honourary doctorate of Literature Degree from York University.